AWS found a way to run Windows 11 on Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances. The tech giant adapted its VM Import/Export service to allow the movement of Windows 11 VMs.
The AWS VM Import/Export service now allows Windows 11-based VMs to be moved to the public cloud environment. The service also allows users to launch instances using imported images on Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts and EC2 Dedicated instances.
Meeting Windows 11 hardware requirements
With the change, AWS addresses customers’ desire to use Windows 11 instances in the public cloud environment. AWS did not support Microsoft’s operating system until now.
Supporting Windows 11 requires new hardware requirements for UEFI firmware, the TPM 2.0 and support for Secure Boot. The new solution within AWS Import/Export allows customers to import Windows 11 images by specifying the boot mode to UEFI.
Step-by-step plan and conditions
A step-by-step plan is available for the entire migration process. Migrating Windows 11 VMs to Amazon EC2 has several conditions. For example, the VMs must have an OVA, VHD/X, VMDK or XVA file. Also, the VMs must be part of a Microsoft E3 or E5 license with Windows 11. Furthermore, S3 storage is required for the Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
AWS Import/Export users can migrate Windows 11 VMs to EC2 for free. The solution is available in all AWS regions except Asia Pacific (Jakarta).
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