Amazon Web Services and Microsoft FAQs

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft have worked together for several years, starting with AWS launching Windows Server based instances in 2008. AWS is a Gold Certified member of the Microsoft Partner Network and licensed to sell Microsoft software under the Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). AWS is also an authorized license mobility partner. Over the years, AWS and Microsoft have collaborated to make Windows and its associated workloads available in the AWS cloud. Microsoft and AWS have mutual customers running Windows workloads on AWS today, including Dole Foods, Hess Corporation, and Lionsgate. In addition, AWS has released Microsoft-specific technologies that allow users to manage and optimize Windows applications in AWS – such as AWS tools for Windows PowerShell and EC2Rescue for EC2 Windows. 

Yes. AWS Support has been successfully supporting our customers who run Microsoft Windows-based EC2 instances in the AWS cloud since 2008 when we first launched Windows Server on EC2. Our support engineers have deep experience with Microsoft technologies on AWS including Amazon EC2, Amazon ECS, Amazon RDS, Amazon Workspaces and others. Now AWS has further enhanced our support capabilities with a new additional direct engagement between AWS Support and Microsoft Support, to help ensure high quality support and issue resolution for our customers. To find more information on end of support (EOS) for Microsoft products go here.

AWS is a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, licensed to sell Microsoft software under the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA), and a Microsoft Gold Certified Hosting Partner. AWS is an authorized Microsoft License Mobility Partner and has an active Premier Support agreement with Microsoft.

For customers that have purchased AWS Support at the Business or Enterprise tier, AWS Support is able to work directly with Microsoft support engineers to resolve issues related to customers running Microsoft Windows Server, SQL Server, or Windows desktop (via Amazon Workspaces) on AWS. As a result of this expanded support agreement, AWS can engage directly with Microsoft to create the best possible support experience. If necessary, AWS Support can escalate issues directly to Microsoft and work with dedicated Microsoft support engineers to help ensure issues are addressed and resolved.

Yes, AWS Support can work directly with Microsoft support engineers to escalate a support case if necessary to resolve issues encountered by AWS Support customers at the Business or Enterprise tier. AWS will not share any Customer information or specific details without your permission.

Customers who subscribe to AWS Support at the Business or Enterprise tier can submit issues through the AWS Support Center console. If the AWS Support Engineer finds that the problem is due to a Microsoft product or driver, the AWS Support Engineer can file a case with Microsoft and proceed with joint troubleshooting. The customer may be asked to document their authorization and permission for jointly engaging directly with Microsoft before AWS shares any Customer information or specific details.

 Issues related to Microsoft products that are included with the purchase of an AWS Service (e.g. Windows Server or SQL Server with Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, Amazon Elastic Container Service, or Amazon Workspaces) are covered under a customer’s AWS Support agreement. For software not purchased through AWS, AWS Support may help identify and resolve issues related to AWS Services, and, with your permission, work with Microsoft as necessary to troubleshoot the problem related to AWS Services.

Microsoft products that are outside of Microsoft’s End of Support dates are excluded from this expanded support offering.

No, this expanded support offering does not replace a direct Microsoft support agreement. This service provides assurance that issues that may arise between an AWS Service and Microsoft product (e.g., Windows Server, SQL Server, or Windows) will be investigated and remediated with the support of both companies. However, customers may run into other issues with their Microsoft applications that are separate from their AWS Services, and in this case customers should work directly through their Microsoft support relationship.

No, there are no regional restrictions to using this benefit.

You can run many types of Microsoft software on AWS, including but not limited to: Microsoft Office, Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, Microsoft Dynamics products, System Center, BizTalk, and Remote Desktop Services. You can use license included instances that include the license for Windows Server and SQL Server on Amazon EC2 or Amazon RDS. AWS customers have the flexibility of bringing on-premises Microsoft volume licenses and deploying them on Amazon EC2 instances subject to Microsoft license terms. Beginning August 1, 2023, you can use your Microsoft 365 license with Amazon WorkSpaces services.

On Amazon EC2, you can choose to run instances that include the relevant license fees in their cost (“license included”) or to utilize licenses you have already purchased from Microsoft. For Microsoft software, EC2 allows you to pay for instances that include Windows Server and SQL Server licenses. For all other Microsoft software, customers can bring their own license, subject to Microsoft’s terms.

BYOL, or “bring your own license” is the process of bringing previously purchased, on premises licenses to AWS. AWS has both shared and dedicated deployment options to meet your BYOL needs. When you BYOL, the licensing cost of the product you bring is no longer included in the price of the instance. When you bring licenses, you are responsible for managing your licenses. Amazon EC2 has features such as AWS License Manager and targeted placement on Dedicated Hosts, which help you maintain license compliance throughout the lifecycle of your licenses.

BYOL eligibility depends on product-specific terms, and in some cases, License Mobility and/or purchase date requirements. Microsoft licensing Agreements and/or Programs that permit BYOL on AWS include (but are not limited to):

• Microsoft Enterprise Enrollment/Agreement (EA)
  
•  Microsoft Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE)
• Microsoft Enterprise Subscription Agreement (EAS)
  
• Microsoft Product and Services Agreement (MPSA)
  
• Microsoft Open/Open Value/Open Value Subscription

License Mobility is a Microsoft Software Assurance benefit that allows you to bring specific product licenses to shared cloud infrastructure, including default (shared) tenant Amazon EC2. Active Software Assurance is required to be eligible for License Mobility. For additional information on License Mobility, please see the License Mobility page on the AWS site.

For more information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please visit this section of the FAQ.

This information is included in the Microsoft Product Terms. Every product has an individual Software Assurance section that indicates License Mobility eligibility.  License Mobility eligible products include SQL Server, Remote Desktop Services, System Center, Exchange, and SharePoint.

There are specific BYOL scenarios that do not require Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits. EC2 dedicated infrastructure is always required in these scenarios. To be eligible, the licenses must be purchased prior to 10/1/2019 or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019. In these specific BYOL scenarios, the licenses can only be upgraded to versions that were available prior to 10/1/2019.

No, you must import and license your own media. To get started, you can use the ImportImage API (from AWS CLI or AWS Tool for Windows PowerShell) to import your own media (VHD, VMDK, OVA). If you are importing from VMware vCenter, you can also use AWS Server Migration Service. After the media has been imported, you will see your images in the “My AMIs” console, or you can describe these images using the DescribeImages API.

Yes, when you launch an instance of your own image, your OS will prompt you to activate the image against your KMS.

Please read your licensing terms and conditions and select the AWS model that meets your needs. Generally speaking, there are various products and each have differing levels of BYOL support.

In order to BYOL of Microsoft software into AWS, you need to use the ImportImage tool made available by the EC2 VM Import/Export service. Do not use the ImportInstance tool as it does not support Microsoft BYOL scenarios.

Amazon EC2 offers two purchasing options that provide you with dedicated infrastructure: Dedicated Hosts and Dedicated Instances. It is important to note that most BYOL scenarios are supported through the use of Dedicated Hosts, while only certain scenarios are supported by Dedicated Instances.

There are specific BYOL scenarios that do not require Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits. EC2 dedicated infrastructure is always required in these scenarios. To be eligible, the licenses must be purchased prior to 10/1/2019 or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019. In these specific BYOL scenarios, the licenses can only be upgraded to versions that were available prior to 10/1/2019. 

When you bring products that are licensed at the physical level only (e.g. Windows Server, certain SQL Server licenses, etc) Dedicated Hosts provide visibility into physical processor and core counts and are therefore the recommended deployment model.

For more information on Dedicated Hosts, visit the Dedicated Hosts detail page.

For more information on Dedicated Instances, visit the Dedicated Instances detail page.

Instance Affinity (only available through the use of Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts) and Dedicated Host targeting helps you to monitor this requirement. When you enable Affinity between an instance and a Dedicated Host, that particular instance will only run on a specific Dedicated Host. Using Dedicated Host targeting, you can launch instances onto a specific Dedicated Host, giving you full control over how your licenses are used.

