gcloud compute instances update-container

NAME

gcloud compute instances update-container - updates Compute Engine virtual machine instances running container images

SYNOPSIS

gcloud compute instances update-container INSTANCE_NAME [--container-image=CONTAINER_IMAGE] [--container-mount-disk=[mode=MODE],[mount-path=MOUNT-PATH],[name=NAME],[partition=PARTITION]] [--container-privileged] [--container-restart-policy=POLICY] [--container-stdin] [--container-tty] [--[no-]shielded-integrity-monitoring] [--shielded-learn-integrity-policy] [--[no-]shielded-secure-boot] [--[no-]shielded-vtpm] [--zone=ZONE] [--clear-container-args | --container-arg=CONTAINER_ARG] [--clear-container-command | --container-command=CONTAINER_COMMAND] [--container-env=[KEY=VALUE, …,…] --container-env-file=CONTAINER_ENV_FILE --remove-container-env=[KEY,…]] [--container-mount-host-path=[host-path=HOSTPATH,mount-path=MOUNTPATH[,mode=MODE],…] --container-mount-tmpfs=[mount-path=MOUNTPATH,…] --remove-container-mounts=[MOUNTPATH[,MOUNTPATH,…],…]] [GCLOUD_WIDE_FLAG …]

DESCRIPTION

(DEPRECATED) The option to deploy a container during VM creation using the container startup agent is deprecated. Use alternative services to run containers on your VMs. Learn more at https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/containers/migrate-containers.

gcloud compute instances update-container updates Compute Engine virtual machines that runs a Docker image. For example:

gcloud compute instances update-container instance-1 --zone us-central1-a         --container-image=gcr.io/google-containers/busybox

updates an instance called instance-1, in the us-central1-a zone, to run the 'busybox' image.

For more examples, refer to the EXAMPLES section below.

EXAMPLES

To run the gcr.io/google-containers/busybox image on an instance named 'instance-1' that executes 'echo "Hello world"' as a run command, run:

gcloud compute instances update-container instance-1 --container-image=gcr.io/google-containers/busybox --container-command='echo "Hello world"'

To run the gcr.io/google-containers/busybox image in privileged mode, run:

gcloud compute instances update-container instance-1 --container-image=gcr.io/google-containers/busybox --container-privileged

POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS

INSTANCE_NAME: Name of the instance to update. For details on valid instance names, refer to the criteria documented under the field 'name' at: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/instances

FLAGS

--container-image=CONTAINER_IMAGE

Sets container image in the declaration to the specified value. Empty string is not allowed.

--container-mount-disk=[mode=MODE],[mount-path=MOUNT-PATH],[name=NAME],[partition=PARTITION]

Mounts a disk to the container by using mount-path or updates how the volume is mounted if the same mount path has already been declared. The disk must already be attached to the instance with a device-name that matches the disk name. Multiple flags are allowed.

name: Name of the disk. Can be omitted if exactly one additional disk is attached to the instance. The name of the single additional disk will be used by default.
mount-path: Path on container to mount to. Mount paths with spaces and commas (and other special characters) are not supported by this command.
partition: Optional. The partition of the disk to mount. Multiple partitions of a disk can be mounted.
mode: Volume mount mode: rw (read/write) or ro (read-only). Defaults to rw. Fails if the disk mode is ro and volume mount mode is rw.

--container-privileged

Sets permission to run container to the specified value.

--container-restart-policy=POLICY

Sets container restart policy to the specified value. POLICY must be one of: never, on-failure, always.

--container-stdin

Sets configuration whether to keep container STDIN always open to the specified value.

--container-tty

Sets configuration whether to allocate a pseudo-TTY for the container to the specified value.

--[no-]shielded-integrity-monitoring

Enables monitoring and attestation of the boot integrity of the instance. The attestation is performed against the integrity policy baseline. This baseline is initially derived from the implicitly trusted boot image when the instance is created. This baseline can be updated by using

gcloud compute instances
update-container --shielded-learn-integrity-policy

. On Shielded VM instances, integrity monitoring is enabled by default. For information about how to modify Shielded VM options, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/modifying-shielded-vm. For information about monitoring integrity on Shielded VM instances, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/integrity-monitoring." Changes to this setting with the update command only take effect after stopping and starting the instance. Use --shielded-integrity-monitoring to enable and --no-shielded-integrity-monitoring to disable.

--shielded-learn-integrity-policy

Causes the instance to re-learn the integrity policy baseline using the current instance configuration. Use this flag after any planned boot-specific changes in the instance configuration, like kernel updates or kernel driver installation.

