Amazon Windows Server license-included SQL Server AMIs - Amazon Windows AMIs
Find Windows Server AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Amazon Windows Server license-included SQL Server AMIs

Amazon Windows AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server include one of the following SQL Server editions. Launching an instance from a Windows AMI with Microsoft SQL Server enables you to run the instance as a database server.

  • SQL Enterprise Edition

  • SQL Server Standard

  • SQL Server Express

  • SQL Server Web

For more information about running Microsoft SQL Server on EC2, see the Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Each Amazon Windows AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server AMI also includes the following features:

  • Automatic Windows and SQL Server updates

  • SQL Server Management Studio included

  • Preconfigured SQL Server service accounts

Find Windows Server AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server

Amazon managed AMIs always include the AMI creation date as part of the name. The best way to ensure that your search returns the AMIs that you're looking for is to add date filtering for the name. Use one of the following command line options to find an AMI.

Amazon CLI
Find the latest SQL AMIs

The following example retrieves a list of the latest Windows Server AMIs that include Microsoft SQL Server.

aws ssm get-parameters-by-path \
    --path "/aws/service/ami-windows-latest" \
    --recursive \
    --query 'Parameters[*].{Name:Name,Value:Value}' \
    --output text | grep ".*Windows_Server-.*SQL.*" | sort
Find a specific AMI

The following example retrieves Windows Server AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server by filtering on the AMI name, the owner, the platform, and the creation date (year and month). Output is formatted as a table with columns for the AMI name and image ID.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners amazon \
    --filters \
        "Name=name,Values=*SQL*" \
        "Name=platform,Values=windows" \
        "Name=creation-date,Values=2025-05*" \
    --query 'Images[].[Name,ImageId]' \
    --output text | sort
PowerShell (recommended)
Find the latest SQL AMIs

The following example retrieves a list of the latest Windows Server AMIs that include Microsoft SQL Server.

Get-SSMLatestEC2Image `
    -Path ami-windows-latest `
    -ImageName *Windows_Server-*SQL* | `
Sort-Object Name
Note

If this command doesn't run in your environment, you might be missing a PowerShell module. For more information about this command, see Get-SSMLatestEC2Image Cmdlet.

Alternatively, you can use the CloudShell console and run pwsh to bring up a PowerShell prompt that already has all of the Amazon tools installed. For more information, see the Amazon CloudShell User Guide.

Find a specific AMI

The following example retrieves Windows Server AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server by filtering on the AMI name, the owner, the platform, and the creation date (year and month). Output is formatted as a table with columns for the AMI name and image ID.

Get-EC2Image `
    -Owner amazon `
    -Filter @(
        @{Name = "name"; Values = @("*SQL*")},
        @{Name = "owner-alias"; Values = @("amazon")},
        @{Name = "platform"; Values = "windows"},
        @{Name = "creation-date"; Values = @("2025-05*")}
    ) | `
Sort-Object Name |`
Format-Table Name, ImageID -AutoSize