diff --git a/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go b/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go
index f52ee6321..d7b745d58 100644
--- a/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go
+++ b/builder/googlecompute/driver_gce.go
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ func (d *driverGCE) RunInstance(c *InstanceConfig) (<-chan error, error) {
 	for k, v := range c.Metadata {
 		metadata = append(metadata, &compute.MetadataItems{
 			Key:   k,
-			Value: v,
+			Value: &v,
 		})
 	}