hands-on lab

Create Your First Amazon EC2 Instance (Windows)

Beginner
1h 15m
31,799
4.8/5
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Lab description

Amazon EC2 allows you to launch different types of cloud instances and pay for them with a pay-per-use approach. With Amazon EC2 you can create new servers in a few minutes and use different images (AMI) to personalize them. AWS provides several Microsoft Windows Server AMIs that enable you to run almost any compatible Windows-based solution. You can use Windows-based applications, websites, and web-services written in .NET, for data processing, media transcoding, and any other task requiring Windows software.

By completing this Hands-on Lab, you will be able to launch and access your first Amazon EC2 instance running Microsoft Windows Server.

Lab Objectives

Upon completion of this Lab you will be able to:

  • Use the AWS Management Console to create an EC2 instance using the Windows operating system
  • Use the AWS Management Console to work with EC2 Key Pairs
  • Access the EC2 instance using Remote Desktop

Lab Prerequisites

You should be familiar with:

  • Some familiarity with Windows and Remote Desktop Connection is helpful but not required
  • Some familiarity with the AWS Management Console is helpful but not required

Updates

November 27th, 2023 - Migrated retrieving metadata step to powershell

October 11th, 2023 - Updated the instructions and screenshots to reflect the latest UI

May 31st, 2022 - Updated instructions and screenshots to reflect the new launch instance wizard

August 27th, 2020 - Updated the screenshots to match the new EC2 instances user interface

June 14th, 2019 - Updated the format of the Lab to improve quality

December 4th, 2018 - Added a validation Lab Step to check the work you perform in the Lab

Environment before
Environment after
About the author
Avatar
Matt Martinez
Cloud Content & Labs QA
Students
107,480
Labs
41
Learning paths
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Matt has worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies as a DevOps Engineer and Solutions Architect. He is an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional, and an AWS Certified Solution Architect - Associate. He enjoys reading and learning new technologies.

Covered topics
Lab steps
Logging In to the Amazon Web Services Console
Creating a Windows EC2 Instance
Retrieving the Administrator Password Using the Keypair
Connecting to a Windows EC2 Instance Using a Remote Desktop Connection
Viewing the EC2 instance metadata (Windows)