For more information on these features, visit the Dedicated Hosts detail page.

License Mobility through Software Assurance allows customers to bring eligible Microsoft software licenses into AWS for use on EC2 instances with default tenancy. The AWS License Mobility Page is a great place to start the process. If you are planning to take advantage of License Mobility in AWS, you will need to fill out the appropriate License Mobility forms. With License Mobility, you can use these images on EC2 Windows Server license-included instances running on EC2 instances with default tenancy. Windows Server licenses must be purchased from AWS in this scenario.

VM Import/Export enables you to easily import virtual machine images from your existing environment to Amazon EC2 instances. This service allows you to leverage your existing investments in the virtual machines that you have built to meet your IT security, configuration management, and compliance requirements by bringing those virtual machines into Amazon EC2 as ready-to-use instances. If you are planning to use your own Microsoft licenses, use the ImportImage tool made available by the VM Import/Export service to import your own Microsoft media.

The VM Import/Export service is available at no additional charge beyond standard usage charges for Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3.

EC2 Dedicated instances and EC2 Dedicated Hosts provide instance capacity on physical servers that are fully dedicated for your use. Alternatively, EC2 offers instances with a tenancy of ‘default’ which run on physical servers that may host multiple isolated instances from different customers.

Dedicated infrastructure provides servers that are physically isolated for use by a single customer. Amazon EC2 has two dedicated infrastructure options: Dedicated Hosts and Dedicated Instances. If you bring existing licenses to Dedicated Hosts or Dedicated Instances, then you are using hardware that is fully dedicated to your use.

A Dedicated Host is a physical EC2 server fully dedicated to you. Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts allow you to use your eligible software licenses from vendors, including Microsoft, on Amazon EC2, so that you get the flexibility and cost effectiveness of using your own licenses, but with the resiliency, simplicity and elasticity of AWS. With Dedicated Hosts, you have an option to control instance placement and gain visibility into the number of sockets and cores installed on a host. You can use these features to bring your own software licenses bound to virtual instances, sockets, or cores, including Windows Server, SQL Server, and SUSE Enterprise Server.

Dedicated Hosts are often used when customers bring license that do not have Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits. For more information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please visit this section of the FAQ.

Please visit the Dedicated Host detail page for more information.

You can use AWS License Manager to simplify management of EC2 Dedicated Hosts. You can specify your Dedicated Host management preferences for host allocation and host capacity utilization in AWS License Manager. Once setup, AWS takes care of these administrative tasks on your behalf, so that you can seamlessly launch virtual machines (instances) on Dedicated Hosts just like you would launch an EC2 instance with AWS provided licenses. AWS License Manager helps track licenses used with Dedicated Host, and helps you stay compliant with your specified licensing rules such as 90 day affinity.

Dedicated instances are Amazon EC2 instances that run on hardware that is dedicated to a single customer. For more information on Dedicated Instances, please visit the Dedicated Instance page.

Both offerings provide instances that are dedicated to your use. However, Dedicated Hosts provide additional control over your instances and visibility into Host level resources and tooling that allows you to manage software that consumes licenses on a per-core or per-socket basis, such as Windows Server and SQL Server. In addition, AWS Config will keep a record of how your instances use these Dedicated Host resources which will allow you to create your own license usage reports.

In order to take full advantage of EC2 it is recommended that customers first consider bringing eligible licenses through License Mobility. Default tenancy EC2 allows customers to scale capacity up and down according to changing needs. This allows customers to pay only for what they use. SQL is the most common product brought to AWS through License Mobility.

Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts are ideal for products that are not eligible for License Mobility or for which active Software Assurance is not in place. For more information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please visit this section of the FAQ.

Dedicated Hosts are most cost effective when the host is highly utilized and in a steady, non-variable state. A Dedicated Host will support the BYOL scenarios outlined in this FAQ and provide customers with more control and visibility over how their instances are placed, which is useful for minimizing risk and licensing costs in a BYOL scenario. Additionally, Dedicated Hosts support per-socket, per-core, VM, and CAL based licenses. Windows is the most common product brought to Dedicated Hosts.

AWS customers have options for bringing Microsoft developer products to AWS for use on test, development, and non-production workloads.

Please see this section for information on bringing Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) licenses.

SQL Server 2022 Developer edition is available as a free download from Microsoft. Once downloaded from Microsoft, AWS customers can bring and install SQL Server 2022 Developer edition on Amazon EC2 instances. Dedicated infrastructure is not required for SQL Server 2022 Developer edition.

Yes.  The EC2 BYOL options described throughout this FAQ are applicable to EC2 Bare Metal deployments.  EC2 Bare Metal offers default tenant and dedicated host options.  For more information on EC2 BYOL options, please click here.

There are three requirements for Windows Server to be eligible for BYOL on EC2:

1. The licenses must be deployed on EC2 Dedicated Hosts.
2. The licenses must have been purchased before 10/1/2019 (or added as a true-up under an agreement that was effective prior to 10/1/2019).
3. The version was publicly available prior to 10/1/2019.

Software Assurance is not a requirement for Windows Server BYOL.

Note: Due to Microsoft licensing restrictions, Windows Server licenses purchased through the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program (CSP) are not eligible for BYOL on AWS.

A Dedicated Host is a physical EC2 server fully dedicated to you. Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts allow you to use your eligible software licenses from vendors, including Microsoft, on Amazon EC2, so that you get the flexibility and cost effectiveness of using your own licenses, but with the resiliency, simplicity and elasticity of AWS. With Dedicated Hosts, you have an option to control instance placement and gain visibility into the number of sockets and cores installed on a host. You can use these features to bring your own software licenses bound to virtual instances, sockets, or cores, including Windows Server, SQL Server, and SUSE Enterprise Server.

Dedicated Hosts are often used when customers bring license that do not have Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits. For more information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please visit this section of the FAQ.

Please visit the Dedicated Host detail page for more information.

You can use AWS License Manager to simplify management of EC2 Dedicated Hosts. You can specify your Dedicated Host management preferences for host allocation and host capacity utilization in AWS License Manager. Once setup, AWS takes care of these administrative tasks on your behalf, so that you can seamlessly launch virtual machines (instances) on Dedicated Hosts just like you would launch an EC2 instance with AWS provided licenses. AWS License Manager helps track licenses used with Dedicated Host, and helps you stay compliant with your specified licensing rules such as 90 day affinity.

You have the option to launch instances onto a specific Dedicated Host, or you can let Amazon EC2 place the instances automatically based on your licensing preferences in AWS License Manager. Controlling instance placement allows you to deploy applications to address licensing, corporate compliance, and regulatory requirements.

You can run different instance sizes within the same instance family on a Dedicated Host using AWS Nitro instance family. This allows you to maximize utilization of your Dedicated Host fleet as well as your software licenses.

You can bring in your own licensed copy of Windows Server media using the ImageImport tool made available by the EC2 VM Import/Export service. Once these images are imported, you can find them under the “my AMIs” section in the AWS Management Console or by using the DescribeImages API. You can then launch instances from your BYOL machine images onto Dedicated Hosts.

Visit this link for more information on how to bring your own machine images into AWS.

Keep in mind that when you choose to bring in your existing Windows Server licenses, you cannot utilize Windows Server AMIs that you purchase from AWS through license-included instances. You must bring in your own licenses using your own software media.

Using AWS Config as the data source and Dedicated Hosts as the platform to run BYOL instances, you can track BYOL usage against physical resources such as sockets and cores. Before you begin launching BYOL instances onto your Dedicated Hosts, ensure AWS Config has been enabled to record Dedicated Host changes. AWS Config keeps track of the configuration changes that occur on a Dedicated Host, including the instances and corresponding IDs of AMIs that ran on a Dedicated Host. These changes are paired with Host level data, such as the Host ID and the number of sockets and physical cores installed on a Dedicated Host. AWS Config will also keep track of instance tags. We recommend that you tag your instances with a meaningful identifier if you would like a human-readable way to identify BYOL instances in the AWS Config output. Visit this page for more information on AWS Config.

