Find an AMI - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Find an AMI using the Amazon EC2 consoleFind an AMI using the Amazon CLIFind an AMI using the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShellFind an AMI using a Systems Manager parameterFind the latest AMIs using Systems ManagerMore information for finding AMIs
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).

Find an AMI

An AMI includes the components and applications, such as the operating system and type of root volume, required to launch an instance. To launch an instance that meets your needs, you must find an AMI that meets your needs.

When selecting an AMI, consider the following requirements you might have for the instances that you want to launch:

  • The Region – AMI IDs are unique to each Amazon Region.

  • The operating system

  • The architecture: 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64), or 64-bit ARM (arm64)

  • The root device type: Amazon EBS or instance store

  • The provider (for example, Amazon Web Services)

  • Additional software (for example, SQL Server)

There are various ways to find an AMI that meets your needs. This topic describes how to find an AMI using the Amazon EC2 console, Amazon CLI, Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell, and Amazon Systems Manager.

Find an AMI using the Amazon EC2 console

You can find AMIs using the Amazon EC2 console. You can select from the list of AMIs when you use the launch instance wizard to launch an instance, or you can search through all available AMIs using the Images page.

To find an AMI using the launch instance wizard

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

  2. From the navigation bar, select the Region in which to launch your instances. You can select any Region that's available to you, regardless of your location. AMI IDs are unique to each Amazon Region.

  3. From the console dashboard, choose Launch instance.

  4. (New console) Under Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image), choose Quick Start, choose the operating system (OS) for your instance, and then, from Amazon Machine Image (AMI), select from one of the commonly used AMIs in the list. If you don't see the AMI that you want to use, choose Browse more AMIs to browse the full AMI catalog. For more information, see Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image).

    (Old console) On the Quick Start tab, select from one of the commonly used AMIs in the list. If you don't see the AMI that you want to use, choose the My AMIs, Amazon Web Services Marketplace, or Community AMIs tab to find additional AMIs. For more information, see Step 1: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).

To find an AMI using the AMIs page

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

  2. From the navigation bar, select the Region in which to launch your instances. You can select any Region that's available to you, regardless of your location. AMI IDs are unique to each Amazon Region.

  3. In the navigation pane, choose AMIs.

  4. (Optional) Use the filter and search options to scope the list of displayed AMIs to see only the AMIs that match your criteria.

    For example, to list all AMIs provided by Amazon, choose Public images. Then use the search options to further scope the list of displayed AMIs. Choose the Search bar and, from the menu, choose Owner alias, then the = operator, and then the value amazon. To find AMIs that match a specific platform, for example Linux or Windows, choose the Search bar again to choose Platform, then the = operator, and then the operating system from the list provided.

  5. (Optional) Choose the Preferences icon to select which image attributes to display, such as the root device type. Alternatively, you can select an AMI from the list and view its properties on the Details tab.

  6. Before you select an AMI, it's important that you check whether it's backed by instance store or by Amazon EBS and that you are aware of the effects of this difference. For more information, see Storage for the root device.

  7. To launch an instance from this AMI, select it and then choose Launch instance from image. For more information about launching an instance using the console, see Launch an instance using the new launch instance wizard. If you're not ready to launch the instance now, make note of the AMI ID for later.

Find an AMI using the Amazon CLI

You can use the describe-images Amazon CLI command to list only the AMIs that match your requirements. After locating an AMI that matches your requirements, make note of its ID so that you can use it to launch instances. For more information, see Launch your instance in the Amazon Command Line Interface User Guide.

The describe-images command supports filtering parameters. For example, use the --owners parameter to display public AMIs owned by Amazon.

aws ec2 describe-images --owners amazon

You can add the following filter to the previous command to display only Windows AMIs.

--filters "Name=platform,Values=windows"

You can add the following filter to the previous command to display only AMIs backed by Amazon EBS.

--filters "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs"
Important

If you omit the --owners parameter from the describe-images command, all images are returned for which you have launch permissions, regardless of ownership.

Find an AMI using the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell

You can use PowerShell cmdlets to list only the Windows AMIs that match your requirements. For information and examples, see Find an Amazon Machine Image Using Windows PowerShell in the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide.

After locating an AMI that matches your requirements, make note of its ID so that you can use it to launch instances. For more information, see Launch an Amazon EC2 Instance Using Windows PowerShell in the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide.

