# Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMIs The Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs are preconfigured with the necessary components that you need to run Amazon ECS workloads. Although you can create your own container instance AMI that meets the basic specifications needed to run your containerized workloads on Amazon ECS, the Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs are preconfigured and tested on Amazon ECS by AWS engineers. It is the simplest way for you to get started and to get your containers running on AWS quickly. The Amazon ECS-optimized AMI metadata, including the AMI name, Amazon ECS container agent version, and Amazon ECS runtime version which includes the Docker version, for each variant can be retrieved programmatically. For more information, see [Retrieving Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI metadata](retrieve-ecs-optimized_windows_AMI.md). **Important** All ECS-optimized AMI variants produced after August 2022 will be migrating from Docker EE (Mirantis) to Docker CE (Moby project). To ensure that customers have the latest security updates by default, Amazon ECS maintains at least the last three Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs. After releasing new Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs, Amazon ECS makes the Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs that are older private. If there is a private AMI that you need access to, let us know by filing a ticket with Cloud Support. ## Amazon ECS-optimized AMI variants The following Windows Server variants of the Amazon ECS-optimized AMI are available for your Amazon EC2 instances. **Important** All ECS-optimized AMI variants produced after August will be migrating from Docker EE (Mirantis) to Docker CE (Moby project). + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Full AMI** + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Core AMI** + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Full AMI** + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Core AMI** + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Full AMI** + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Core AMI** + **Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2016 Full AMI** **Important** Windows Server 2016 does not support the latest Docker version, for example 25.x.x. Therefore the Windows Server 2016 Full AMIs will not receive security or bug patches to the Docker runtime. We recommend that you move to one of the following Windows platforms: Windows Server 2022 Full Windows Server 2022 Core Windows Server 2019 Full Windows Server 2019 Core On August 9, 2022, the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 20H2 Core AMI reached its end of support date. No new versions of this AMI will be released. For more information, see [Windows Server release information](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/windows-server-release-info). Windows Server 2025, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2016 are Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) releases. Windows Server 20H2 is a Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) release. For more information, see [Windows Server release information](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/windows-server-release-info). ### Considerations Here are some things you should know about Amazon EC2 Windows containers and Amazon ECS. + Windows containers can't run on Linux container instances, and the opposite is also the case. For better task placement for Windows and Linux tasks, keep Windows and Linux container instances in separate clusters and only place Windows tasks on Windows clusters. You can ensure that Windows task definitions are only placed on Windows instances by setting the following placement constraint: `memberOf(ecs.os-type=='windows')`. + Windows containers are supported for tasks that use the EC2 and Fargate. + Windows containers and container instances can't support all the task definition parameters that are available for Linux containers and container instances. For some parameters, they aren't supported at all, and others behave differently on Windows than they do on Linux. For more information, see [Amazon ECS task definition differences for EC2 instances running Windows](windows_task_definitions.md). + For the IAM roles for tasks feature, you need to configure your Windows container instances to allow the feature at launch. Your containers must run some provided PowerShell code when they use the feature. For more information, see [Amazon EC2 Windows instance additional configuration](task-iam-roles.md#windows_task_IAM_roles). + The IAM roles for tasks feature uses a credential proxy to provide credentials to the containers. This credential proxy occupies port 80 on the container instance, so if you use IAM roles for tasks, port 80 is not available for tasks. For web service containers, you can use an Application Load Balancer and dynamic port mapping to provide standard HTTP port 80 connections to your containers. For more information, see [Use load balancing to distribute Amazon ECS service traffic](service-load-balancing.md). + The Windows Server Docker images are large (9 GiB). So, your Windows container instances require more storage space than Linux container instances. + To run a Windows container on a Windows Server, the container’s base image OS version must match that of the host. For more information, see [Windows container version compatibility](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/deploy-containers/version-compatibility?tabs=windows-server-2022%2Cwindows-11) on the Microsoft documentation website. If your cluster runs multiple Windows versions, you can ensure that a task is placed on an EC2 instance running on the same version by using the placement constraint: `memberOf(attribute:ecs.os-family == WINDOWS_SERVER__)`. For more information, see [Retrieving Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI metadata](retrieve-ecs-optimized_windows_AMI.md). # Retrieving Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI metadata The AMI ID, image name, operating system, container agent version, and runtime version for each variant of the Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs can be programmatically retrieved by querying the Systems Manager Parameter Store API. For more information about the Systems Manager Parameter Store API, see [GetParameters](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/APIReference/API_GetParameters.html) and [GetParametersByPath](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/APIReference/API_GetParametersByPath.html). **Note** Your administrative user must have the