Visit the Dedicated Hosts detail page for information on the number of instances available per Dedicated Host. On this page you will also find the number of sockets and cores installed on each EC2 Dedicated Host. The instance, socket, and core counts vary by the instance type configuration of the Dedicated Host.

No, if you are using Dedicated Hosts to bring your own Windows Server licenses, you do not need to have Software Assurance (SA).  Windows Server licenses can be brought to Dedicated Hosts if the licenses were purchased prior to 10/1/2019 or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019. In these specific BYOL scenarios, the licenses can only be upgraded to versions that were available prior to 10/1/2019.  When you purchase Windows Server as license included instances from AWS, there is no need for you to have Software Assurance to cover those Windows Server licenses.

In 2019, Microsoft updated the licensing terms for dedicated hosts cloud service. Based on the new licensing terms, you can bring your eligible Windows Server licenses to Dedicated Hosts if the licenses were purchased prior to 10/1/2019 or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019. In these specific BYOL scenarios, the licenses can only be upgraded to versions that were available prior to 10/1/2019.

If you don’t have eligible Window Server licenses or if you want to run the latest versions of Windows Server offered after 10/1/2019, then you can use Windows Server AMIs provided by Amazon on Dedicated Hosts. This will allow you to continue using Dedicated Hosts for your Windows and SQL workloads. For more details refer to the pricing section for software usage on Dedicated Hosts.

No, as specified in the Microsoft Product Terms, Windows Server is not eligible for License Mobility. For more information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please visit this section of the FAQ.

When you deploy Windows Server licenses on Dedicated Hosts you will instances with a tenancy of ‘host’. You should not use your own Windows Server license on EC2 instances with default tenancy unless you have approval from Microsoft to do so. If you have negotiated custom terms with Microsoft and have this permission, please contact AWS support or reach out to your account manager.

AWS manages the licensing for you; all you need to do is pay for the instances you use. There is also no need to buy additional Windows Server CALs, as access is included in the price. Each instance comes with two remote connections for admin purposes only. If you require more than two connections, or need those connections for purposes other than admin, you may have to bring in additional Remote Desktop Services CALs for use on AWS.

No, you cannot relicense existing Windows Server EC2 instances or migrate existing Windows Server EC2 instances over to BYOL VMs. However, if you need to migrate from license-included to BYOL and have applications or OS configurations that need to be migrated, we suggest that you reach out to our partners, such as CloudEndure or AppZero, who may be able to assist with these types of migrations.

Yes, EC2 Bare Metal instances include the option to purchase Windows Server as license included from AWS. You can also use Windows Server License Included EC2 Bare Metal instances with 3rd party hypervisors such as Nutanix.

Yes, you can utilize instances with SQL Server licenses included from AWS to run on either Amazon EC2 or Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). SQL Server Web Edition, Standard Edition, and Enterprise Edition are available for your use on both Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS.

Yes. You can bring your own SQL Server licenses to AWS.

• SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance
  

You can bring your SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance to default (shared) tenant Amazon EC2 through License Mobility benefits. The AWS License Mobility Page is a great place for information on the process. Microsoft requires that customers complete and send a License Mobility verification form which can be downloaded here.

• SQL Server licenses without active Software Assurance
  

SQL Server licenses without Software Assurance can be deployed on Dedicated Hosts if the licenses are purchased prior to 10/1/2019 or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019. In these specific BYOL scenarios, the licenses can only be upgraded to versions that were available prior to 10/1/2019. For more information on Dedicated Hosts, please see this section of the FAQ as well as the Dedicated Hosts detail page.

Note: Due to Microsoft licensing restrictions, SQL Server licenses purchased through the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program (CSP) are not eligible for BYOL on AWS.

Yes. SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance are eligible for License Mobility and can be deployed on default or dedicated tenant EC2. For additional details on bringing SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance to default tenant EC2, please see the Microsoft License Mobility page on the AWS site.

It is also possible to bring SQL Server licenses without active Software Assurance to EC2 Dedicated Hosts. To be eligible, the licenses must be purchased prior to 10/1/2019 or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019. For more information on EC2 Dedicated Hosts, please see this section of the FAQ.

There are various factors to consider when licensing passive failover for SQL Server. The information below pertains only to the SQL Server licenses and not the Windows Server licenses. In all cases, you must license Windows Server. For more information on SQL and failover server scenarios, visit this Microsoft SQL Server Licensing guide.

• Using instances that include the license for SQL Server:
  Customers purchasing SQL Server license included instances on EC2 must license passive failover instances.
• Bringing SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance to default tenant EC2:
  Customers bringing SQL Server 2014 and later versions with Software Assurance to default tenant EC2 will license the virtual cores (vCPUs) on the active instance. In return, Software Assurance permits the customer one passive instance (equal or lesser size) where SQL Server licensing is not required.
• Bringing SQL Server to Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts or Amazon EC2 Dedicated Instances
  • SQL Server 2014 and later versions
    Software Assurance is required for SQL Server passive failover benefits on dedicated infrastructure. Customers bringing SQL Server with Software Assurance will license the cores on the active instance/host and are permitted one passive instance/host (equal or lesser size) where SQL Server licensing is not required.
  • SQL Server 2008 – SQL Server 2012R2
    SQL Server 2008 -2012R2 are eligible for passive failover on EC2 dedicated infrastructure without active Software Assurance. In these scenarios, the customer will license the active instance/host, and is permitted one passive instance/host of equal or lesser size where SQL Server licensing is not required. Please click here for information on bringing SQL Server without active Software Assurance.

• SQL Server 2014 and later versions
  Software Assurance is required for SQL Server passive failover benefits on dedicated infrastructure. Customers bringing SQL Server with Software Assurance will license the cores on the active instance/host and are permitted one passive instance/host (equal or lesser size) where SQL Server licensing is not required.
• SQL Server 2008 – SQL Server 2012R2
  SQL Server 2008 -2012R2 are eligible for passive failover on EC2 dedicated infrastructure without active Software Assurance. In these scenarios, the customer will license the active instance/host, and is permitted one passive instance/host of equal or lesser size where SQL Server licensing is not required. Please click here for information on bringing SQL Server without active Software Assurance.

If you are licensing SQL Server under Microsoft’s License Mobility through Software Assurance, the number of licenses required varies based on the instance type, version of SQL Server, and the Microsoft licensing model you choose. To assist you with your virtual core licensing calculations under the Microsoft Product Terms, we provide a table here that shows the number of virtual representations of hardware threads based on instance type.

If you are using Dedicated Hosts, EC2 provides you with the number of physical cores installed on the Dedicated Host. Using this information, you can calculate the number of SQL Server licenses that you need to bring in. For additional information, we recommend referencing Microsoft documentation, such as the licensing guide for SQL Server 2019 (see here).

The Service Provider Use Rights (SPUR) state that SQL Server Web may be used to support public and Internet accessible web pages, web sites, web applications and web services. SQL Server Web may not be used to support line of business applications (e.g., Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise Resource Management and other similar applications). For addition information on use cases for SQL Server Web, please consult Microsoft or your Microsoft reseller.

Using AWS Config as the data source you can track configuration changes against physical resources such as sockets and cores. Before you begin launching BYOL instances onto AWS, ensure AWS Config has been enabled to record any changes. AWS Config keeps track of the changes that occur, including the instances and corresponding AMI IDs that ran. These changes are paired with Host level data, such as the Host ID and the number of sockets and physical cores installed. AWS Config will also keep track of instance tags. We recommend that you tag your instances with a meaningful identifier if you would like a human-readable way to identify BYOL instances in your AWS Config logs. Visit this page for more information on AWS Config.

Yes. SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition is available as a free download from Microsoft. SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition is eligible for use in non-production, development, and test workloads. Once downloaded from Microsoft, AWS customers can bring and install SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition on Amazon EC2 instances. Dedicated infrastructure is not required for SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition.

