Preparing a Windows AMI

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud: 2009-10-31

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Preparing a Windows AMI

This section describes and provides instructions on how to prepare an AMI in Windows.

[Note] Note

Before selecting an AMI, determine whether the instance types you plan to launch are 32-bit or 64-bit. For more information, see Instance Types

To create an AMI using Windows, complete the following tasks.

Tasks to Use an Existing AMI

1

How to Select an AMI

2

How to Generate a Key Pair

3

How to Launch the Instance

4

How to Get the Administrator Password

5

How to Authorize Network Access

6

How to Connect to the Instance

7

How to Load Software and Make Changes

How to Select an AMI

First, locate an AMI that contains the packages and services you require. This can be one of your own AMIs, a public AMI provided by Amazon EC2, or a public AMI provided by a Amazon EC2 developer or user.

To select an AMI

  1. To get a list of available AMIs, enter the ec2-describe-images command:

    C:\> ec2-describe-images -o self -o amazon | findstr /i windows

IMAGE   ami-e6cd298f    Key2047/test.manifest.xml       720208972571    available       private         x86_64  machine                 windows

    The response includes the image ID, the location of the file in Amazon S3, the image type, and whether the file is available.

  2. Choose an AMI from the list and write down its AMI ID.

How to Generate a Key Pair

You must create a public/private key pair to ensure that only you have access to instances that you launch. After you generate a key pair, the public key is stored in Amazon EC2 using the key pair name you selected. Whenever you launch an instance using the key pair name, the public key is copied to the instance metadata. This allows you to access the instance securely using your private key.

To create a public/private key pair

  1. Enter the following command:

                  PROMPT> 
               ec2-add-keypair <keypair-name>

    The <keypair-name> is the name you select for the key pair.

    The resulting private key is displayed.

  2. Open a text editor.

  3. Paste the entire private key, starting with the line "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----" and ending with the line "-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----".

  4. Save the file and exit.

    [Note] Note

    This file should only be readable by the file owner.

Example 

PROMPT>  ec2-add-keypair gsg-keypair
KEYPAIR gsg-keypair 1f:51:ae:28:bf:89:e9:d8:1f:25:5d:37:2d:7d:b8:ca:9f:f5:f1:6f
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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==
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

How to Launch the Instance

You are now ready to launch an instance of the AMI that you previously selected.

To launch an instance

  1. Start the launch by entering the following command:

                  PROMPT> 
               ec2-run-instances <ami_id> -k <keypair-name>

    The <ami_id> is the AMI ID you selected earlier and <keypair-name> is the name of the key pair. The command will return the AMI instance ID, a unique identifier for each launched instance. You use the instance ID to manipulate the instance. This includes viewing the status of the instance, terminating the instance, and so on.

    Launching the instance will take a few minutes.

  2. View the progress of the instance by entering the following command:

    PROMPT>  ec2-describe-instances <instance_id>

    The <instance_id> is the ID of the instance.

    When the status field displays running, the instance was created and is booting.

  3. Verify the instance is ready by entering the following command:

    PROMPT>  ec2-get-console-output <instance_id>

    Look for the message: "Windows is Ready to use."

[Note] Note

The instance might not be immediately accessible over the network. Make sure to use the appropriate DNS name provided by the ec2-describe-instances command.

[Important] Important

Once you launch an instance, AWS bills you for all usage, including hourly CPU time. Make sure to stop (Amazon EBS-backed instances only) or terminate any instances that you do not want to leave running. For information on Amazon EC2 pricing, go to the Amazon EC2 home page.

Example

The following example launches an instance of ami-2bb65342.

PROMPT> ec2-run-instances ami-2bb65342 -k gsg-keypair
RESERVATION     r-302dc059      416161254515    default
INSTANCE        i-eb977f82      ami-2bb65342                    pending gsg-keypair     0    m1.small   2007-10-16T07:56:20+0000    us-east-1a

The following shows the status of the launch:

PROMPT>  ec2-describe-instances i-eb977f82 
RESERVATION     r-302dc059      416161254515    default
INSTANCE        i-eb977f82      ami-2bb65342    ec2-72-44-40-222.compute-1.amazonaws.com    10-251-50-83.ec2.internal   running gsg-keypair     0     m1.small    2007-10-16T07:56:20+0000    us-east-1a   windows

How to Get the Administrator Password

After you launch an instance, get its administrator password.

[Note] Note

If you launch a public AMI, you must get its administrator password. A rebundled AMI uses the last password that you set before bundling it.

Before you rebundle an AMI, you can change its administrator password. The new password will be the administrator password for all instances launched from this AMI.

To get the administrator password

  • Enter the following command:

        PROMPT> 
         ec2-get-password  -k gsg-keypair  instance_id

The parameter gsg-keypair is the name of the file where you saved the private portion of the key pair you created and instance_id is the ID of the instance.

Amazon EC2 returns the Windows password.

Example

The following example gets the Windows password for instance i-eb977f82.

PROMPT> ec2-get-password -k id_rsa-gsg-keypair i-eb977f82
 Qr89fdS1w

How to Authorize Network Access

To reach a running instance from the Internet, you must enable access for Remote Desktop on port 3389.

To enable Remote Desktop on port 3389

  1. Get the public IP address of your local machine by going to a search engine, entering "what is my IP address," and using one of the provided services.

  2. Authorize the security group to allow Remote Desktop access:

    PROMPT>  ec2-authorize default -p 3389 -s your_ip_address/32
PERMISSION     default  ALLOWS  tcp     3389      3389      FROM    CIDR   your_ip_address/32

How to Connect to the Instance

After an instance starts, you can log in and modify it according to your requirements.

To connect to your instance

  1. Retrieve the FQDN of your instance.

    This example retrieves the FQDN of the i-ae0bf0c7 instance.

    PROMPT>  ec2-describe-instances i-ae0bf0c7 
				RESERVATION  r-7430c31d  924417782495  default
				INSTANCE  i-ae0bf0c7  ami-2bb65342  ec2-67-202-7-236.compute-1.amazonaws.com  ip-10-251-31-162.ec2.internal  running  gsg-keypair  0               m1.small        2008-03-21T16:19:25+0000	us-east-1a

    In this example, the FQDN is ec2-67-202-7-236.compute-1.amazonaws.com

  2. From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and click Remote Desktop Connection.

    The Remote Desktop Connection dialog box appears.

  3. Enter the FQDN in the Computer field and click Connect.

    The Remote Desktop Connection client connects to the instance.

  4. Enter administrator as the user name and enter the password you retrieved in How to Get the Administrator Password. .

You now have complete control over the instance. You can add, remove, modify, or upgrade packages and files to suit your needs.

[Important] Important

We recommend you exercise extreme care if you change any basic Amazon EC2 configuration settings. Otherwise, the AMI might become unbootable or inaccessible from the network once it is running.

How to Load Software and Make Changes

Now that you are logged into the Windows instance, you can load software and make changes as you would with any Windows server. When you are finished with your changes, you can bundle the changes as a new AMI and launch an identical copy at any time. For information on bundling AMIs, see Creating an AMI

[Note] Note

By default, Amazon EC2 instances running Windows do not have Automatic Updates enabled.

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