Prerequisites to create Windows VSS based EBS snapshots - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
System requirements

Prerequisites to create Windows VSS based EBS snapshots

You can create VSS based EBS snapshots with Systems Manager Run Command, AWS Backup, or Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager. The following prerequisites apply for all solutions.

System requirements

Ensure that your EC2 Windows instance meets all of the system requirements to create VSS based snapshots, including supported versions of the Windows operating system, .NET framework, PowerShell, AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell, and the AWS Systems Manager Agent.

IAM permissions

The IAM role that's attached to your Amazon EC2 Windows instance must have permission to create application-consistent snapshots with VSS. To grant the necessary permissions, you can attach the AWSEC2VssSnapshotPolicy managed policy to your instance profile.

VSS components

To create application-consistent snapshots on Windows operating systems, the AwsVssComponents package must be installed on the instance. The package contains an on-instance EC2 VSS Agent that functions as the VSS requester, and an EC2 VSS provider for EBS volumes.

System requirements

Install the Systems Manager Agent

VSS is orchestrated by the Systems Manager Agent using PowerShell. Ensure that you have installed SSM Agent version 3.0.502.0 or later on your EC2 instance. If you are already using an older version of the SSM Agent, update it using Run Command. For more information, see Setting up Systems Manager for Amazon EC2 instances and Working with SSM Agent on Amazon EC2 instances for Windows Server in the AWS Systems Manager User Guide.

Amazon EC2 Windows instance requirements

VSS based EBS snapshots are supported for instances running Windows Server 2016 and later.

.NET Framework version

The AwsVssComponents package requires .NET Framework version 4.6 or later. Windows operating system versions prior to Windows Server 2016 default to an earlier version of the .NET Framework. If your instance uses an earlier version of the .NET Framework, you must install version 4.6 or later using Windows Update.

AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell version

Ensure that your instance is running AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell version 3.3.48.0 or later. To check your version, run the following command in the PowerShell terminal on the instance.

C:\> Get-AWSPowerShellVersion

If you need to update AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell on your instance, see Installing the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell in the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide.

Windows PowerShell version

Ensure that your instance is running Windows PowerShell major version 3, 4, or 5. To check your version, run the following command in a PowerShell terminal on the instance.

C:\> $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
PowerShell language mode

Ensure that your instance has the PowerShell language mode set to FullLanguage. For more information, see about_Language_Modes in the Microsoft documentation.