diff --git a/builtin/providers/google/provider_test.go b/builtin/providers/google/provider_test.go
index b6f6859e4..a93038fe7 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/google/provider_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/google/provider_test.go
@@ -78,6 +78,10 @@ func testAccPreCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	if v := os.Getenv("GOOGLE_XPN_HOST_PROJECT"); v == "" {
 		t.Fatal("GOOGLE_XPN_HOST_PROJECT must be set for acceptance tests")
 	}
+
+	if v := os.Getenv("GOOGLE_COMPUTE_DISK_SNAPSHOT_URI"); v == "" {
+		t.Fatal("GOOGLE_COMPUTE_DISK_SNAPSHOT_URI must be set for acceptance tests")
+	}
 }
 
 func TestProvider_getRegionFromZone(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk.go b/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk.go
index 2b4148baa..04cbca51c 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package google
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
+	"regexp"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/schema"
 	"google.golang.org/api/compute/v1"
@@ -129,17 +130,21 @@ func resourceComputeDiskCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
 
 	if v, ok := d.GetOk("snapshot"); ok {
 		snapshotName := v.(string)
-		log.Printf("[DEBUG] Loading snapshot: %s", snapshotName)
-		snapshotData, err := config.clientCompute.Snapshots.Get(
-			project, snapshotName).Do()
+		match, _ := regexp.MatchString("^https://www.googleapis.com/compute", snapshotName)
+		if match {
+			disk.SourceSnapshot = snapshotName
+		} else {
+			log.Printf("[DEBUG] Loading snapshot: %s", snapshotName)
+			snapshotData, err := config.clientCompute.Snapshots.Get(
+				project, snapshotName).Do()
 
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf(
-				"Error loading snapshot '%s': %s",
-				snapshotName, err)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf(
+					"Error loading snapshot '%s': %s",
+					snapshotName, err)
+			}
+			disk.SourceSnapshot = snapshotData.SelfLink
 		}
-
-		disk.SourceSnapshot = snapshotData.SelfLink
 	}
 
 	if v, ok := d.GetOk("disk_encryption_key_raw"); ok {
diff --git a/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk_test.go b/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk_test.go
index 478144e7e..c86d42203 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/google/resource_compute_disk_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package google
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/acctest"
@@ -30,6 +31,30 @@ func TestAccComputeDisk_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestAccComputeDisk_from_snapshot_uri(t *testing.T) {
+	diskName := fmt.Sprintf("tf-test-%s", acctest.RandString(10))
+	firstDiskName := fmt.Sprintf("tf-test-%s", acctest.RandString(10))
+	snapshotName := fmt.Sprintf("tf-test-%s", acctest.RandString(10))
+	var xpn_host = os.Getenv("GOOGLE_XPN_HOST_PROJECT")
+
+	var disk compute.Disk
+
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
+		Providers:    testAccProviders,
+		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckComputeDiskDestroy,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccComputeDisk_from_snapshot_uri(firstDiskName, snapshotName, diskName, xpn_host),
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					testAccCheckComputeDiskExists(
+						"google_compute_disk.seconddisk", &disk),
+				),
+			},
+		},
+	})
+}
+
 func TestAccComputeDisk_encryption(t *testing.T) {
 	diskName := fmt.Sprintf("tf-test-%s", acctest.RandString(10))
 	var disk compute.Disk
@@ -130,6 +155,31 @@ resource "google_compute_disk" "foobar" {
 }`, diskName)
 }
 
+func testAccComputeDisk_from_snapshot_uri(firstDiskName string, snapshotName string, diskName string, xpn_host string) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf(`
+		resource "google_compute_disk" "foobar" {
+			name = "%s"
+			image = "debian-8-jessie-v20160803"
+			size = 50
+			type = "pd-ssd"
+			zone = "us-central1-a"
+			project = "%s"
+		}
+
+resource "google_compute_snapshot" "snapdisk" {
+  name = "%s"
+  source_disk = "${google_compute_disk.foobar.name}"
+  zone = "us-central1-a"
+	project = "%s"
+}
+resource "google_compute_disk" "seconddisk" {
+	name = "%s"
+	snapshot = "${google_compute_snapshot.snapdisk.self_link}"
+	type = "pd-ssd"
+	zone = "us-central1-a"
+}`, firstDiskName, xpn_host, snapshotName, xpn_host, diskName)
+}
+
 func testAccComputeDisk_encryption(diskName string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf(`
 resource "google_compute_disk" "foobar" {