Customers using SQL Server on Amazon EC2 or Amazon RDS license included instances do not require client access licenses (CALs) for SQL Server. An unlimited number of end users can access SQL Server on a license included instance.

Customers bringing their own SQL Server licenses to Amazon EC2 through license mobility or bring your own licenses (BYOL), will continue to follow the licensing rules they have in place on-premises. If the customer purchased SQL Server under the Server/CAL model, they would still require CALs to meet Microsoft licensing requirements, but these CALs would remain on-premises and enable end user access SQL Server running on AWS.

Yes. Visual Studio Enterprise 2022 and Visual Studio Professional 2022 are available for purchase as license included on EC2.

Microsoft Development Network (MSDN) subscriptions purchased through Visual Studio cloud subscriptions, Enterprise Agreement Subscription, Open Value Subscription, Campus Agreement, or other “subscription” Volume Licensing programs prior to October 1, 2019 are eligible for deployment on EC2 Dedicated Hosts or EC2 Dedicated Instances. However, Microsoft made changes to the license terms under these specific subscription programs that do not permit BYOL for subscriptions purchased or renewed after October 1, 2019, and these new terms become effective at renewal.

Per Microsoft’s Visual Studio Licensing Guide, Visual Studio subscriptions purchased through certain channels provide perpetual use rights even after the subscription has expired. The use of perpetual licenses acquired before 10/1/2019 for products released prior to 10/1/2019 is permitted on AWS dedicated infrastructure regardless of the renewal or expiration of the subscription under which the perpetual licenses were acquired. AWS also offers fully-compliant, Amazon-provided licenses for Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2022 and Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).  These AMIs are available on the Amazon EC2 console and on AWS Marketplace, to launch instances on-demand without any long-term licensing commitments. To learn more, visit AWS License Manager User Guide. 

No, AWS does not sell MSDN licenses.

No, Microsoft does not allow MSDN licenses to be utilized on AWS instances with a default tenancy.

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No. AWS does not sell any Windows Client operating system licenses on any of our services.

Yes. Per Microsoft licensing requirements, VDA E3/E5 user licenses (purchased under subscription from Microsoft) are required for Windows Desktop Client BYOL on AWS. Dedicated infrastructure is also a requirement, and options include EC2 Dedicated Host, EC2 Dedicated Instance, VMC, or dedicated WorkSpaces (100 seat minimum).

Yes. Microsoft Office LTSC Professional Plus 2021 is available as license included on EC2. This offering gives customers access to Microsoft Office LTSC Professional Plus 2021 for the traditional use of Office productivity applications. License included Office on EC2 is delivered through individual user sessions using Remote Desktop Services. Customers are invoiced on a per-user/per-month basis for Microsoft Office LTSC Professional Plus 2021 and Remote Desktop Services SALs.

Yes, you can BYOL perpetual Microsoft Office licenses for use on EC2 Dedicated Hosts or EC2 Dedicated Instances if the licenses were purchased prior to 10/1/2019 (or added as a true-up under an active Enterprise Enrollment that was effective prior to 10/1/2019). In these specific BYOL scenarios, the licenses can only be upgraded to versions that were available prior to 10/1/2019.  If you bring existing licenses to EC2 Dedicated Hosts or EC2 Dedicated Instances, then you are using hardware that is fully dedicated to your use.

There are no additional fees or costs to run Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise on WorkSpaces services. WorkSpaces services are billed at publicly listed pricing. There is no special setup or image management required. You can use existing tools to deploy Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise to WorkSpaces.

You can purchase Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2016 or 2019 as part of the WorkSpaces application bundle, or, beginning August 1, 2023, you can use your own Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise licenses with WorkSpaces services if they meet Microsoft’s licensing requirements.

Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise includes popular productivity applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more. Included applications vary by license plan. If your organization meets the licensing requirements set by Microsoft, you can bring Microsoft 365 licenses and activate Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise in order to use these additional applications on WorkSpaces services.

Permitted license plans include Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, Microsoft 365 A3 or A5, or Microsoft 365 Business Premium. These plans are available on shared Windows Server instances and BYOL Windows Desktop operating systems running on
dedicated instances.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premises can be licensed with perpetual licenses with Software Assurance (SA), or with active user subscription licenses

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Operations Server:
  Microsoft Dynamics 365 Operations Server is eligible for License Mobility and licenses with active Software Assurance (SA) can be brought to shared or dedicated tenancy EC2, as AWS is an Authorized Mobility Partner.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premises CALs or User Subscription Licenses (SLs):
  Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premises CALs with active SA, or Microsoft Dynamics 365 active User SLs, allow you to install and use any number of copies of the corresponding Dynamics 365 Server software to shared or dedicated tenancy on EC2.
  
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central:
  Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central active subscriptions allow customers to install any number of copies of Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises software on shared or dedicated tenancy on EC2, as long as access to the server software is only given to users and devices assigned a subscription license, including Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium, Essentials, or Team Member CALs.
• Legacy Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server licenses (version 2016 and prior):
  Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server licenses (version 2016 and prior) purchased before October 1, 2019, that still have active SA, can be brought to shared or dedicated tenancy on EC2. Without SA, these licenses require EC2 Dedicated Hosts to meet Microsoft’s license terms.
  

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Operations Server without SA:
  Microsoft Dynamics 365 Operations Server (previously called Dynamics AX) can only be brought to AWS with active SA. Customers that allow SA to expire should uninstall the Operations Server software from EC2. As an alternative, customers that have perpetual Dynamics AX licenses purchased before October 1, 2019 (or purchased within a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that started before October 1, 2019) may install the latest update of Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Server or Commerce Server software that was available when the SA expired.
  
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premises CALs without SA:
  Customers bringing Microsoft Dynamics 365 On-premises CALs without SA can still deploy any number of installs of the server software, but only on EC2 Dedicated Hosts, and only if the CALs were originally purchased before October 1, 2019 (or purchased within a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that started before October 1, 2019). This also requires the customer to use only the versions of the software available before October 1, 2019.
  
• Legacy Microsoft Dynamics CRM perpetual licenses without SA:
  Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 and prior without SA can be brought to EC2 Dedicated Hosts (only), if the licenses were originally purchased before October 1, 2019 (or purchased within a Microsoft EA that started before October 1, 2019).
  

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Operations Server perpetual licenses purchased before October 1, 2019 (or purchased within a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that started before October 1, 2019):

  • For every licensed Operations Server on EC2 with active Software Assurance (SA), customers may run one passive Operations Server.

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Operations Server perpetual licenses purchased on or after October 1, 2019 (or purchased within a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that started on or after October 1, 2019):
  

  • Microsoft does not grant passive failover rights on AWS.
    

• For every licensed Operations Server on EC2 with active Software Assurance (SA), customers may run one passive Operations Server.

• Microsoft does not grant passive failover rights on AWS.

No. AWS sells only Windows Server and SQL Server licenses today for use on Amazon EC2.

Yes. We have many customers that have successfully brought in and deployed licenses on Amazon EC2. These deployments include, but are not limited to, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business, Remote Desktop Services, Office, Dynamics products, BizTalk, and System Center. Beginning August 1, 2023, you can use your Microsoft 365 license with Amazon WorkSpaces services.

Customers can choose to use shared EC2 instances and utilize License Mobility or they can purchase EC2 Dedicated Hosts and utilize physically dedicated hardware.

• Amazon EC2 instances with a default tenancy
  License Mobility through Software Assurance allows qualifying customers to bring in eligible Microsoft software onto AWS default tenancy servers. The AWS License Mobility Page is a great place to start the process. You will need to fill out the appropriate License Mobility forms and file them with Microsoft to ensure that the licenses are able to be imported into AWS.
  
