Instance import overview - VM Import/Export
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).

Instance import overview

First, you'll need to prepare your virtual machine for export, and then export it using one of the supported formats. Next, you'll need to upload the VM image to Amazon S3, and then start the instance import task. After the import task is complete, you can create an AMI from the stopped instance. If you want, you can copy the AMI to other Regions so that you can launch instances in those Regions. You can also export a previously imported instance to your virtualization environment.

The following diagram shows the process of exporting a VM from your virtualization environment to Amazon EC2 as an instance.

VM Import/Export instance import

Before you proceed with this process, see VM Import/Export Requirements.