Method: instances.getScreenshot

Returns the screenshot from the specified instance.

HTTP request

GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances/{instance}/screenshot

The URL usesgRPC Transcoding syntax. To know more about valid error responses that can be thrown by this HTTP request, please refer to theservice error catalog

Path parameters

Parameters
project

string

Project ID for this request.

zone

string

The name of the zone for this request.

instance

string

Name of the instance scoping this request.

Request body

The request body must be empty.

Response body

An instance's screenshot.

If successful, the response body contains data with the following structure:

JSON representation
{"kind":string,"contents":string}
Fields
kind

string

[Output Only] Type of the resource. Alwayscompute#screenshot for the screenshots.

contents

string

[Output Only] The Base64-encoded screenshot data.

Authorization scopes

Requires one of the following OAuth scopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/compute.readonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/compute
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform

For more information, see theAuthentication Overview.

IAM Permissions

In addition to any permissions specified on the fields above, authorization requires one or more of the followingIAM permissions:

  • compute.instances.getScreenshot

To find predefined roles that contain those permissions, seeCompute Engine IAM Roles.

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Last updated 2025-09-18 UTC.