--[no-]shielded-secure-boot

The instance boots with secure boot enabled. On Shielded VM instances, Secure Boot is not enabled by default. For information about how to modify Shielded VM options, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/modifying-shielded-vm. Changes to this setting with the update command only take effect after stopping and starting the instance. Use --shielded-secure-boot to enable and --no-shielded-secure-boot to disable.

--[no-]shielded-vtpm

The instance boots with the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) enabled. A TPM is a hardware module that can be used for different security operations such as remote attestation, encryption, and sealing of keys. On Shielded VM instances, vTPM is enabled by default. For information about how to modify Shielded VM options, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/modifying-shielded-vm. Changes to this setting with the update command only take effect after stopping and starting the instance. Use --shielded-vtpm to enable and --no-shielded-vtpm to disable.

--zone=ZONE

Zone of the instance to update. If not specified, you might be prompted to select a zone (interactive mode only). gcloud attempts to identify the appropriate zone by searching for resources in your currently active project. If the zone cannot be determined, gcloud prompts you for a selection with all available Google Cloud Platform zones.

To avoid prompting when this flag is omitted, the user can set the compute/zone property:

gcloud config set compute/zone ZONE

A list of zones can be fetched by running:

gcloud compute zones list

To unset the property, run:

gcloud config unset compute/zone

Alternatively, the zone can be stored in the environment variable CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE. At most one of these can be specified:

--clear-container-args

Removes the list of arguments from container declaration. Cannot be used in the same command with --container-arg.

--container-arg=CONTAINER_ARG

Completely replaces the list of arguments with the new list. Each argument must have a separate --container-arg flag. Arguments are appended the new list in the order of flags. Cannot be used in the same command with --clear-container-arg. At most one of these can be specified:

--clear-container-command

Removes command from container declaration. Cannot be used in the same command with --container-command.

--container-command=CONTAINER_COMMAND

Sets command in the declaration to the specified value. Empty string is not allowed. Cannot be used in the same command with --clear-container-command.

--container-env=[KEY=VALUE, …,…]

Update environment variables KEY with value VALUE passed to container.

Sets KEY to the specified value.
Adds KEY = VALUE, if KEY is not yet declared.
Only the last value of KEY is taken when KEY is repeated more than once.

Values, declared with --container-env flag override those with the same KEY from file, provided in --container-env-file.

--container-env-file=CONTAINER_ENV_FILE

Update environment variables from a file. Same update rules as for --container-env apply. Values, declared with --container-env flag override those with the same KEY from file. File with environment variables declarations in format used by docker (almost). This means:

Lines are in format KEY=VALUE
Values must contain equality signs.
Variables without values are not supported (this is different from docker format).
If # is first non-whitespace character in a line the line is ignored as a comment.

--remove-container-env=[KEY,…]

Removes environment variables KEY from container declaration Does nothing, if a variable is not present.

--container-mount-host-path=[host-path=HOSTPATH,mount-path=MOUNTPATH[,mode=MODE],…]

Mounts a volume by using host-path.

Adds a volume, if mount-path is not yet declared.
Replaces a volume, if mount-path is declared. All parameters (host-path, mount-path, mode) are completely replaced.

host-path

Path on host to mount from.

mount-path

Path on container to mount to. Mount paths with spaces and commas (and other special characters) are not supported by this command.

mode

Volume mount mode: rw (read/write) or ro (read-only). Default: rw.

--container-mount-tmpfs=[mount-path=MOUNTPATH,…]

Mounts empty tmpfs into container at MOUNTPATH.

mount-path: Path on container to mount to. Mount paths with spaces and commas (and other special characters) are not supported by this command.

--remove-container-mounts=[MOUNTPATH[,MOUNTPATH,…],…]

Removes volume mounts (host-path, tmpfs, disk) with mountPath: MOUNTPATH from container declaration. Does nothing, if a volume mount is not declared.

GCLOUD WIDE FLAGS

These flags are available to all commands: --access-token-file, --account, --billing-project, --configuration, --flags-file, --flatten, --format, --help, --impersonate-service-account, --log-http, --project, --quiet, --trace-token, --user-output-enabled, --verbosity.

Run $ gcloud help for details.

NOTES

These variants are also available:

gcloud alpha compute instances update-container

gcloud beta compute instances update-container

gcloud preview compute instances update-container

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Last updated 2026-05-27 UTC.