# Start, stop, and restart an instance

How the five power actions differ, how to run them, what stopping does to billing, and what to do when an action is rejected.

The instance detail page has three power buttons: **Start**, **Stop**, and **Restart**. The forced variants are not separate buttons — they are a checkbox inside the **Stop** and **Restart** confirmation dialogs. Every action creates a work request that you can track under **Work requests** on the instance detail page.

**Stopping an instance does not stop billing.** If your goal is to stop incurring charges, delete the instance instead of stopping it.

_Interface illustration: Power buttons at the top of the instance detail page: Start, Stop, Restart, and the current instance state label_

## How the five actions differ

| Action        | What happens inside the instance                                                                                                          | When to use it                                               |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Start         | Powers on a stopped instance and boots the operating system                                                                               | The instance is **Stopped**                                  |
| Stop          | Asks the operating system to shut down cleanly and waits up to 5 minutes; on timeout or failure, automatically falls back to a force stop | Everyday shutdown — prefer this                              |
| Force stop    | Cuts power immediately without notifying the operating system                                                                             | The system is unresponsive and a clean shutdown does nothing |
| Restart       | Equivalent to Stop followed by Start, including the same 5-minute wait and fallback                                                       | Everyday restart — prefer this                               |
| Force restart | Equivalent to Force stop followed by Start, with no wait for a clean shutdown                                                             | The system is unresponsive and cannot restart normally       |

Both **Stop** and **Restart** try a clean shutdown first. If that step times out or fails, the overall action does **not** fail — the platform automatically proceeds to a force stop. In most cases you never need to select the force checkbox.

## Before you begin

- **Permissions**: your role must include the instance operate permission. Project members and above have it by default; project viewers do not, and the buttons stay disabled.
- **The instance must be fully provisioned**: power actions are unavailable while the instance is **Pending** or **Provisioning**.
- **No work request in progress**: power actions are rejected while a create, rebuild, upgrade, migrate, or delete task is pending or running.

## Start an instance

1. Go to **Compute > Instances** and open the instance detail page.
2. Confirm the state is **Stopped**.
3. Select **Start**. Starting has no confirmation dialog; it runs immediately.
4. The state changes to **Starting**, then to **Running** when the action completes.

Selecting **Start** on an instance that is already running has no effect and creates no work request.

## Stop an instance

1. On the instance detail page, select **Stop**.
2. The **Stop instance** dialog opens and states: "The system will first ask the operating system to shut down cleanly."
3. Select **Stop instance** to confirm.
4. The state changes to **Stopping**. The platform asks the operating system to shut down and waits up to 5 minutes.
5. If the system shuts down cleanly, the state becomes **Stopped**. If it does not shut down within 5 minutes, the platform performs a force stop automatically, retrying up to 3 times.

_Interface illustration: Stop instance confirmation dialog: title, clean shutdown description, force checkbox, and confirm button_

## Force stop an instance

Force stop lives inside the same confirmation dialog; it is not a separate button.

1. Select **Stop** to open the dialog.
2. Select the **Cut power immediately and force stop the instance** checkbox.
3. The dialog shows a warning: "A forced action may cause unsaved data loss or file system damage." The confirm button turns red and its label changes to **Force stop instance**.
4. Confirm. The platform skips the shutdown request and cuts power directly.

A force stop is equivalent to pulling the plug: **the operating system gets no chance to flush its caches to disk**. Databases and applications that are mid-write can be left in an inconsistent state. Do not select this unless the system has stopped responding.

The restart dialog offers the matching **Cut power immediately and force restart the instance** checkbox, which behaves the same way.

Selecting **Stop** on an instance that is already stopped has no effect and creates no work request.

## Restart an instance

A restart is **not** an in-guest `reboot`. The platform genuinely powers the instance down and back up, so:

- After you submit, the state shows **Stopping first**, then **Starting**. Seeing **Stopping** is expected and does not mean the restart failed.
- Every process inside the instance ends. Data that was not written to disk is not preserved.
- **Restart** waits up to 5 minutes for a clean shutdown. With the force checkbox selected, it does not wait — it cuts power and then powers back on.

## What happens after you stop an instance

- **Billing continues.** Pay-as-you-go instances are billed by the hour for as long as they exist. Stopping only shuts down the operating system; it does not release the instance. Deleting it is the only way to stop charges.
- **System disk data is preserved.** Stopping does not erase the disk. Your data is still there when you start the instance again.
- **The instance still counts against quota.** Stopped instances continue to consume project and space instance quota.

## When an action is rejected

Power actions are validated before they are submitted. The dashboard displays the platform's message verbatim, and these messages are currently returned in Chinese regardless of your interface language. Each message is quoted below, followed by what to do.

### A work request is already in progress

> 此实例正有工作请求正在进行，因此您无法操作此实例。请等待最长 15 分钟，然后重试。如果您遇到问题，请联系 Cypacky Support 以获取帮助。

A create, rebuild, upgrade, migrate, or delete task on this instance is pending or running. Open **Work requests** on the instance detail page and wait for the last task to finish before retrying. Clicking the button repeatedly does not make it succeed sooner.

### The instance is under maintenance

> 此实例正在维护。请前往 https://status.cypacky.com 查看服务状态。如果您有疑惑，请在 Cypacky Support 获取帮助。

The host the instance runs on is in maintenance. Start, stop, restart, delete, and terminate are all unavailable during this time. The actions become available again once maintenance ends.

### The instance is not provisioned

> 实例未配置，请重装

The instance never completed its initial provisioning, so there is no system disk to power on. Rebuild the instance from the detail page, then use the power actions once provisioning finishes.

### The instance is awaiting payment

> 此实例正在等待支付激活，当前无法执行该操作。

The activation invoice for this instance has not been paid. Complete the payment; power actions become available once the instance is activated.

### The instance is delinquent

> 此实例当前处于欠费状态，当前无法执行该操作。

The instance has entered a delinquent billing state. Settle the outstanding balance to restore power actions.

### An upgrade or traffic-reset invoice is unpaid

> 此实例有待支付的升级或流量重置账单，当前操作可能与付款兑现冲突。

Paying this invoice changes the instance's shape or traffic allowance, which can conflict with a power action running at the same time. Complete or cancel that invoice first.

### A paid invoice is still being applied

> 此实例有已支付账单正在兑现，请等待账单动作完成后再操作。

The platform is applying the change that the invoice paid for. Wait for it to finish before running a power action.

### The instance is locked by an abuse case

> 此实例因安全投诉已被锁定。当前操作不可用，请联系 Cypacky Support。

The instance has been locked following an abuse report, and power actions are disabled. Contact Cypacky Support through a ticket to learn the reason and the conditions for unlocking.

## The instance is stuck in Stopping or Starting

A background task periodically reconciles instances that have no active work request against their real power state at the virtualization layer, so brief mismatches usually resolve on their own. Refreshing the page does not cancel an action in progress.

If the state does not change for an extended period:

1. Open **Work requests** on the instance detail page and find the entry for this power action.
2. Check its state and latest error message.
3. If you need to contact support, record the work request ID, the instance ID, the space and region, and the exact error text.

## Related documentation

- [Instance details](/compute/instances/detail/)
- [Work requests](/compute/operations/work-requests/)
- [Maintenance events](/compute/operations/maintenance-events/)
- [Delete an instance](/compute/instances/management/delete/)