Launch a Windows Server on EC2

Objective

To launch a Windows server on EC2.  See Amazon for current pricing information.  (aws.amazon.com/windows)  See Windows AMIs for EC2 for a breakdown of each type of machine image.

Create a Security Group for Windows

The first step is to create a security group for you Windows instances and open port 3389 so you can Remote Desktop into the instance once it's launched.

Go to Clouds -> AWS -> Security Groups and click New. 

Click Create.  Open port 3389.  Be sure to specify IPs: 0.0.0.0/0 to allow any set of IP addresses.

• /0 allows [0-255].[0-255].[0-255].[0-255]
• /32 only allows 0.0.0.0

Launch a Windows Server from an Image

You are now ready to launch a Windows server.  Go to Clouds -> AWS -> Images.  Under the Amazon tab, you'll find a list of distributed Amazon Machine Images (AMI) that you can use to launch fresh Windows instances on EC2.  For a more detailed breakdown of each type of Windows AMI, see the matrix on Windows AMIs for EC2.

Find the desired AMI and click the associated launch button.  

Provide the following configuration parameters.  Be sure to select the "Windows" security group that you just created.  Click Launch.

In a couple of minutes, the server will become "operational."  You can click on the server's nickname to view more detailed information about the server.

Remote Desktop into the Windows Server

Now that the server is operational, you can click on the RDP icon to Remote Desktop directly into the Windows server.

NOTE: You cannot log into a Windows Server using Firefox.  You must use Internet Explorer and ActiveX must be installed and enabled.