View a markdown version of this page

Specialized Amazon Windows AMIs - Amazon Windows AMIs
SQL Server license-included AMIsSTIG Hardened AMIsLanguage-specific AMIsEC2Launch v2 AMIsBIOS 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).

Specialized Amazon Windows AMIs

In addition to its standard operating system version AMIs, Amazon creates several types of specialized Amazon Windows AMIs.

You can also create your own customized AMI from one of the Amazon Windows AMIs with EC2 Image Builder. For more information, see the EC2 Image Builder User Guide.

Note

Not all AMIs are available in all Regions.

SQL Server license-included AMIs

Launching an instance from a Windows AMI with Microsoft SQL Server enables you to run the instance as a database server. See Amazon Windows Server license-included SQL Server AMIs for more information.

STIG Hardened AMIs

STIG Hardened EC2 Windows Server AMIs are pre-configured with over 160 required security settings to help ensure that the instances that you launch follow the latest guidelines for STIG compliance. See STIG Hardened Amazon Windows Server AMIs for more information.

Language-specific AMIs

Amazon Windows AMIs are available in Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

Amazon CLI

Use the get-parameters-by-path command to retrieve the latest English-language Amazon Windows AMIs.

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

Use the Get-SSMLatestEC2Image cmdlet to retrieve the latest English-language Amazon Windows AMIs.

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

EC2Launch v2 AMIs

Windows Server 2016 and 2019 AMIs include the EC2Launch v1 agent. Amazon also provides these AMIs repackaged with the EC2Launch v2 agent.

Amazon CLI

Use the get-parameters-by-path command to retrieve the latest Amazon Windows AMIs that include the EC2Launch v2 agent.

aws ssm get-parameters-by-path \
    --path "/aws/service/ami-windows-latest" \
    --recursive \
    --query 'Parameters[*].{Name:Name,Value:Value}' \
    --output text | grep "EC2LaunchV2-Windows" | sort
PowerShell

Use the Get-SSMLatestEC2Image cmdlet to retrieve the latest Amazon Windows AMIs that include the EC2Launch v2 agent.

Get-SSMLatestEC2Image `
    -Path ami-windows-latest `
    -ImageName EC2LaunchV2-Windows* |
Sort-Object Name

BIOS AMIs

Windows Server 2025 AMIs use UEFI boot mode by default, which is not supported on EC2 metal instance sizes and some instance types. For those instances, use the BIOS AMIs, which use legacy BIOS boot mode.

Amazon CLI

Use the get-parameters-by-path command to retrieve the latest BIOS Amazon Windows AMIs.

aws ssm get-parameters-by-path \
    --path "/aws/service/ami-windows-latest" \
    --recursive \
    --query 'Parameters[*].{Name:Name,Value:Value}' \
    --output text | grep "BIOS-Windows" | sort
PowerShell

Use the Get-SSMLatestEC2Image cmdlet to retrieve the latest BIOS Amazon Windows AMIs.

Get-SSMLatestEC2Image `
    -Path ami-windows-latest `
    -ImageName BIOS-Windows* |
Sort-Object Name

You can run the preceding commands from Amazon CloudShell, which comes with the Amazon CLI and Amazon Tools for PowerShell pre-installed. Amazon CloudShell automatically configures your credentials. To run the PowerShell commands, run pwsh.