• Amazon EC2 Dedicated Host
  EC2 Dedicated Hosts allow customers to bring licenses that do not qualify for License Mobility or that do not have active Software Assurance. When you bring existing licenses to EC2 Dedicated Hosts, you are using hardware that is physically dedicated to your use. For more information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please see this section of the FAQ. Please visit the Dedicated Hosts detail page for more information on Dedicated Hosts. Customers also have multiple options for running productivity applications on WorkSpaces services. Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2016 or 2019 is available as part of the WorkSpaces application bundle. Alternatively, beginning August 1, 2023, customers can bring their own Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise licenses to use on WorkSpaces services.

Yes. License Mobility is a Microsoft Software Assurance benefit that allows you to bring specific product licenses to shared cloud infrastructure, including default (shared) tenant Amazon EC2. Active Software Assurance is required to be eligible for License Mobility. For additional information on License Mobility, please see the License Mobility page on the AWS site.

For information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please see this section of the FAQ.

Each Amazon EC2 instances come with two Remote Desktop Services (aka Terminal Services) licenses for administration purposes. This Quickstart is available to help you provision these licenses for your administrators. You can also use AWS Systems Manager Session Manager, which enables remoting into EC2 instances without RDP and without a need for RDP licenses. If additional Remote Desktop Services licenses are needed, Remote Desktop user CALs should be purchased from Microsoft or a Microsoft license reseller. Remote Desktop users CALs with active Software Assurance have License Mobility benefits and can be brought to AWS default (shared) tenant environments. For information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please see this section of the FAQ.

If you are providing this is a service to a third party (not internal use), then the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) could be used to license Remote Desktop Services. Under this model, you would deploy your service on AWS and rent remote desktop licenses for your end users on a monthly basis. Information on SPLA can be found at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/CloudandHosting/Licensing_Get_started_with_SPLA.aspx. Due to Microsoft’s October 2022 license changes, service providers can only use their own SPLA on AWS until September 30, 2025. After that time, these customers should modernize or move to AWS license included offerings.

Yes, System Center Server Standard and System Center Server Datacenter include these Server Management products, and when these licenses have active Software Assurance, they can be deployed on default or dedicated tenant EC2 Windows Server environments through License Mobility.

In contrast, when System Center products are purchased individually as Client Management Licenses, and are not purchased as part of System Center Standard or System Center Datacenter suites, the licenses are intended for managing end user clients rather than server environments.

AWS has many customers and partners that utilize their own SPLA for licensing. AWS customers can use their own SPLA in scenarios where they are offering software services to third parties. Customers that have a SPLA with Microsoft are governed by the Services Provider Use Rights (SPUR). The SPUR describes exactly how customers can outsource their infrastructure to AWS. Products licensed by user can be deployed on multi-tenant AWS and licensed under the customer’s SPLA. Unless deployed on EC2 dedicated infrastructure, products that are licensed by core or processor (Windows Server, SQL Server) should be licensed with AWS license included instances. Due to Microsoft’s October 2022 license changes, service providers can only use their own SPLA on AWS until September 30, 2025. After that time, these customers should modernize or move to AWS license included offerings.

ISVs can choose to utilize self-hosting rights with Microsoft as part of their Enterprise Agreement (EA). This allows them to take advantage of pricing that they have negotiated with Microsoft under their EA. Microsoft requires that customers not mix self-hosting rights and SPLA for each application. If you have a solution that is licensed under the self-hosting benefit and you wish to bring it to AWS, you can deploy this on EC2 default tenancy. In this scenario, you would still be required to purchase a Windows license-included instance. Dedicated Hosts are not required for SQL (or other included self-hosting products) due to AWS’s status as a license mobility partner. 

No, at this time new BizSpark licenses cannot be used on AWS. We encourage startups to try AWS Activate, with benefits including usage credits, support, training and more.

AWS provides updated, fully patched Windows AMIs within 5 business days of Microsoft’s patch Tuesday (second Tuesday of each month).

AWS deprecates previously published Windows and SQL Server AMIs within 10 business days after a new set of AMIs is published.

When publishing new Windows AMIs, AWS follows a consistent naming scheme. For example, Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-Base-2014.05.20. Look for the date stamp in the AMI name. You find the date stamp (last 8 digits) at the end of the AMI name.

Windows Server 2025 is Microsoft’s newest release of Windows Server. By running Windows Server 2025 on Amazon EC2, customers can take advantage of the security, performance, and reliability of AWS with the latest Windows Server features. Visit this page for the new features of Windows Server 2025.

AWS creates and manages License Included (LI) Microsoft Windows Server 2025 AMIs, providing a reliable and quick way to launch Windows Server 2025 on Amazon EC2 instances. AWS also provides updated, fully-patched Windows Server AMIs within five business days of Microsoft's patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of each month. To learn more, visit AWS Windows AMI reference.

Windows Server 2025 AMIs support Nitro-based instances with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) to provide enhanced security. These AMIs also come with features such as Amazon EBS gp3 as the default root volume and AWS NVMe driver pre-installed, which give customers faster throughput and maximize price-performance. To learn more about the changes, see AWS Windows AMI version history. 

Windows Server 2025 instances are billed under standard EC2 pricing for Windows Server. More details can be found in the Amazon EC2 pricing pages.

Windows Server 2025 AMIs support Nitro-based instances with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) to provide enhanced security and better performance. Windows Server 2025 AMIs don’t support Xen-based instances. For Nitro instances such as bare metal and u-* that support Legacy BIOS only, you can choose Windows Server 2025 AMIs with the prefix of BIOS-. To learn more about boot modes, see this page. To learn which instances fit best for your workloads, visit the EC2 Instance Types page.

Windows Server 2025 is not eligible for BYOL because Windows Server 2025 was released after the October 1, 2019 licensing changes made by Microsoft for products without License Mobility. If you want to use your own Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA), please see Can I use my own SPLA. To learn more about Windows Server licensing, visit this section of FAQ.

Windows Server 2025 AMIs are available in all commercial AWS Regions and the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions.

Windows Server 2025 AMIs don’t support the Credential Guard enablement. You may also have issues when using AWS Systems Manager Sessions Manager. To learn more, visit Troubleshoot issues with Amazon EC2 Windows instances.

Microsoft Windows Server 2022 offers a variety of features and improvements in performance, connectivity and security. AWS customers can make the best out of running Windows Server 2022 on EC2 by leveraging the elasticity and breadth of resources offered on AWS. Customers can start using various features of Windows Server 2022 readily by accessing the Windows AMIs offered by AWS.

AWS has made available several new AMIs that include Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2022 with Containers and Windows Server 2022 with SQL Server 2019 and SQL Server 2017. Updates are made to these AMI’s regularly by AWS. Customers can find and launch instances directly from the AMIs on Amazon EC2 Console or through API or CLI commands.

Windows Server 2022 on AWS follows the same standard usage mechanisms as prior Windows Server OS versions. All Windows Server 2022 AMI’s include the latest AWS launch agent, EC2Launch v2 as the default launch agent. More details on EC2Launch v2 can be found in the Windows Guide.

Windows Server 2022 instances are billed under standard EC2 pricing for Windows Server. More details can be found in the Amazon EC2 pricing pages.

Microsoft recommends a minimum of 2GB RAM – visit the EC2 Instance Types page to see which instances fit best for your application.

For Windows Server to be eligible for BYOL on AWS, Microsoft license terms require that the version was released prior to 10/1/2019. As a result, Windows Server 2022 is not eligible for BYOL. If you wish to deploy Windows Server 2022 on AWS, EC2 offers license included Windows Server 2022 in default and dedicated tenant environments.

Windows Server 2022 is available in all public and US GovCloud AWS regions.

Windows Server 2019 is Microsoft’s newest release of Windows Server. Windows Server 2019 comes loaded with a variety of powerful new features including support for Docker and Windows Containers. By running Windows Server 2019 on Amazon EC2, users can leverage the performance and elasticity of AWS to get up and running on this new release.

Note: Starting with Windows Server version 1709, Nano Server will be available only as a container base OS image. Please see changes to Nano Server for more details.

AWS is releasing several new AMIs, including Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2019 with Containers and Windows Server 2019 with SQL Server 2017.

