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Elastic Compute Service:Start an instance

Last Updated:May 15, 2026

Start an ECS instance that is in the Stopped or Expired state from the console or by calling an API operation.

Prerequisites

The instance is in one of the following states:

  • Stopped.

  • Expired due to an overdue payment. The payment is settled, but the instance is not automatically reactivated.

Background

After you settle the overdue payment for a pay-as-you-go instance, the instance is automatically reactivated. If the instance does not enter the Running state within 10 minutes, manually reactivate it.

Important

After you reactivate a pay-as-you-go instance that was stopped due to an overdue payment, billing resumes. Release unneeded instances to avoid unnecessary costs.

Start an instance in the ECS console

  1. Go to ECS console - Instances.

  2. In the upper-left corner of the page, select a region and resource group.地域

  3. Click the instance ID to go to the instance details page.

  4. Click All Operations in the upper-right corner.

  5. Search for and click Start.

  6. In the Start Instance dialog box, confirm the instance information and click OK.

    The instance status changes to Starting and then to Running, which indicates the instance is started.

    Important

Start instances by calling an API operation

Call the following API operations to start one or more instances. See Integration overview for API usage details.