# Creating OS Snapshots

> Source: https://parallelworks.com/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots

# Creating OS Snapshots

After configuring a cluster, you may wish to save its data for later use on other clusters. You can create a snapshot of the cluster's root disk, which saves its operating system, data, and any applications you've installed. When you start a new cluster and select your snapshot as the image, the saved data will appear on the cluster.

OS snapshots are different from [cloud snapshots](/docs/account-settings/cloud-snapshots) in that cloud snapshots do not contain an operating system. This means that cloud snapshots cannot be used as your root disk. 

## Creating a Snapshot

After starting a cluster, navigate to its **Sessions** page. In **Attached Storages**, click the snapshot  icon. 

![Screenshot of the user clicking the menu icon in Attached Storages.](/content-images/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots/click-monitor-icon.png)

Name your snapshot. Please note that the name must:
- begin with a letter.
- be between 3 and 36 characters.
- use only numbers, hyphens, and lowercase letters. Spaces are not accepted.

Click **Create**.

![Screenshot of the user clicking Create.](/content-images/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots/click-create.png)

The snapshot will begin the provisioning process, and you'll be redirected to the **Snapshots** page. 

![Screenshot of the Snapshots page while a snapshot is provisioning.](/content-images/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots/snapshot-provisioning.png)

Click **provisioning** if you'd like to see the steps of the process. 

When the snapshot has been created, its status will change to **provisioned**.

![Screenshot of the Snapshots page while a snapshot has already been provisioned.](/content-images/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots/snapshot-provisioned.png)

## Sharing a Snapshot 

If you share a snapshot with a group in your organization, users in that group will be able to restore their own disks' settings from your snapshot. This is useful if, for example, you and another group's users are conducting similar types of work.

On the **Snapshots** page, click the share  icon.

![Screenshot of the user clicking a snapshot's share icon.](/content-images/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots/click-share-icon.png)

On the next page, select the group(s) you want to share the snapshot with. You'll see the message _Permission updated successfully._

## Deleting a Snapshot

On the **Snapshots** page, click the delete  icon.

![Screenshot of the user clicking a snapshot's delete icon.](/content-images/docs/compute/creating-os-snapshots/click-delete-icon.png)

A dialog box will appear with the message _Are you sure you want to delete this snapshot?_

Click **Delete**.

A notification will appear with the message _Snapshot is waiting to be destroyed. This may take a few minutes._

When this process is finished, the snapshot's **Status** will display as **deleted** for the next hour.

:::info Note

Please note that deleting a snapshot does not stop the cluster it was created from. You must stop the cluster separately.

:::