The current document is directed to methods and systems that efficiently distribute virtual-machine images (“VM images”) among servers within large, distributed-computer-system-implemented IAAS platforms to facilitate temporally and computationally efficient instantiation of virtual machines within the servers. In implementations discussed below, VM images are stored in a distributed fashion throughout one or more distributed computing systems, using several different VM-image-distribution models, in order to balance computational-resource usage, temporal constraints, and other factors and considerations related to VM-image distribution and VM instantiation.