Installing, Updating, and Uninstalling the AWS CLI version 1 on Windows - AWS Command Line Interface
Install, update, and uninstall using the MSI installerInstall, update, and uninstall using Python and pipAdd the AWS CLI executable to your command line pathTroubleshooting AWS CLI install and uninstall errors

This documentation is for Version 1 of the AWS CLI only. For documentation related to Version 2 of the AWS CLI, see the Version 2 User Guide.

Installing, Updating, and Uninstalling the AWS CLI version 1 on Windows

You can install version 1 of the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) on Windows by using a standalone installer (recommended) or pip, which is a package manager for Python.

Don't include the prompt symbol (C:\>) when you type a command. These are included in program listings to differentiate commands that you type from output returned by the AWS CLI. The rest of this guide uses the generic prompt symbol ($), except in cases where a command is Windows-specific.

Install, update, and uninstall the AWS CLI version 1 using the MSI installer

The AWS CLI version 1 is supported on Windows XP or later. For Windows users, the MSI installation package offers a familiar and convenient way to install the AWS CLI version 1 without installing any other prerequisites.

Install and update the AWS CLI version 1 using the MSI installer

Check the Releases page on GitHub to see when the latest version was released. When updates are released, you must repeat the installation process to get the latest version of the AWS CLI version 1.

  1. Download the appropriate MSI installer:

  2. Run the downloaded MSI installer or the setup file.

  3. Follow the on-screen instructions. By default, the AWS CLI version 1 installs to C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI (64-bit version) or C:\Program Files (x86)\Amazon\AWSCLI (32-bit version).

  4. To confirm the installation, use the aws --version command at a command prompt (open the Start menu and search for cmd to start a command prompt).

    C:\> aws --version
aws-cli/1.35.20 Python/3.11.6 Windows/10 botocore/1.18.6

    If Windows is unable to find the program, you might need to close and reopen the command prompt to refresh the path, or add the installation directory to your PATH environment variable manually.

Uninstall the AWS CLI version 1

To use the following uninstall instructions, you need to have installed the AWS CLI version 1 with the MSI installer or setup file.

  1. Open Programs and Features by doing one of the following:

    • Open the Control Panel, and then choose Programs and Features.

    • Open a command prompt and enter the following command.

      C:\> appwiz.cpl

  2. Select the entry named AWS Command Line Interface, and then choose Uninstall to launch the uninstaller.

  3. Confirm that you want to uninstall the AWS CLI.

  4. (Optional) Remove the shared AWS SDK and AWS CLI settings information in the .aws folder.

    Warning

    These configuration and credentials settings are shared across all AWS SDKs and the AWS CLI. If you remove this folder, they cannot be accessed by any AWS SDKs that are still on your system.

    The default location of the .aws folder differs between platforms, by default the folder is located in %UserProfile%\.aws.

    $ rmdir %UserProfile%\.aws

Install, update, and uninstall the AWS CLI version 1 using Python and pip on Windows

The Python Software Foundation provides installers for Windows that include pip.

Prerequisites

You must have Python 3.8 or later installed. For installation instructions, see the Downloading Python page in Python's Beginner Guide.

Install and update the AWS CLI version 1 using pip

  1. To Install the AWS CLI version 1, use the pip3 command (if you use Python version 3 or later) or the pip command.

    For the latest version of the AWS CLI, use the following command block:

    C:\> pip3 install awscli --upgrade --user

    For a specific version of the AWS CLI, append a less-than symbol < and the version number to the filename. For this example the filename for version 1.16.312 would be <1.16.312 resulting in the following command:

    C:\> pip3 install awscli<1.16.312 --upgrade --user

  2. Verify that the AWS CLI version 1 is installed correctly. If there is no response, see the Add the AWS CLI version 1 executable to your command line path section.

    C:\> aws --version
aws-cli/1.35.20 Python/3.11.6 Windows/10 botocore/1.18.6

Uninstall the AWS CLI version 1 using pip

  1. If you installed the AWS CLI version 1 using pip, you must also uninstall using pip.

    C:\> pip uninstall awscli

    If you are using version Python 2 or 3, you might need to use the pip2 or pip3 command. Use the aws --version command to determine the Python version associated with your installed AWS CLI version 1.

    C:\> pip3 uninstall awscli

    You might need to restart your command prompt window or your computer to remove all files.

  2. (Optional) Remove the shared AWS SDK and AWS CLI settings information in the .aws folder.

    Warning

    These configuration and credentials settings are shared across all AWS SDKs and the AWS CLI. If you remove this folder, they cannot be accessed by any AWS SDKs that are still on your system.

    The default location of the .aws folder differs between platforms, by default the folder is located in %UserProfile%\.aws.

    $ rmdir %UserProfile%\.aws

Add the AWS CLI version 1 executable to your command line path

After installing the AWS CLI version 1 with pip, add the aws program to your operating system's PATH environment variable. With an MSI installation, this should happen automatically. But if the aws command doesn't run after you install it, you might need to set it manually.

  1. Use the where command to find the aws file location. By default, the where command shows where a specified program is found in the system's PATH. 

    C:\> where aws

    The paths that show up depend on your platform and which method you used to install the AWS CLI. Folder names that include version numbers can vary. These examples reflect the use of Python version 3.7. Replace the version with the version number you're using, as needed. Typical paths include the following:

    • Python 3 and pip3 – C:\Program Files\Python37\Scripts\

    • Python 3 and pip3 --user option on earlier versions of Windows – %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\Scripts

    • Python 3 and pip3 --user option on Windows 10 – %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python37\Scripts

    • MSI installer (64-bit) – C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\bin

    • MSI installer (32-bit) – C:\Program Files (x86)\Amazon\AWSCLI\bin

    Use the following steps based on whether a file path is returned.

    A file path is returned
    C:\> where aws
C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\bin\aws.exe

    You can find where the aws program is installed by running the following command.

    C:\> where c:\ aws
C:\Program Files\Python37\Scripts\aws
    A file path is NOT returned

    If the where command returns the following error, it's not in the system PATH and you can't run it by entering its name.

    C:\> where c:\ aws
INFO: Could not find files for the given pattern(s).

    In that case, run the where command with the /R path parameter to tell it to search all folders, and then add the path manually. Use the command line or File Explorer to discover where it's installed on your computer. 

    C:\> where /R c:\ aws
c:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\bin\aws.exe
c:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\bincompat\aws.cmd
c:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\runtime\Scripts\aws
c:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\runtime\Scripts\aws.cmd
...

  2. Press the Windows key and enter environment variables.

  3. Choose Edit environment variables for your account.

  4. Choose PATH, and then choose Edit.

  5. Add the path you found into the Variable value field, for example, C:\Program Files\Amazon\AWSCLI\bin\aws.exe.

  6. Choose OK twice to apply the new settings.

  7. Close any running command prompts and reopen the command prompt window.

Troubleshooting AWS CLI install and uninstall errors

If you come across issues after installing or uninstalling the AWS CLI, see Troubleshooting errors for the AWS CLI for troubleshooting steps. For the most relevant troubleshooting steps, see Command not found errors, The "aws --version" command returns a different version than you installed, and The "aws --version" command returns a version after uninstalling the AWS CLI.