Step 1: Create OVA

Using vShpere Client

  • Turn off the Windows 10 VM you want to import to AWS as an EC2 instance
  • Log in to the Host from vShpere client, select the Windows VM, go to file->export->Export OVF template and export.

Using VMWare PowerCLI

  • Turn off the Windows VM
Get-VM -Name "Windows-VM-NAME" | Shutdown-VMGuest -confirm:$false
  • Export the Windows-VM
Get-VM -Name "Windows-VM-NAME" | Export-VApp -Destination ‘C:\DESTINATION‘ -Format OVA

Step 2 : Create AWS S3 Bucket

  • Log in to your AWS account and navigate to S3
  • Create a new bucket and upload the exported to this bucket

Step 3: Convert the OVA to AMI

  • Go to EC2 console and spin a new temporary EC2 Instance with Amazon Linux t2.micro free tier with default parameters
  • SSH to the EC2 instance you just created
  • Configure AWS CLIs
aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: xxxxxxxx 
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: xxxxxxxx 
Default region name [None]: xxxxxx 
Default output format [None]:
  • You can test if your CLI is configured properly by running the following command
aws ec2 describe-regions
  • Create the following container.json file with your OVA details
[
  {
    "Description": "My Server OVA",
    "Format": "ova",
    "UserBucket": {
        "S3Bucket": "my-import-bucket",
        "S3Key": "vms/my-server-vm.ova"
    }
}]
  • Start the AMI import (OVA to AMI conversion) process and make note of the Task ID

"ImportTaskId": "import-ami-xxxxxxxxxxxx"

aws ec2 import-image --description "Your Description" --disk-containers "container.json"
  • Check the import task status using the task id
aws ec2 describe-import-image-tasks --import-task-ids import-ami-xxxxxxxxxxxx

Different status for this task

  • active — The import task is in progress.
  • deleting — The import task is being canceled.
  • deleted — The import task is canceled.
  • updating — Import status is updating.
  • validating — The imported image is being validated.
  • validated — The imported image was validated.
  • converting — The imported image is being converted into an AMI.
  • completed — The import task is completed and the AMI is ready to use.

Step 4: Create EC2 instance using AMI

  • Navigate to EC2 on your aws console ->AMIs->select the newly created AMI and click on Launch to  create the EC2 instance