Find an AMI using a Systems Manager parameter

When you launch an instance using the EC2 launch instance wizard in the Amazon EC2 console, you can either select an AMI from the list (described in Find an AMI using the Amazon EC2 console), or you can select an Amazon Systems Manager parameter that points to an AMI ID (described in this section). If you use automation code to launch your instances, you can specify the Systems Manager parameter instead of the AMI ID.

A Systems Manager parameter is a customer-defined key-value pair that you can create in Systems Manager Parameter Store. The Parameter Store provides a central store to externalize your application configuration values. For more information, see Amazon Systems Manager Parameter Store in the Amazon Systems Manager User Guide.

When you create a parameter that points to an AMI ID, make sure that you specify the data type as aws:ec2:image. Specifying this data type ensures that when the parameter is created or modified, the parameter value is validated as an AMI ID. For more information, see Native parameter support for Amazon Machine Image IDs in the Amazon Systems Manager User Guide.

Use cases

When you use Systems Manager parameters to point to AMI IDs, it is easier for your users to select the correct AMI when launching instances. Systems Manager parameters can also simplify the maintenance of automation code.

Easier for users

If you require instances to be launched using a specific AMI, and the AMI is regularly updated, we recommend that you require your users to select a Systems Manager parameter to find the AMI. Requiring your users to select a Systems Manager parameter ensures that the latest AMI is used to launch instances.

For example, every month in your organization you might create a new version of your AMI that has the latest operating system and application patches. You also require your users to launch instances using the latest version of your AMI. To ensure that your users use the latest version, you can create a Systems Manager parameter (for example, golden-ami) that points to the correct AMI ID. Each time a new version of the AMI is created, you update the AMI ID value in the parameter so that it always points to the latest AMI. Your users don't have to know about the periodic updates to the AMI because they continue to select the same Systems Manager parameter each time. Using a Systems Manager parameter for your AMI makes it easier for them to select the correct AMI for an instance launch.

Simplify automation code maintenance

If you use automation code to launch your instances, you can specify the Systems Manager parameter instead of the AMI ID. If a new version of the AMI is created, you can change the AMI ID value in the parameter so that it points to the latest AMI. The automation code that references the parameter doesn’t have to be modified each time a new version of the AMI is created. This simplifies the maintenance of the automation and helps to drive down deployment costs.

Note

Running instances are not affected when you change the AMI ID pointed to by the Systems Manager parameter.

Permissions

If you use Systems Manager parameters that point to AMI IDs in the launch instance wizard, you must add the following permissions to your IAM policy:

  • ssm:DescribeParameters – Grants permission to view and select Systems Manager parameters.

  • ssm:GetParameters – Grants permission to retrieve the values of the Systems Manager parameters.

You can also restrict access to specific Systems Manager parameters. For more information and example IAM policies, see Example: Use the EC2 launch instance wizard.

Limitations

AMIs and Systems Manager parameters are Region specific. To use the same Systems Manager parameter name across Regions, create a Systems Manager parameter in each Region with the same name (for example, golden-ami). In each Region, point the Systems Manager parameter to an AMI in that Region.

Launch an instance using a Systems Manager parameter

You can launch an instance using the console or the Amazon CLI. Instead of specifying an AMI ID, you can specify an Amazon Systems Manager parameter that points to an AMI ID.

New console
To find an AMI using a Systems Manager parameter (console)

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

  2. From the navigation bar, select the Region in which to launch your instances. You can select any Region that's available to you, regardless of your location.

  3. From the console dashboard, choose Launch instance.

  4. Under Application and OS Images (Amazon Machine Image), choose Browse more AMIs.

  5. Choose the arrow button to the right of the search bar, and then choose Search by Systems Manager parameter.

  6. For Systems Manager parameter, select a parameter. The corresponding AMI ID appears below Currently resolves to.

  7. Choose Search. The AMIs that match the AMI ID appear in the list.

  8. Select the AMI from the list, and choose Select.

For more information about launching an instance using the launch instance wizard, see Launch an instance using the new launch instance wizard.

Old console
To find an AMI using a Systems Manager parameter (console)

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

  2. From the navigation bar, select the Region in which to launch your instances. You can select any Region that's available to you, regardless of your location.

