Recent work has clearly demonstrated that bonding a photonic crystal (PhC) membrane on to a low-index substrate such as sapphire is a viable means to make lasers that operate continuous wave (CW) at room temperature [1–2]. Though the substrate (which has a refractive index larger than that of air) reduces the quality (Q) factor, as compared to a suspended membrane, it also greatly increases the thermal conductivity, thereby reducing the temperature of the active medium [1–2]. Many different bonding techniques have been used, including direct semiconductor-to-dielectric bonding [1–3], BCB bonding [4], and Au/In bonding [5]. We demonstrate a simple metal-metal Van-der-Waals bonding method [6] to bond an InGaAsP membrane active layer to a carrier substrate to produce a CW, room temperature, photo-pumped PhC laser. While previous reports have demonstrated graphite band-edge PhC lasers with a metal backing [4–5], here we report on defect cavity PhC lasers with a buried metal layer.