Create an Amazon EBS-backed Linux AMI

To create an AMI from an instance using the console

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Images, choose AMIs.

3. Select an appropriate EBS-backed AMI to serve as a starting point for your new AMI, and configure it as needed before launch. For more information, see Launch an instance using the Launch Instance Wizard.

4. Choose Launch instance from image (new console) or Launch (old console) to launch an instance of the EBS-backed AMI that you've selected. Accept the default values as you step through the wizard. For more information, see Launch an instance using the Launch Instance Wizard.

5. While the instance is running, connect to it. You can perform any of the following actions on your instance to customize it for your needs:

   • Install software and applications

   • Copy data

   • Reduce start time by deleting temporary files, defragmenting your hard drive, and zeroing out free space

   • Attach additional EBS volumes

6. (Optional) Create snapshots of all the volumes attached to your instance. For more information about creating snapshots, see Create Amazon EBS snapshots.

7. In the navigation pane, choose Instances, select your instance, and then choose Actions, Image and templates, Create image.

   Tip

   If this option is disabled, your instance isn't an Amazon EBS-backed instance.

8. On the Create image page, specify the following information, and then choose Create image.

   • Image name – A unique name for the image.

   • Image description – An optional description of the image, up to 255 characters.

   • No reboot – This option is not selected by default. Amazon EC2 shuts down the instance, takes snapshots of any attached volumes, creates and registers the AMI, and then reboots the instance. Select Enable to avoid having your instance shut down.

     Warning

     If you select Enable, the AMI will be crash consistent (all the volumes are snapshotted at the same time), but not application consistent (all the operating system buffers are not flushed to disk before the snapshots are created).

   • Instance volumes – The fields in this section enable you to modify the root volume, and add additional Amazon EBS and instance store volumes.

     • The root volume is defined in the first row. To change the size of the root volume, for Size, enter the required value.

     • If you select Delete on termination, when you terminate the instance created from this AMI, the EBS volume is deleted. If you clear Delete on termination, when you terminate the instance, the EBS volume is not deleted. For more information, see Preserve Amazon EBS volumes on instance termination.

     • To add an EBS volume, choose Add volume (which adds a new row). For Volume type, choose EBS, and fill in the fields in the row. When you launch an instance from your new AMI, additional volumes are automatically attached to the instance. Empty volumes must be formatted and mounted. Volumes based on a snapshot must be mounted.

     • To add an instance store volume, see Add instance store volumes to an AMI. When you launch an instance from your new AMI, additional volumes are automatically initialized and mounted. These volumes do not contain data from the instance store volumes of the running instance on which you based your AMI.

   • Tags – You can tag the AMI and the snapshots with the same tags, or you can tag them with different tags.

     • To tag the AMI and the snapshots with the same tags, choose Tag image and snapshots together. The same tags are applied to the AMI and every snapshot that is created.

     • To tag the AMI and the snapshots with different tags, choose Tag image and snapshots separately. Different tags are applied to the AMI and the snapshots that are created. However, all the snapshots get the same tags; you can't tag each snapshot with a different tag.

     To add a tag, choose Add tag, and enter the key and value for the tag. Repeat for each tag.

9. To view the status of your AMI while it is being created, in the navigation pane, choose AMIs. Initially, the status is pending but should change to available after a few minutes.

   (Optional) To view the snapshot that was created for the new AMI, choose Snapshots. When you launch an instance from this AMI, we use this snapshot to create its root device volume.

10. Launch an instance from your new AMI. For more information, see Launch an instance using the Launch Instance Wizard.

11. The new running instance contains all of the customizations that you applied in previous steps.

To create an AMI from a snapshot using the console

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Snapshots.

3. Select the snapshot from which to create the AMI and choose Actions, Create image from snapshot.

4. For Image name, enter a descriptive name for the image.

5. For Description, enter a brief description for the image.

6. For Architecture, choose the image architecture. Choose i386 for 32-bit, x86_64 for 64-bit, ARM64 for 64-bit ARM, or x86_64 for 64-bit macOS.

7. For Root device name, enter the device name to use for the root device volume. For more information, see Device names on Linux instances.

8. For Virtualization type, choose the virtualization type to be used by instances launched from this AMI. For more information, see Linux AMI virtualization types.

9. (For paravirtual virtualization only) For Kernel ID, select the operating system kernel for the image. If you're using a snapshot of the root device volume of an instance, select the same kernel ID as the original instance. If you're unsure, use the default kernel.

10. (For paravirtual virtualization only) For RAM disk ID, select the RAM disk for the image. If you select a specific kernel, you may need to select a specific RAM disk with the drivers to support it.

11. (Optional) In the Block device mappings section, customize the root volume and add additional data volumes.

    For each volume, you can specify the size, type, performance characteristics, the behavior of delete on termination, and encryption status. For the root volume, the size cannot be smaller than the size of the snapshot.

12. Choose Create image.

To create an AMI from a snapshot using the console

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the navigation pane, under Elastic Block Store, choose Snapshots.

3. Choose the snapshot and choose Actions, Create Image.

4. In the Create Image from EBS Snapshot dialog box, complete the fields to create your AMI, then choose Create. If you're re-creating a parent instance, then choose the same options as the parent instance.

   • Architecture: Choose i386 for 32-bit or x86_64 for 64-bit.

   • Root device name: Enter the appropriate name for the root volume. For more information, see Device names on Linux instances.

   • Virtualization type: Choose whether instances launched from this AMI use paravirtual (PV) or hardware virtual machine (HVM) virtualization. For more information, see Linux AMI virtualization types.

   • (PV virtualization type only) Kernel ID and RAM disk ID: Choose the AKI and ARI from the lists. If you choose the default AKI or don't choose an AKI, you must specify an AKI every time you launch an instance using this AMI. In addition, your instance may fail the health checks if the default AKI is incompatible with the instance.

   • (Optional) Block Device Mappings: Add volumes or expand the default size of the root volume for the AMI. For more information about resizing the file system on your instance for a larger volume, see Extend a Linux file system after resizing a volume.