Create a virtual machine from a snapshot with PowerShell (Windows)

  • Article

This script creates a virtual machine from a snapshot of an OS disk.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

Sample script

#Provide the subscription Id
$subscriptionId = 'yourSubscriptionId'

#Provide the name of your resource group
$resourceGroupName ='yourResourceGroupName'

#Provide the name of the snapshot that will be used to create OS disk
$snapshotName = 'yourSnapshotName'

#Provide the name of the OS disk that will be created using the snapshot
$osDiskName = 'yourOSDiskName'

#Provide the name of an existing virtual network where virtual machine will be created
$virtualNetworkName = 'yourVNETName'

#Provide the name of the virtual machine
$virtualMachineName = 'yourVMName'

#Provide the size of the virtual machine
#e.g. Standard_DS3
#Get all the vm sizes in a region using below script:
#e.g. Get-AzVMSize -Location westus
$virtualMachineSize = 'Standard_DS3'

#Set the context to the subscription Id where Managed Disk will be created
Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionId $SubscriptionId

$snapshot = Get-AzSnapshot -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -SnapshotName $snapshotName

$diskConfig = New-AzDiskConfig -Location $snapshot.Location -SourceResourceId $snapshot.Id -CreateOption Copy

$disk = New-AzDisk -Disk $diskConfig -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -DiskName $osDiskName

#Initialize virtual machine configuration
$VirtualMachine = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $virtualMachineName -VMSize $virtualMachineSize

#Use the Managed Disk Resource Id to attach it to the virtual machine. Please change the OS type to linux if OS disk has linux OS
$VirtualMachine = Set-AzVMOSDisk -VM $VirtualMachine -ManagedDiskId $disk.Id -CreateOption Attach -Windows

#Create a public IP for the VM
$publicIp = New-AzPublicIpAddress -Name ($VirtualMachineName.ToLower()+'_ip') -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $snapshot.Location -AllocationMethod Dynamic

#Get the virtual network where virtual machine will be hosted
$vnet = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name $virtualNetworkName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName

# Create NIC in the first subnet of the virtual network
$nic = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name ($VirtualMachineName.ToLower()+'_nic') -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $snapshot.Location -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets[0].Id -PublicIpAddressId $publicIp.Id

$VirtualMachine = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -VM $VirtualMachine -Id $nic.Id

#Create the virtual machine with Managed Disk
New-AzVM -VM $VirtualMachine -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $snapshot.Location

Clean up deployment

Run the following command to remove the resource group, VM, and all related resources.

Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name myResourceGroup

Script explanation

This script uses the following commands to get snapshot properties, create a managed disk from snapshot and create a VM. Each item in the table links to command specific documentation.

Command Notes
Get-AzSnapshot Gets a snapshot using snapshot name.
New-AzDiskConfig Creates a disk configuration. This configuration is used with the disk creation process.
New-AzDisk Creates a managed disk.
New-AzVMConfig Creates a VM configuration. This configuration includes information such as VM name, operating system, and administrative credentials. The configuration is used during VM creation.
Set-AzVMOSDisk Attaches the managed disk as OS disk to the virtual machine
New-AzPublicIpAddress Creates a public IP address.
New-AzNetworkInterface Creates a network interface.
New-AzVM Creates a virtual machine.
Remove-AzResourceGroup Removes a resource group and all resources contained within.

Next steps

For more information on the Azure PowerShell module, see Azure PowerShell documentation.

Additional virtual machine PowerShell script samples can be found in the Azure Windows VM documentation.