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You are trying to create a Compute Engine VM instance and receive the error: "The resource 'projects/my-project' was not found." What is the most likely cause of the error?
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the order of API validation steps — candidates mistakenly think permission errors come first, but Google Cloud validates project existence before checking IAM permissions.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The project does not exist
The error message "The resource 'projects/my-project' was not found" indicates that the specified project does not exist or the project ID is incorrect. The most likely cause is that the project does not exist.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The machine type is invalid
Why it's wrong here
An invalid machine type would produce a field-specific error such as 'Invalid value for field 'machineType'' or 'Unknown machine type'. The error described indicates a project-level resource cannot be found, not a validation failure. N1-standard-1 is a predefined, generally available machine type, so it is not the cause of this particular error.
- ✗
The zone is incorrect
Why it's wrong here
A zone error occurs when the specified zone does not exist or is unavailable, often returning a message like 'The zone does not exist' or 'zone not found'. The error message in question references the project as the missing element, not a geographic location. Furthermore, 'us-central1-a' is a valid, active zone within a standard region, making this option incorrect.
- ✗
The user lacks compute.instances.create permission
Why it's wrong here
IAM permission failures return a 403 Forbidden status with a message indicating 'required permission' or 'permission denied' on a specific resource. The error here is a 404 Not Found, meaning the project identifier itself is invalid, not that the user lacks authorization. Since the project cannot be located, the API cannot even evaluate permissions for a non-existent resource.
- ✓
The project does not exist
Why this is correct
When creating an instance, the Compute Engine API receives the project ID as part of the request path. If the project ID is mistyped, deleted, or never existed, the API returns a 404 error stating the project was not found. This error typically appears as 'The project X was not found' or 'Project not found', which matches the scenario described in the question.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Compute Comparison: VMs vs Containers vs Serverless
Key term
Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google Cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering that lets you create and run virtual machines on Google's infrastructure.
Key term
Project
A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end, undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result, managed through specific processes in IT environments.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.