following IAM permissions to retrieve the Amazon ECS-optimized AMI metadata. These permissions have been added to the `AmazonECS_FullAccess` IAM policy. ssm:GetParameters ssm:GetParameter ssm:GetParametersByPath ## Systems Manager Parameter Store parameter format **Note** The following Systems Manager Parameter Store API parameters are deprecated and should not be used to retrieve the latest Windows AMIs: `/aws/service/ecs/optimized-ami/windows_server/2016/english/full/recommended/image_id ` `/aws/service/ecs/optimized-ami/windows_server/2019/english/full/recommended/image_id` The following is the format of the parameter name for each Amazon ECS-optimized AMI variant. + Windows Server 2025 Full AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2025-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` + Windows Server 2025 Core AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2025-English-Core-ECS_Optimized ``` + Windows Server 2022 Full AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` + Windows Server 2022 Core AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Core-ECS_Optimized ``` + Windows Server 2019 Full AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` + Windows Server 2019 Core AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Core-ECS_Optimized ``` + Windows Server 2016 Full AMI metadata: ``` /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2016-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` The following parameter name format retrieves the metadata of the latest stable Windows Server 2019 Full AMI ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` The following is an example of the JSON object that is returned for the parameter value. ``` { "Parameters": [ { "Name": "/aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized", "Type": "String", "Value": "{\"image_name\":\"Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized-2023.06.13\",\"image_id\":\"ami-0debc1fb48e4aee16\",\"ecs_runtime_version\":\"Docker (CE) version 20.10.21\",\"ecs_agent_version\":\"1.72.0\"}", "Version": 58, "LastModifiedDate": "2023-06-22T19:37:37.841000-04:00", "ARN": "arn:aws:ssm:us-east-1::parameter/aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized", "DataType": "text" } ], "InvalidParameters": [] } ``` Each of the fields in the output above are available to be queried as sub-parameters. Construct the parameter path for a sub-parameter by appending the sub-parameter name to the path for the selected AMI. The following sub-parameters are available: + `schema_version` + `image_id` + `image_name` + `os` + `ecs_agent_version` + `ecs_runtime_version` ## Examples The following examples show ways in which you can retrieve the metadata for each Amazon ECS-optimized AMI variant. ### Retrieving the metadata of the latest stable Amazon ECS-optimized AMI You can retrieve the latest stable Amazon ECS-optimized AMI using the AWS CLI with the following AWS CLI commands. + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Full AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2025-English-Full-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Core AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2025-English-Core-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Full AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Full-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Core AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Core-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Full AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Core AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Core-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` + **For the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2016 Full AMI:** ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2016-English-Full-ECS_Optimized --region us-east-1 ``` ### Using the latest recommended Amazon ECS-optimized AMI in an CloudFormation template You can reference the latest recommended Amazon ECS-optimized AMI in an CloudFormation template by referencing the Systems Manager parameter store name. ``` Parameters: LatestECSOptimizedAMI: Description: AMI ID Type: AWS::SSM::Parameter::Value Default: /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized/image_id ``` # Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI versions View the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent, Docker, and the `ecs-init` package. The Amazon ECS-optimized AMI metadata, including the AMI ID, for each variant can be retrieved programmatically. For more information, see [Retrieving Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI metadata](retrieve-ecs-optimized_windows_AMI.md). The following tabs display a list of Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs versions. For details on referencing the Systems Manager Parameter Store parameter in an CloudFormation template, see [Using the latest recommended Amazon ECS-optimized AMI in an CloudFormation template](retrieve-ecs-optimized_AMI.md#ecs-optimized-ami-parameter-examples-5). **Important** To ensure that customers have the latest security updates by default, Amazon ECS maintains at least the last three Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs. After releasing new Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs, Amazon ECS makes the Windows Amazon ECS-optimized AMIs that are older private. If there is a private AMI that you need access to, let us know by filing a ticket with Cloud Support. Windows Server 2016 does not support the latest Docker version, for example 25.x.x. Therefore the Windows Server 2016 Full AMIs will not receive security or bug patches to the Docker runtime. We recommend that you move to one of the following Windows platforms: Windows Server 2022 Full Windows Server 2022 Core Windows Server 2019 Full Windows Server 2019 Core **Note** gMSA plugin logging has been migrated from file-based logging `(C:\ProgramData\Amazon\gmsa)` to Windows Event logging with the August 2025 AMI release. The public log collector script will collect all gMSA logs. For more information, see [Collecting container logs with Amazon ECS logs collector](ecs-logs-collector.md). ------ #### [ Windows Server 2025 Full AMI versions ] The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Full AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Full AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI command to retrieve the current Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Full AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2025-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ #### [ Windows Server 2025 Core AMI versions ] The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Core AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Core AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2025-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI command to retrieve the current Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2025 Core AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2025-English-Core-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ #### [ Windows Server 2022 Full AMI versions ] The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Full AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Full AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI command to retrieve the current Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Full AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ #### [ Windows Server 2022 Core AMI versions ] The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Core AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Core AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2022-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI command to retrieve the current Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2022 Full AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Core-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ #### [ Windows Server 2019 Full AMI versions ] The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Full AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Full AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI command to retrieve the current Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Full AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ #### [ Windows Server 2019 Core AMI versions ] The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Core AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Core AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2019-English-Core-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `25.0.6 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI command to retrieve the current Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2019 Full AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2019-English-Core-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ #### [ Windows Server 2016 Full AMI versions ] **Important** Windows Server 2016 does not support the latest Docker version, for example 25.x.x. Therefore the Windows Server 2016 Full AMIs will not receive security or bug patches to the Docker runtime. We recommend that you move to one of the following Windows platforms: Windows Server 2022 Full Windows Server 2022 Core Windows Server 2019 Full Windows Server 2019 Core The table below lists the current and previous versions of the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2016 Full AMI and their corresponding versions of the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker. | Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2016 Full AMI | Amazon ECS container agent version | Docker version | Visibility | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Windows\$1Server-2016-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.03.13** | `1.102.0` | `20.10.23 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2016-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.02.13** | `1.101.3` | `20.10.23 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2016-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2026.01.16** | `1.101.2` | `20.10.23 (Docker CE)` | Public | | **Windows\$1Server-2016-English-Full-ECS\$1Optimized-2025.12.13** | `1.101.0` | `20.10.23 (Docker CE)` | Public | Use the following AWS CLI Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2016 Full AMI. ``` aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2016-English-Full-ECS_Optimized ``` ------ # Building your own Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI Use EC2 Image Builder to build your own custom Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI. This makes it easy to use a Windows AMI with your own license on Amazon ECS. Amazon ECS provides a managed Image Builder component which provides the system configuration needed to run Windows instances to host your containers. Each Amazon ECS managed component includes a specific container agent and Docker version. You can customize your image to use either the latest Amazon ECS managed component, or if an older container agent or Docker version is needed you can specify a different component. For a full walkthrough of using EC2 Image Builder, see [Getting started with EC2 Image Builder](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/imagebuilder/latest/userguide/set-up-ib-env.html#image-builder-accessing-prereq) in the *EC2 Image Builder User Guide*. When building your own Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI using EC2 Image Builder, you create an image recipe. Your image recipe must meet the following requirements: + The **Source image** should be based on Windows Server 2019 Core, Windows Server 2019 Full, Windows Server 2022 Core, or Windows Server 2022 Full. Any other Windows operating system is not supported and may not be compatible with the component. + When specifying the **Build components**, the `ecs-optimized-ami-windows` component is required. The `update-windows` component is recommended, which ensures the image contains the latest security updates. To specify a different component version, expand the **Versioning options** menu and specify the component version you want to use. For more information, see [Listing the `ecs-optimized-ami-windows` component versions](#windows-component-list). ## Listing the `ecs-optimized-ami-windows` component versions When creating an EC2 Image Builder recipe and specifying the `ecs-optimized-ami-windows` component, you can either use the default option or you can specify a specific component version. To determine what component versions are available, along with the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker versions contained within the component, you can use the AWS Management Console. **To list the available `ecs-optimized-ami-windows` component versions** 1. Open the EC2 Image Builder console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/imagebuilder/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/imagebuilder/). 1. On the navigation bar, select the Region that are building your image in. 1. In the navigation pane, under the **Saved configurations** menu, choose **Components**. 1. On the **Components** page, in the search bar type `ecs-optimized-ami-windows` and pull down the qualification menu and select **Quick start (Amazon-managed)**. 1. Use the **Description** column to determine the component version with the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker version your image requires.