Item | Description |
Impacts on the system disk | After replacement, Alibaba Cloud will assign a new system disk to your ECS instance: The original system disk will be released, and its data and partition information will be erased. The system disk ID will change, but the disk category, instance IP address, and elastic network interface (ENI) MAC address will remain the same.
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Impacts on the data disk | If you replace the operating system within the same family, such as Windows to Windows or Linux to Linux: Only the system disk of the original instance is replaced. The data disk of the original instance is unaffected and must be reattached for use. If you replace the operating system across families, such as Windows to Linux: In addition to replacing the system disk of the original instance, the data disk will need to be reinitialized or you must install software to recognize the file system format, as the file system format will not be recognized. For detailed instructions, see What to do next.
Important If you use a custom image that includes a data disk to replace the operating system, ensure there are no dependencies between the system disk and the data disk that could affect your business processes. For instance, if your business involves read and write operations from the system disk to the data disk, replacing the operating system may cause issues with these operations due to changes in the system disk. |
Impacts on snapshots | Snapshots of the original system disk cannot be used to roll back the new system disk, but they can be used to create custom images. Manual snapshots of the original disk are not released. For automatically created snapshots, if the Automatic Snapshot Release With Disk is enabled for the original system disk, the automatic snapshots are automatically deleted. If the Automatic Snapshot Release With Disk is not enabled, the snapshots are automatically released upon expiration. The automatic snapshot policy of the original system disk will become invalid and needs to be reconfigured.
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When replacing with a Windows operating system | The system disk must have at least 1 GiB of free space. Otherwise, the ECS instance may fail to start after the operating system is replaced. Starting January 14, 2020, Microsoft no longer provide support for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Starting October 10, 2023, Microsoft no longer provides support for Windows Server 2012 R2. Alibaba Cloud no longer provides technical support for ECS instances that run the preceding operating systems. If your ECS instances run the preceding operating systems, we recommend that you upgrade to Windows Server 2016 or later at the earliest opportunity. For more information, see Windows Server EOL guidance.
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When replacing between Windows and Linux operating systems | Only regions in the Chinese mainland support this replacement. Non-Chinese mainland regions only support replacements within the same operating system family, such as Linux to Linux or Windows to Windows. Ensure the hostname of the instance complies with the restrictions of the target system. For instance, a Windows system hostname cannot exceed 15 characters. For detailed instructions to modify the hostname, see Modify instance attributes or ModifyInstanceAttribute.
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Costs | There is no charge for replacing the operating system itself. However, you may incur charges in the following scenarios: If you use a paid image as the replacement image, you will be charged for the image. For more information, see image billing. If you increase the system disk capacity during the replacement process, you will be charged for the additional disk space. For more information, see Elastic Block Storage billing.
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Time required to replace the operating system | The operating system replacement process typically takes about 10 minutes. The actual duration may vary depending on the operating system. Please be patient. Important After the replacement is complete, VNC may not log on immediately due to slow system startup. Please wait and try again later. |