Find shared AMIs to use for Amazon EC2 instances - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

Find shared AMIs to use for Amazon EC2 instances

You can use the Amazon EC2 console or the command line to find public or private shared AMIs to use with your Amazon EC2 instances.

AMIs are a Regional resource. When you search for a shared AMI (public or private), you must search for it from the same Region from which it is shared. To make an AMI available in a different Region, copy the AMI to the Region, and then share it. For more information, see Copy an Amazon EC2 AMI.

To find a shared private AMI using the console

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

  2. In the navigation pane, choose AMIs.

  3. In the first filter, choose Private images. All AMIs that have been shared with you are listed. To granulate your search, choose the Search bar and use the filter options provided in the menu.

To find a shared public AMI using the console

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

  2. In the navigation pane, choose AMIs.

  3. In the first filter, choose Public images. To granulate your search, choose the Search field and use the filter options provided in the menu.

To find Amazon's shared public AMIs using the console

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

  2. In the navigation pane, choose AMIs.

  3. In the first filter, choose Public images.

  4. Choose the Search field and then, from the menu options that appear, choose Owner alias, then =, and then amazon to display only Amazon's public images.

To find a shared public AMI from a verified provider using the console

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

  2. In the navigation pane, choose AMI Catalog.

  3. Choose Community AMIs.

  4. The Verified provider label indicates the AMIs that are from Amazon or a verified partner.

Use the describe-images command (AWS CLI) to list AMIs. You can scope the list to the types of AMIs that interest you, as shown in the following examples.

Example: List all public AMIs

The following command lists all public AMIs, including any public AMIs that you own.

aws ec2 describe-images --executable-users all
Example: List AMIs with explicit launch permissions

The following command lists the AMIs for which you have explicit launch permissions. This list does not include any AMIs that you own.

aws ec2 describe-images --executable-users self
Example: List AMIs owned by verified providers

The following command lists the AMIs owned by verified providers. Public AMIs owned by verified providers (either Amazon or verified partners) have an aliased owner, which appears as amazon, aws-backup-vault, or aws-marketplace in the account field. This helps you to easily find AMIs from verified providers. Other users can't alias their AMIs.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners amazon aws-marketplace \
    --query 'Images[*].[ImageId]' \
    --output text
Example: List AMIs owned by an account

The following command lists the AMIs owned by the specified AWS account.

aws ec2 describe-images --owners 123456789012
Example: Scope AMIs using a filter

To reduce the number of displayed AMIs, use a filter to list only the types of AMIs that interest you. For example, use the following filter to display only EBS-backed AMIs.

--filters "Name=root-device-type,Values=ebs"

Use the Get-EC2Image command (Tools for Windows PowerShell) to list AMIs. You can scope the list to the types of AMIs that interest you, as shown in the following examples.

Example: List all public AMIs

The following command lists all public AMIs, including any public AMIs that you own.

PS C:\> Get-EC2Image -ExecutableUser all
Example: List AMIs with explicit launch permissions

The following command lists the AMIs for which you have explicit launch permissions. This list does not include any AMIs that you own.

PS C:\> Get-EC2Image -ExecutableUser self
Example: List AMIs owned by verified providers

The following command lists the AMIs owned by verified providers. Public AMIs owned by verified providers (either Amazon or verified partners) have an aliased owner, which appears as amazon, aws-backup-vault, or aws-marketplace in the account field. This helps you to easily find AMIs from verified providers. Other users can't alias their AMIs.

PS C:\> Get-EC2Image -Owner amazon aws-marketplace
Example: List AMIs owned by an account

The following command lists the AMIs owned by the specified AWS account.

PS C:\> Get-EC2Image -Owner 123456789012
Example: Scope AMIs using a filter

To reduce the number of displayed AMIs, use a filter to list only the types of AMIs that interest you. For example, use the following filter to display only EBS-backed AMIs.

-Filter @{ Name="root-device-type"; Values="ebs" }