Windows Server 2019 AMIs feature an all-new version of the SSM agent that replaces the functionality previously supported by the EC2Config service, thereby eliminating the need for EC2Config. With these enhancements, SSM agent now supports a number of advanced settings and launch-time configurations. More details on the new SSM agent in Windows Server 2019 can be found in the User Guide.

Launch an instance with the new Windows Server 2019 with Containers AMI. You can find a sample walkthrough in the AWS Blog.

Yes, Amazon ECS supports Windows containers on container instances that are launched with the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI.

Windows Server 2019 instances are billed under standard Windows EC2 pricing.

Microsoft recommends a minimum of 2GB RAM – visit the EC2 Instance Types page to see which instances fit best for your application.

You can bring your own license to Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts, subject to your licensing terms with Microsoft. Use VM Import to create a Windows Server 2019 AMI from your own copy of Windows Server 2019.

Yes, you can upgrade Windows instances to Windows Server 2019. Visit this page for more details.

Windows Server 2019 is available in all public and GovCloud AWS regions.

Windows Server 2016 is Microsoft’s newest release of Windows Server. Windows Server 2016 comes loaded with a variety of powerful new features including support for Docker and Windows Containers. The release also features a Nano Server deployment option that boots faster than the Standard Edition and uses a fraction of the disk space. By running Windows Server 2016 on Amazon EC2, users can leverage the performance and elasticity of AWS to get up and running on this new release.

Note: Starting with Windows Server version 1709, Nano Server will be available only as a container base OS image. Please see Changes to Nano Server for more details.

AWS is releasing several new AMIs, including Windows Server 2016, Nano Server, Windows Server 2016 with Containers and Windows Server 2016 with SQL Server 2016.

Nano Server is optimized to run cloud-hosted applications and containers. Compared to Windows Server 2016, it starts faster, requires fewer updates, consumes far less disk space, presents less surface area for security threats, and only runs 64-bit applications, tools, and agents. Nano Server has no graphical user interface – all administration is done remotely via PowerShell or WMI.

For Nano Server, Get Instance Screenshot and System Log views are supported, however given Nano Server is headless, Connect via RDP is not. Instead, users can administer a running Nano Server instance via PowerShell remoting, via PowerShell CIM sessions over WinRM, or via Windows Remote Management.

Yes, you can create customized AMIs from Windows Server 2016 and Nano Server instances. As a best practice, AWS recommends generalizing an image by running sysprep when creating a new Windows AMI, and this continues to be true for Windows Server 2016. However, sysprep is not included in Nano Server, meaning image generalization is not available when creating a Windows AMI from Nano Server. Alternately, users can customize a Nano Server instance post-launch by using Run Command, which enables configuration via remote command execution.

Windows Server 2016 and Nano Server AMIs feature an all-new version of the SSM agent that replaces the functionality previously supported by the EC2Config service, thereby eliminating the need for EC2Config. With these enhancements, SSM agent now supports a number of advanced settings and launch-time configurations. More details on the new SSM agent in Windows Server 2016 and Nano Server can be found in the User Guide.

Launch an instance with the new Windows Server 2016 with Containers AMI. You can find a sample walkthrough in the AWS Blog.

Yes. Amazon ECS supports Windows containers on container instances that are launched with the Amazon ECS-optimized Windows AMI.

Windows Server 2016 instances are billed under standard Windows EC2 pricing.

Microsoft recommends a minimum of 2GB RAM – visit the EC2 Instance Types page to see which instances fit best for your application.

You can bring your own license to Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts, subject to your licensing terms with Microsoft. Use VM Import to create a Windows Server 2016 AMI from your own copy of Windows Server 2016.

Yes, you can upgrade Windows instances to Windows Server 2016. Visit this page for more details.

Windows Server 2016 is available in all AWS regions. 

Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 will reach end of support (EOS) on October 10, 2023. After this date, these products will no longer receive security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates. Customers can upgrade an Amazon EC2 Windows instance to a newer version of Windows Server following this User Guide or this video. Also, explore pathways AWS designed to help address the Windows Server end-of-support challenge by migrating, optimizing and modernizing these workloads.

We will be releasing AMIs with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition. For details on the differences between the Windows Server Editions, please refer to the Microsoft documentation.

No. Both On-Demand and Reserved instance pricing for Windows Server 2012 R2 is the same as the pricing for earlier versions of Windows Server available on Amazon EC2. You can view the current pricing for Amazon EC2 instances here: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing.

Windows Server 2012 R2 is available in all AWS regions.

At this time, all Amazon EC2 instance types are supported.

We support 19 languages with the Windows Server 2012 R2 AMIs. Current list of supported languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Traditional Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

You can use AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy and manage your applications on Windows Server 2012 R2 in the AWS cloud. Additionally, you can deploy directly to Amazon EC2 instances launched from the EC2 console or the AWS Marketplace. Also, you can use the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio to get your application deployed and running in a few clicks.

The following SQL Server languages, version and editions are available with Windows Server 2012 R2 AMI: English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese: SQL Server 2014 (Enterprise (English only), Express, Standard and Web editions).

ReFS was designed for file sharing workloads like sharing content or streaming videos. Windows applications like SQL Server support NTFS and will not install on a ReFS volume.

Yes. EBS volumes can be used to setup a Storage Pool. The volumes can be formatted as NTFS or ReFS depending upon your application*.

Move your mouse to the lower left corner, wait for the Start screen and then click to switch into the Start screen.

No, you don’t need to do this for the new Windows Server 2012 R2 AMIs if you followed the steps to enable enhanced networking in the documentation. The AMIs provide built-in support for enhanced networking via SR-IOV on R3, C3 and I2 instances

Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2 have reached End of Support. AWS no longer publishes Windows Server 2003 (effective July 1st, 2019), 2008, and 2008 R2 (effective January 14th, 2020) AMIs. Customers with Custom AMIs and/or existing instances may continue using them on AWS. AWS has no plans to remove the capability to run these AMIs and versions on AWS. For more detailed information on Server 2003 and other Microsoft Products that are no longer supported by Microsoft please see End of Support messaging.

Amazon EC2 adds new managed AMIs with SQL Server 2022. With these AMIs, you can easily launch SQL Server 2022 on EC2 and take advantage of the fully compliant SQL Server licenses with a pay-as-you-go model. By running SQL Server 2022 on EC2, you can simplify SQL Server backups to S3 through a simple T-SQL BACKUP command. In addition, all SQL Server AMIs come with pre-installed software such as AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell, AWS Systems Manager, AWS CloudFormation, and various network and storage drivers to make your management easier. The new AMIs are available on both Windows Server and Linux on EC2.

Yes. You can download free SQL Server 2022 Developer edition from Microsoft website and install it on EC2 instances for your non-production workloads.

Yes. Customers with Software Assurance can continue bringing the licenses the same as before.

EC2 instances with new SQL Server 2022 on Windows Server and Linux are billed under standard EC2 pricing. You can check the pricing from AWS Pricing Calculator or Amazon EC2 pricing pages.

Windows Server 2022 is available in all public and US GovCloud AWS regions.

According to Microsoft, once a product reaches the end of support, or a service retires, there will be no new security updates, non-security updates, or assisted support. 

Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) Microsoft Lifecycle Policy offers 10 years of support (5 years for Mainstream Support and 5 years for Extended Support) for Business and Developer products (such as SQL Server and Windows Server). As per the policy, after the end of the Extended Support period there will be no patches or security updates.

Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) Microsoft Lifecycle Policy offers 18 months of support from the date of public availability, which may be the same month, or month following the release date. As per the policy, no further security updates will be provided after the end of support.

LTSC and SAC releases may share a common build number, but can be distinguished by the Windows Product Name. LTSC releases include the version in the product name, e.g. Windows Server 2019 Datacenter, while SAC product names do not, e.g. Windows Server Datacenter. The Windows Product Name can be returned by PowerShell using the Get-ComputerInfo cmdlet, example below.

