Digital Ocean Download Patched Droplet Image May 2026

You cannot download a "live" running Droplet. You must first create a compressed image of its disk, known as a snapshot.

DigitalOcean stores snapshots in a proprietary internal format. To make it downloadable, you need to move it to the section. Navigate to the Images tab in the main sidebar. Find your snapshot under the Snapshots sub-tab. digital ocean download droplet image

Click the More button next to your image and select Export to Spaces . You cannot download a "live" running Droplet

The most reliable way to download a large image is to export it to (S3-compatible storage). Go to Images: Navigate to Snapshots or Custom Images . To make it downloadable, you need to move it to the section

Choose an existing Space or create a new one.

Exports are typically in QCOW2 format. You can use tools like qemu-img to convert these to VMDK (for VMware) or VHD (for Azure/Hyper-V).