Create a virtual machine from a snapshot with CLI

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

To run this sample, install the latest version of the Azure CLI. To start, run az login to create a connection with Azure.

Samples for the Azure CLI are written for the bash shell. To run this sample in Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt, you may need to change elements of the script.

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

Sample script

# Verified per Raman Kumar as of 2/23/2022

# <FullScript>
#Provide the subscription Id of the subscription where you want to create Managed Disks
subscriptionId="<subscriptionId>"

#Provide the name of your resource group
resourceGroupName=myResourceGroupName

#Provide the name of the snapshot that will be used to create Managed Disks
snapshotName=mySnapshotName

#Provide the name of the Managed Disk
osDiskName=myOSDiskName

#Provide the size of the disks in GB. It should be greater than the VHD file size.
diskSize=128

#Provide the storage type for Managed Disk. Premium_LRS or Standard_LRS.
storageType=Premium_LRS

#Provide the OS type
osType=linux

#Provide the name of the virtual machine
virtualMachineName=myVirtualMachineName


#Set the context to the subscription Id where Managed Disk will be created
az account set --subscription $subscriptionId

#Get the snapshot Id 
snapshotId=$(az snapshot show --name $snapshotName --resource-group $resourceGroupName --query [id] -o tsv)

#Create a new Managed Disks using the snapshot Id
az disk create --resource-group $resourceGroupName --name $osDiskName --sku $storageType --size-gb $diskSize --source $snapshotId 

#Create VM by attaching created managed disks as OS
az vm create --name $virtualMachineName --resource-group $resourceGroupName --attach-os-disk $osDiskName --os-type $osType
# </FullScript>

Clean up deployment

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

az group delete --name myResourceGroup

Script explanation

This script uses the following commands to create a managed disk, virtual machine, and all related resources. Each command in the table links to command specific documentation.

Next steps

For more information on the Azure CLI, see Azure CLI documentation.

Additional virtual machine CLI script samples can be found in the Azure Linux VM documentation.