Get-ComputerInfo -Property WindowsProductName

Images provided by AWS follow a standard naming convention in which the OS version immediately follows Windows_Server-* in an AMI’s name. LTSC versions are denoted by the 4 digit year of the release, e.g. Windows_Server-2019-*. SAC versions are comprised of the last 2 digits of the release year combined with the 2 digit month of the intended release, e.g. Windows_Server-1903-* (2019, March).

There is no direct impact to existing instances. Customers can continue to start, run, and stop instances.
Microsoft will not provide patches for EOS products, unless customers purchase Extended Security Updates.

Yes, customers can continue to import images to AWS using VM Import/Export (VMIE), Server Migration Service (SMS), or CloudEndure.

There is no direct impact to existing AMIs registered in customer accounts.
AWS will not publish or distribute Managed AWS Windows AMIs that contain EOS software to AWS Management Console, Quick Start, or AWS Marketplace.
Customers with dependencies on Managed AWS Windows AMIs impacted by EOS should consider their options, including creating Custom AMI(s) within their AWS account(s) to enable new instance launches. Learn more about custom AMI creation here.

Yes.

Yes.

AWS customers running EOS software on EC2 instances have several options:

Remain on EOS software: Customers may decide to remain on EOS software. There will be no impact to existing instances, or to custom AMIs.

Upgrade and migrate to AWS (for Windows Server): For customers running workloads on EOS Windows Server on premises or on AWS, we offer AWS End-of-Support Migration Program (EMP) for Windows Server to assist with migration of such workloads to newer, supported Windows Server versions on Amazon EC2. This program offers technology and expert guidance to migrate applications running on Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2. The EMP technology decouples the applications from the underlying OS, enabling AWS Partners or AWS Professional Services to migrate critical applications to a newer, supported version of Windows Server on AWS. For more information on the program and to sign up, visit the program webpage. 

Automated upgrade: For customers with SQL Server 2008 R2 (or later) and Windows Server 2008 R2 (or later), AWS Systems Manager automates the performance of non-destructive in-place upgrades. Visit this page for more details about SQL Server upgrade. Windows Server 2008 R2 customers can upgrade to Windows Server 2012 R2 and again to Windows Server 2016 or 2019. Visit this page for more details. For customers with a License Included (LI) version of Windows Server or SQL Server, there is no additional licensing cost to upgrade. To learn how to use these tools to upgrade, please visit AWS database blog.

Manual in-place upgrade for Microsoft Windows Server:

License Included: Customers using Amazon License Included for Windows Server can perform in-place upgrades for their Windows instances. For more information, please visit AWS public documentation.

BYOL: Customers using the BYOL model can perform a manual in-place upgrade for Windows Server following the steps referenced in the License Included option above, using their own Media.

Manual in-place upgrade for Microsoft SQL Server:

License Included: AWS customers using License Included SQL Server can perform in-place upgrades on running instances. Please contact AWS support for additional assistance and detail on upgrade paths.

BYOL: Customers using the BYOL model can perform a manual in-place upgrade for SQL Server using their Media. For more information, please visit Microsoft documentation.

Explore other platform options. AWS is committed to offering its customers the most flexibility in the cloud. AWS customers interested in the benefits of migrating certain SQL Server or Windows workloads to a different platform can contact their AWS account teams for more information.

For more information on all of Amazon’s products and Services, please visit AWS product page.

Application that have dependencies on legacy versions of Windows and lack support on newer version of Windows are prime candidates for EMP. EMP eliminates the underlying OS dependencies by packaging the dependencies in the EMP package which can run as a self-contained setup on any newer version of Windows.

Some applications will be compatible with newer version of Windows. For such applications, a simple upgrade of the underlying OS is generally the easiest path forward. EMP works best for applications that are incompatible with newer versions of Windows.

Yes, Extended Security Updates (ESU) can be used to cover instances that run on AWS. ESU licenses are only available for purchase directly from Microsoft or a Microsoft licensing partner. For more information, please review Microsoft’s “Lifecycle FAQ - Extended Security Updates”.

Extended Security Updates can be purchased on an annual basis for servers as needed up to a maximum of 3 years after a product's EOS date. The approximate cost of ESU for an EOS product is 75% of the annual license cost for the affected product. However, ESU only include security updates and bulletins rated "critical" for SQL Server, and those rated "critical" and "important" Windows Server, still leaving your software open to other potential vulnerabilities. We suggest that customers should consider all available options for EOS, see “What are my options for running Microsoft software that is approaching EOS?” for more information.

Read more about Microsoft's Extended Security Updates here.

Windows Server 2003
Extended Security Updates available for purchase from Microsoft for Amazon License Included? No.
Extended Security Updates available for purchase from Microsoft for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? No.

Windows Server 2008/2008 R2
Extended Security Updates available for purchase from Microsoft for Amazon License Included? Yes.
Extended Security Updates available for purchase from Microsoft for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? Yes; active Software Assurance (SA) required.

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2
Extended Security Updates available for purchase from Microsoft for Amazon License Included? Yes.
Extended Security Updates available for purchase from Microsoft for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? Yes; active Software Assurance (SA) required.

Windows Server SAC releases
Extended Security Updates available for Amazon License Included? No.
Extended Security Updates available for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? No

SQL Server 2005
Extended Security Updates available for Amazon License Included? No.
Extended Security Updates available for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? No.

SQL Server 2008/2008 R2
Extended Security Updates available for Amazon License Included? No.
Extended Security Updates available for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? Yes; active Software Assurance (SA) required.

SQL Server 2012
Extended Security Updates available for Amazon License Included? Yes.
Extended Security Updates available for Bring Your Own License (BYOL)? Yes; active Software Assurance (SA) required.

Note: Information reflects publicly available Microsoft EOS dates as of April 8th, 2022.

Microsoft Windows Server:

• Windows Server 2003 - July 14th, 2015 

• Windows Server 1709 - April 9th, 2019 

• Windows Server 1803 - November 12th, 2019 

• Windows Server 2008 - January 14th, 2020

• Windows Server 2008 R2 – January 14th, 2020

• Windows Server 1809 - May 12th, 2020

• Windows Server 1903 - December 8th, 2020

• Windows Server 1909 - May 11th, 2021

• Windows Server 2012 – October 10th, 2023

• Windows Server 2012 R2 – October 10th, 2023

Microsoft SQL Server:

• SQL Server 2005 – April 12th, 2016

• SQL Server 2008 – July 9th, 2019

• SQL Server 2008 R2 – July 9th, 2019

• SQL Server 2012 – July 12th, 2022

More information on Microsoft's Application Lifecycle can be found here.

Starting July 1st, 2019 Microsoft requires AWS to no longer publish and distribute License Included Managed AWS Windows AMIs (available in AWS Management Console and Quick Start), media, and services that use or contain Microsoft EOS products. Products that have reached end of support in prior years are also subject to these restrictions. The following products and services are affected:

Managed AWS Windows AMIs:
AWS will no longer publish and distribute Managed AWS Windows AMIs that contain EOS software to AWS Management Console, Quick Start or AWS Marketplace.

Microsoft Windows Server:

• Windows Server 2003 - July 1st, 2019

• Windows Server 1709 - July 1st, 2019

• Windows Server 1803 - November 12th, 2019

• Windows Server 2008 - January 14th, 2020

• Windows Server 2008 R2 - January 14th, 2020

• Windows Server 1809 - May 12th, 2020

• Windows Server 1903 - December 8th, 2020

• Windows Server 1909 - May 11th, 2021

• Windows Server 2012 - Oct 10th, 2023

• Windows Server 2012 R2 - Oct 10th, 2023 

Microsoft SQL Server:

• SQL Server 2005 – July 1st, 2019

• SQL Server 2008 - July 9th, 2019

• SQL Server 2008 R2 - July 9th, 2019

• SQL Server 2012 – July 12th, 2022

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS):

RDS will automatically upgrade customer databases that remain on SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012 starting on June 1, 2019. We recommend customers test this upgrade prior to this date to ensure compatibility.
RDS customers can upgrade their Database version at any time. Learn more about upgrading your SQL Server 2008 R2 database in RDS here.