  3. From the console dashboard, choose Launch instance.

  4. Choose Search by Systems Manager parameter (at top right).

  5. For Systems Manager parameter, select a parameter. The corresponding AMI ID appears next to Currently resolves to.

  6. Choose Search. The AMIs that match the AMI ID appear in the list.

  7. Select the AMI from the list, and choose Select.

For more information about launching an instance from an AMI using the launch instance wizard, see Step 1: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
To launch an instance using an Amazon Systems Manager parameter instead of an AMI ID (Amazon CLI)

The following example uses the Systems Manager parameter golden-ami to launch an m5.xlarge instance. The parameter points to an AMI ID.

To specify the parameter in the command, use the following syntax: resolve:ssm:/parameter-name, where resolve:ssm is the standard prefix and parameter-name is the unique parameter name. Note that the parameter name is case-sensitive. Backslashes for the parameter name are only necessary when the parameter is part of a hierarchy, for example, /amis/production/golden-ami. You can omit the backslash if the parameter is not part of a hierarchy.

In this example, the --count and --security-group parameters are not included. For --count, the default is 1. If you have a default VPC and a default security group, they are used.

aws ec2 run-instances 
    --image-id resolve:ssm:/golden-ami 
    --instance-type m5.xlarge 
    ...
To launch an instance using a specific version of an Amazon Systems Manager parameter (Amazon CLI)

Systems Manager parameters have version support. Each iteration of a parameter is assigned a unique version number. You can reference the version of the parameter as follows resolve:ssm:parameter-name:version, where version is the unique version number. By default, the latest version of the parameter is used when no version is specified.

The following example uses version 2 of the parameter.

In this example, the --count and --security-group parameters are not included. For --count, the default is 1 If you have a default VPC and a default security group, they are used.

aws ec2 run-instances 
    --image-id resolve:ssm:/golden-ami:2 
    --instance-type m5.xlarge 
    ...
To launch an instance using a public parameter provided by Amazon

Systems Manager provides public parameters for public AMIs provided by Amazon. You can use the public parameters when launching instances to ensure that you're using the latest AMIs.

For more information, see Find the latest AMIs using Systems Manager.

Find the latest AMIs using Systems Manager

Amazon Systems Manager provides public parameters for public AMIs maintained by Amazon. You can use the public parameters when launching instances to ensure that you're using the latest AMIs. For example, the public parameter /aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest/al2023-ami-kernel-default-arm64 is available in all Regions and always points to the latest version of the Amazon Linux 2023 AMI for arm64 architecture in a given Region.

The public parameters are available from the following paths:

  • Linux – /aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest

  • Windows – /aws/service/ami-windows-latest

To view a list of all the Linux or Windows AMIs in the current Amazon Region

Use the following get-parameters-by-path Amazon CLI command to view a list of all the Linux or Windows AMIs in the current Amazon Region. The value for the --path parameter is different for Linux and Windows.

For Linux:

aws ssm get-parameters-by-path \
    --path /aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest \
    --query "Parameters[].Name"

For Windows:

aws ssm get-parameters-by-path \
    --path /aws/service/ami-windows-latest \
    --query "Parameters[].Name"
To launch an instance using a public parameter

The following example specifies a Systems Manager public parameter for the image ID to launch an instance using the latest Amazon Linux 2023 AMI.

To specify the parameter in the command, use the following syntax: resolve:ssm:public-parameter, where resolve:ssm is the standard prefix and public-parameter is the path and name of the public parameter.

In this example, the --count and --security-group parameters are not included. For --count, the default is 1. If you have a default VPC and a default security group, they are used.

aws ec2 run-instances \
    --image-id resolve:ssm:/aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest/al2023-ami-kernel-default-x86_64 \
    --instance-type m5.xlarge \
    --key-name MyKeyPair

For more information, see Working with public parameters in the Amazon Systems Manager User Guide.

For examples that use Systems Manager parameters, see Query for the latest Amazon Linux AMI IDs Using Amazon Systems Manager Parameter Store and Query for the Latest Windows AMI Using Amazon Systems Manager Parameter Store.

More information for finding AMIs

To find an Amazon Linux 2023 AMI, see AL2023 on Amazon EC2 in the Amazon Linux 2023 User Guide.

To find an Ubuntu AMI, see Amazon EC2 AMI Locator on the Canonical Ubuntu website.

To find a RHEL AMI, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux Images (AMI) Available on Amazon Web Services (Amazon) on the Red Hat website.