diff --git a/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resource_cloudstack_instance.go b/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resource_cloudstack_instance.go
index 600001a27..f0e52b588 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resource_cloudstack_instance.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resource_cloudstack_instance.go
@@ -95,18 +95,18 @@ func resourceCloudStackInstanceCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{})
 		return e.Error()
 	}
 
-	// Retrieve the template UUID
-	templateid, e := retrieveUUID(cs, "template", d.Get("template").(string))
-	if e != nil {
-		return e.Error()
-	}
-
 	// Retrieve the zone object
 	zone, _, err := cs.Zone.GetZoneByName(d.Get("zone").(string))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Retrieve the template UUID
+	templateid, e := retrieveTemplateUUID(cs, zone.Id, d.Get("template").(string))
+	if e != nil {
+		return e.Error()
+	}
+
 	// Create a new parameter struct
 	p := cs.VirtualMachine.NewDeployVirtualMachineParams(serviceofferingid, templateid, zone.Id)
 
diff --git a/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resources.go b/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resources.go
index acef7b3da..76d38eb7c 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resources.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/cloudstack/resources.go
@@ -40,8 +40,6 @@ func retrieveUUID(cs *cloudstack.CloudStackClient, name, value string) (uuid str
 		uuid, err = cs.VPC.GetVPCOfferingID(value)
 	case "vpc":
 		uuid, err = cs.VPC.GetVPCID(value)
-	case "template":
-		uuid, err = cs.Template.GetTemplateID(value, "executable")
 	case "network":
 		uuid, err = cs.Network.GetNetworkID(value)
 	case "zone":
@@ -71,6 +69,22 @@ func retrieveUUID(cs *cloudstack.CloudStackClient, name, value string) (uuid str
 	return uuid, nil
 }
 
+func retrieveTemplateUUID(cs *cloudstack.CloudStackClient, zoneid, value string) (uuid string, e *retrieveError) {
+	// If the supplied value isn't a UUID, try to retrieve the UUID ourselves
+	if isUUID(value) {
+		return value, nil
+	}
+
+	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Retrieving UUID of template: %s", value)
+
+	uuid, err := cs.Template.GetTemplateID(value, "executable", zoneid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return uuid, &retrieveError{name: "template", value: value, err: err}
+	}
+
+	return uuid, nil
+}
+
 func isUUID(s string) bool {
 	re := regexp.MustCompile(`^[0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-9a-f]{12}$`)
 	return re.MatchString(s)