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title description services documentationcenter author manager editor tags ms.assetid ms.service ms.workload ms.tgt_pltfrm ms.devlang ms.topic ms.date ms.author
Capture an image of a Linux VM in Azure using Azure CLI | Microsoft Docs
Capture an image of an Azure VM to use for mass deployments by using the Azure CLI.
virtual-machines-linux
cynthn
jeconnoc
azure-resource-manager
e608116f-f478-41be-b787-c2ad91b5a802
virtual-machines-linux
infrastructure-services
vm-linux
azurecli
article
10/08/2018
cynthn

How to create an image of a virtual machine or VHD

To create multiple copies of a virtual machine (VM) for use in Azure, capture an image of the VM or of the OS VHD. To create an image for deployment, you'll need to remove personal account information. In the following steps, you deprovision an existing VM, deallocate it and create an image. You can use this image to create VMs across any resource group within your subscription.

To create a copy of your existing Linux VM for backup or debugging, or to upload a specialized Linux VHD from an on-premises VM, see Upload and create a Linux VM from custom disk image.

You can also use Packer to create your custom configuration. For more information, see How to use Packer to create Linux virtual machine images in Azure.

You'll need the following items before creating an image:

  • An Azure VM created in the Resource Manager deployment model that uses managed disks. If you haven't yet created a Linux VM, you can use the portal, the Azure CLI, or Resource Manager templates. Configure the VM as needed. For example, add data disks, apply updates, and install applications.

  • The latest Azure CLI installed and be logged in to an Azure account with az login.

Quick commands

For a simplified version of this article, and for testing, evaluating, or learning about VMs in Azure, see Create a custom image of an Azure VM by using the CLI.

Step 1: Deprovision the VM

First you'll deprovision the VM by using the Azure VM agent to delete machine-specific files and data. Use the waagent command with the -deprovision+user parameter on your source Linux VM. For more information, see the Azure Linux Agent user guide.

  1. Connect to your Linux VM with an SSH client.

  2. In the SSH window, enter the following command:

    sudo waagent -deprovision+user

    [!NOTE] Only run this command on a VM that you'll capture as an image. This command does not guarantee that the image is cleared of all sensitive information or is suitable for redistribution. The +user parameter also removes the last provisioned user account. To keep user account credentials in the VM, use only -deprovision.

  3. Enter y to continue. You can add the -force parameter to avoid this confirmation step.

  4. After the command completes, enter exit to close the SSH client.

Step 2: Create VM image

Use the Azure CLI to mark the VM as generalized and capture the image. In the following examples, replace example parameter names with your own values. Example parameter names include myResourceGroup, myVnet, and myVM.

  1. Deallocate the VM that you deprovisioned with az vm deallocate. The following example deallocates the VM named myVM in the resource group named myResourceGroup.

    az vm deallocate \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myVM

  2. Mark the VM as generalized with az vm generalize. The following example marks the VM named myVM in the resource group named myResourceGroup as generalized.

    az vm generalize \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myVM

  3. Create an image of the VM resource with az image create. The following example creates an image named myImage in the resource group named myResourceGroup using the VM resource named myVM.

    az image create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myImage --source myVM

    [!NOTE] The image is created in the same resource group as your source VM. You can create VMs in any resource group within your subscription from this image. From a management perspective, you may wish to create a specific resource group for your VM resources and images.

    If you would like to store your image in zone-resilient storage, you need to create it in a region that supports availability zones and include the --zone-resilient true parameter.

Step 3: Create a VM from the captured image

Create a VM by using the image you created with az vm create. The following example creates a VM named myVMDeployed from the image named myImage.

az vm create \
   --resource-group myResourceGroup \
   --name myVMDeployed \
   --image myImage\
   --admin-username azureuser \
   --ssh-key-value ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Creating the VM in another resource group

You can create VMs from an image in any resource group within your subscription. To create a VM in a different resource group than the image, specify the full resource ID to your image. Use az image list to view a list of images. The output is similar to the following example.

"id": "/subscriptions/guid/resourceGroups/MYRESOURCEGROUP/providers/Microsoft.Compute/images/myImage",
   "location": "westus",
   "name": "myImage",

The following example uses az vm create to create a VM in a resource group other than the source image, by specifying the image resource ID.

az vm create \
   --resource-group myOtherResourceGroup \
   --name myOtherVMDeployed \
   --image "/subscriptions/guid/resourceGroups/MYRESOURCEGROUP/providers/Microsoft.Compute/images/myImage" \
   --admin-username azureuser \
   --ssh-key-value ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Step 4: Verify the deployment

SSH into the virtual machine you created to verify the deployment and start using the new VM. To connect via SSH, find the IP address or FQDN of your VM with az vm show.

az vm show \
   --resource-group myResourceGroup \
   --name myVMDeployed \
   --show-details

Next steps

You can create multiple VMs from your source VM image. To make changes to your image:

  • Create a VM from your image.
  • Make any updates or configuration changes.
  • Follow the steps again to deprovision, deallocate, generalize, and create an image.
  • Use this new image for future deployments. You may delete the original image.

For more information on managing your VMs with the CLI, see Azure CLI.