Launch Windows EC2 Instance Using AWS Console

In my previous blog , I have explained in detail on How to Create an EC2 Instance (Linux) using AWS Console , Check here

In this blog post , We will see how to create an Windows EC2 instance using AWS console.

Also We will see how to connect with the windows instances.

What Is EC2 Instance?

Secure and resizable compute capacity in the cloud.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers.

In this article let us see how to create On-demand Windows EC2 instance from Console.

Launching Windows EC2 Instance

To create Windows EC2 instance , Login to EC2 Console.

In the navigation pane , Choose Instances

Choose Launch Instance.

Step 1 : Choose an Amazon machine Image (AMI) page displays the lists of AMI’s , that serves as a template for the EC2 instances.

You should choose the AMI from which you want to launch an instance, AMI (Amazon Machine Images) is nothing but an Operating systems such Centos,Ubuntu,SUSE,Windows etc

From the list , Choose the preferred AMI of the Windows OS.

Step 2 : Choose an Instance Type , We should choose the hardware configuration of the Instance such as CPU , Memory.

Click Next: Configure Instance Details

Step 3 : Configure Instance Details , Here we need to choose the VPC and the subnet where the Instance should be launched.

Here is the detailed article on how to create VPC with public and private subnets.

For now we will use the default vpc and subnet.

and click Next: Add Storage

Step 4 : Add Storage Next we are going to attach a volume (Hard Disk) with the EC2 Instance.

We must specify the Storage size and the type of the volume.

If required we can attach an addition volume with the Instance during launch.

and click Next: Add Tags

Step 5 : Add Tags , Tag is used to identify the instance and to isolate the resources based on the environment.

Click Add Tag , Type Key = Name & Value = SomeName

Click Next: Configure Security Group

Step 6 : Configure Security Group , Security group is a firewall rules which will control incoming traffic to the instance.

We can allow specific ports for the instances , After launching the instance , To login to Windows EC2 instance , We need to allow port 3389 (RDP)

Also provide name for the security group to manage security groups easily.

The security group can be modified at any time , even after launch of the instance.

Click Review and Launch

Step 7 : Review Instance Launch ,

Here is the review of all the configurations for the EC2 instance, Once you validate , Choose Launch

Since this is the first time you are launching a instance, You should create a key pair using which you can Login to the server.

Note : We can also use the existing key pair.

Choose Create a new key pair

Provide a name for the key pair name and click Download Key Pair

The .pem file will be to the Local system.

and click Launch Instances

You will get the response as , Your instances are now launching and Each instance we create will have a unique Instance id.

Click View Instances

You can see that the instance is running.We should be able to login to the Windows EC2 Instance.

Connecting To Windows EC2 Instance Using RDP Client

We can use any RDP client to login to the windows EC2 instance.

To login to the instance , We need details such as IP address , Public DNS , Username and password.

Select the instance , click Connect , We can find Public DNS and User name.

To get the password , Click Get Password

It will ask for the key pair which we have created/used to launch the instance.

We can copy paste the content of the file or import the file to decrypt the password.

Click Decrypt password , You will get the password for the Administrator user.

Now we have all the required connection strings to be able to login to the windows EC2 instance.

I am using Remmina to connect to the windows instance

After providing all the details , Click Connect and Accept the Certificate

By this time , You have successfully launched an Windows EC2 Instance and Connected to it using RDP client.

Conclusion

We have learnt to create Windows EC2 Instance using AWS Console and able to login to the server using RDP client.

Hope you find it helpful.Please check out my other publications.