diff --git a/.changelog/5955.txt b/.changelog/5955.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..95adc47e7f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/5955.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+compute: fixed a crash when `compute.instance` is not found
+```
diff --git a/google/resource_compute_instance.go b/google/resource_compute_instance.go
index d2d5a15041d..0c849f887f4 100644
--- a/google/resource_compute_instance.go
+++ b/google/resource_compute_instance.go
@@ -1393,7 +1393,7 @@ func resourceComputeInstanceUpdate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) err
 	// Change back to getInstance(config, d) once updating alias ips is GA.
 	instance, err := config.NewComputeClient(userAgent).Instances.Get(project, zone, d.Get("name").(string)).Do()
 	if err != nil {
-		return handleNotFoundError(err, d, fmt.Sprintf("Instance %s", instance.Name))
+		return handleNotFoundError(err, d, fmt.Sprintf("Instance %s", d.Get("name").(string)))
 	}
 
 	// Enable partial mode for the resource since it is possible