Detect if a VM is running in Compute Engine

Linux Windows

This document shows you how to use the metadata server or an operating systemtool to detect whether a VM is running in Compute Engine.

Use the metadata server to detect if a VM is running in Compute Engine

Depending on the VM's operating system, use one of the following procedures tosend a request to themetadata server anddetect if a VM is running in Compute Engine:

Linux VM

  1. From the Linux VM, run the following command:

    curl metadata.google.internal -i

  2. Verify thatMetadata-Flavor: Google exists in output similar to thefollowing:

    HTTP/1.1 200 OKMetadata-Flavor: GoogleContent-Type: application/textDate: Tue, 23 Nov 2021 01:27:16 GMTServer: Metadata Server for VMContent-Length: 22X-XSS-Protection: 0X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN0.1/computeMetadata/

    The existence ofMetadata-Flavor: Google in the output indicates that aCompute Engine VM sent the request.

Windows VM

  1. From the Windows VM, run the following command:

    curl metadata.google.internal -i

  2. Verify thatMetadata-Flavor: Google exists in output similar to thefollowing:

    HTTP/1.1 200 OKMetadata-Flavor: GoogleContent-Type: application/textDate: Tue, 23 Nov 2021 20:48:50 GMTServer: Metadata Server for VMContent-Length: 22X-XSS-Protection: 0X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN0.1/computeMetadata/

    The existence ofMetadata-Flavor: Google in the output indicates that aCompute Engine VM sent the request.

Use operating system tools to detect if a VM is running in Compute Engine

Depending on the VM's operating system, use one of the following procedures touse a tool that is specific to the VM's operating system to detect if the VM isrunning in Compute Engine:

Linux VM

  1. From the Linux VM, run the followingdmidecode command:

    sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name | grep "Google Compute Engine"

    Thisdmidecode command directly accesses the System Management BIOSinformation in/proc/mem.

  2. Verify thatGoogle Compute Engine exists in the output.

Windows VM

  1. From the Windows Command Prompt, run theWMI command-line utility:

    wmic.exe computersystem get model,manufacturer

  2. Verify that theSystem Manufacturer isGoogle and theSystem Model isGoogle Compute Engine.

For information about how to programmatically determine whether a Windows VMis running Compute Engine, see the following:

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Last updated 2025-12-15 UTC.