Troubleshooting — Snapshots
Snapshots Menu Is Not Visible in the Navigation Bar
Symptom: The Snapshots item does not appear under Compute Engine in the left navigation bar.
Possible cause: You have not selected the correct VPC or Project, or your login session needs to be refreshed.
Resolution:
- Make sure you have selected the correct Project and VPC at the top of the page.
- Reload the page and check the navigation bar again.
- If it is still not visible, contact support with the Project and VPC you are using.
Snapshot Remains in Creating Status for a Long Time
Symptom: A snapshot was created but continues to show Creating status after several minutes.
Common causes:
- The source Instance is under high load during the snapshot process.
- The Instance's disk capacity is large, requiring more processing time.
- A temporary issue on the storage system side.
Resolution:
- Reload the page and check the status again after 5–10 minutes.
- If the snapshot is still in Creating status after 30 minutes, contact support with the snapshot name and the time it was created.
Snapshot Is in Error Status
Symptom: The snapshot shows Error status — it cannot be used to Launch as Instance or Create storage disk.
Common causes:
- The source Instance encountered an error or was shut down unexpectedly during the snapshot process.
- Storage quota was exhausted during snapshot creation.
Resolution:
- Delete the failed snapshot (see Guide — Delete a Snapshot).
- Check the source Instance status — ensure the Instance is operating normally.
- Check the Project's storage quota.
- Recreate the snapshot from the Instance detail page.
Launch as Instance Option Is Not Available After Selecting a Snapshot
Symptom: You open the action menu (⋮) of a snapshot but the Launch as Instance option is grayed out or does not appear.
Cause: The snapshot is not yet in Active status, or you do not have permission to create Instances in the current Project.
Resolution:
- Check the Status column of the snapshot — only snapshots in Active status can be used.
- If the status is Creating, wait for the process to complete.
- If the status is Error, delete and recreate the snapshot.
- Check your account permissions within the Project.
Snapshot Was Accidentally Deleted
Symptom: A snapshot was deleted but you still need it.
Cause: Deleting a snapshot is irreversible — the snapshot data is permanently removed.
Resolution:
- A deleted snapshot cannot be recovered.
- If the source Instance still exists and is running, recreate the snapshot from that Instance.
- If the Instance has also been deleted, the data cannot be recovered from a snapshot — check whether other backups are available.