Amazon WorkSpaces:

WorkSpaces will stop offering License Included public bundles of Windows 7 Experience powered by Windows Server 2008 R2 after January 14th 2020.
WorkSpaces launched from License Included public bundles with Windows 7 Desktop Experience will no longer be able to be launched or rebuilt after January 14th 2020.

There is no impact for WorkSpaces created from BYOL bundles. Customers can continue to launch/rebuild those instances.
Customers who have created custom License Included bundles powered by Windows Server 2008 R2 will be able to use their custom bundles to launch or rebuild WorkSpaces after EOS.

Microsoft will not provide patches for EOS products unless customers purchase Extended Security Updates.

Microsoft has advised that this change will apply to all hyperscale cloud providers.

AWS customers such as Sysco, Hess, Ancestry, and Expedia have successfully migrated and modernized their Windows workloads on AWS. Read more about what AWS customers are doing here.

License Included: There is no additional licensing costs to move to a newer version of the software when using Amazon's License Included options, for example:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2019 is the same price as Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008/2008 R2.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (by edition) is the same price as Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008/2008 R2 (by edition).

BYOL: Customers with active Software Assurance (SA) can upgrade to a newer version at no cost. Customers without SA can purchase a new license from Microsoft.

• Microsoft Windows Server 2019 is the same price as Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008/2008 R2.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (by edition) is the same price as Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008/2008 R2 (by edition).

Yes, customers with AWS Support plans will be able to engage AWS Support for technical issues.

NOTE: As per Microsoft's policy, after the end of the Extended Support, Microsoft will no longer provide patches or security updates unless Extended Security updates has been purchased.

Find more information on AWS Support plans here.

Please email aws.EOS.Microsoft@amazon.com.

In-place upgrade options are covered in detail here.

July 1st, 2019

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-English-32Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-English-64Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-English-64Bit-SQL_2005_SP4_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-English-64Bit-SQL_2005_SP4_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-Language_Packs-32Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-Language_Packs-64Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-Language_Packs-64Bit-SQL_2005_SP4_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2003-R2_SP2-Language_Packs-64Bit-SQL_2005_SP4_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-1709-English-Core-Base-*

• Windows_Server-1709-English-Core-ContainersLatest-*

July 9th, 2019

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Web-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Web-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Language_Packs-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Language_Packs-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2008-SP2-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_SP4_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2008-SP2-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_SP4_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Web-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Express-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2008_R2_SP3_Standard-*

November 12th, 2019

• Windows_Server-1803-English-Core-Base-*

• Windows_Server-1803-English-Core-ContainersLatest-*

January 14th, 2020

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Chinese_Hong_Kong_SAR-64Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-Chinese_PRC-64Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-Base-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-Core-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-Core_SQL_2012_SP4_Standard-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-SharePoint_2010_SP2_Foundation-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-SQL_2012_RTM_SP2_Enterprise-*

• Windows_Server-2008-R2_SP1-English-64Bit-SQL_2012_SP4_Enterprise-*

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May 12th, 2020

• Windows_Server-1809-English-Core-Base-*

• Windows_Server-1809-English-Core-ContainersLatest-*

December 8th, 2020

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• Windows_Server-1903-English-Core-ContainersLatest-*

May 11th, 2021

• Windows_Server-1909-English-Core-Base-*

• Windows_Server-1909-English-Core-ContainersLatest-*

• Windows_Server-1909-English-Core-ECS_Optimized*

July 12th, 2022

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2012_SP4_Enterprise-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2012_SP4_Enterprise-*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2012_SP4_Express-*

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• Windows_Server-2016-English-64Bit-SQL_2012_SP4_Enterprise-*

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October 10th, 2023

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Turkish-64Bit-Base*

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• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Spanish-64Bit-Base*

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• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Portuguese_Brazil-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Polish-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Korean-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Web*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Standard*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Express*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Japanese-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Italian-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Hungarian-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-German-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-French-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Web*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Standard*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Express*

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• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Czech-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Chinese_Traditional-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Chinese_Traditional_Hong_Kong_SAR-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-RTM-Chinese_Simplified-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2-English-STIG-Full*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2-English-STIG-Core*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Turkish-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Swedish-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Spanish-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Russian-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Portuguese_Portugal-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Portuguese_Brazil-64Bit-Base*

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• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Standard*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Express*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Enterprise*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Standard*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Japanese-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Express*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Japanese-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Italian-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Hungarian-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-German-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-French-64Bit-Base*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Web*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Standard*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Express*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2016_SP3_Enterprise*

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• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Standard*

• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-SQL_2014_SP3_Express*

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• Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-Chinese_Simplified-64Bit-Base*

• EC2LaunchV2-Windows_Server-2012_RTM-English-Full-Base*

• EC2LaunchV2-Windows_Server-2012_R2_RTM-English-Full-Base*

Glossary
AMI (Amazon Machine Image): Is a template for the root volume for the instance (for example, an operating system, an application server, and applications), manages launch permissions that control which AWS accounts can use the AMI to launch instances. Contains a block device mapping that specifies the volumes to attach to the instance when it's launched.
AWS (Amazon Web Services): offers a broad set of global compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services that help organizations move faster, lower IT costs, and scale applications.
AWS Management Console: access and manage Amazon Web Services through a simple and intuitive web-based user interface.
BYOL (Bring Your Own License): is a process you can use to deploy software that you have previously licensed on physically dedicated AWS hardware. If you BYOL, you do not pay for instances with licensing included in the cost. Instead, you pay the same rate as EC2 instances with Amazon Linux pricing. When you BYOL, you are responsible for managing your own licenses.
CloudEndure: offers reliable business continuity solutions that minimize data loss and downtime due to human errors, network failures, external threats, or any other disruptions. Our Disaster Recovery and Migration solutions are powered by innovative workload mobility technology, which continuously replicates applications from any physical, virtual, or cloud-based infrastructure into Amazon Web Services (AWS). As such, CloudEndure is uniquely qualified to support large-scale, heterogeneous environments with diverse applications and infrastructure.
Custom AMI: is an AMI created in your account either built from an imported image or captured from an existing instance. For example, you can launch an instance from an existing AMI, customize the instance, and then save this updated configuration as a custom AMI. Instances launched from this new custom AMI include the customizations that you made when you created the AMI.
EC2 (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud): provides scalable computing capacity in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.
EMP (End-of-Support Migration Program) for Windows Server: program that helps customers with migration of their legacy Windows Server applications to the latest, supported versions of Windows Server on AWS, without any code changes.
EOS (End of Support): is a term used to reference Microsoft ending support for a product, in accordance with their Product Lifecycle policy.
Hyperscale: refers to the facilities and provisioning required in distributed computing environments to efficiently scale from a few servers to thousands of servers. Hyperscale computing is usually used in environments such as big data and cloud computing.
In-Place Upgrade: upgrades the operating system files while your personal settings and files are intact.
Instance (EC2 Instance): is a virtual server in the AWS cloud. Its configuration at launch is a copy of the AMI that you specified when you launched the instance.
LI (License Included): refers to the use of Amazon's Microsoft Licensing Agreement for Windows Server and SQL Server.
LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel): is a release channel of Windows Server released once per 2-3 years with stability and long term support in mind. LTSC releases provide a predictable OS experience and provide 5 years of traditional support starting from initial release, plus an additional 5 years of extended support for security updates.
VMIE (AWS VM Import/Export): is an AWS Service used to import Operating System Images to AWS EC2 in an offline mode.
RDS (Amazon Relational Database Service): is a web service that makes it easier to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient, resizable capacity for an industry-standard relational database and manages common database administration tasks.
SA (Software Assurance): is a comprehensive program offered by Microsoft to help deploy, manage, and use Microsoft products efficiently.
SAC (Semi-Annual Channel): is release channel of Windows Server released twice per year with a limited support life cycle, ending 18 months from initial release. SAC releases allow customers to pilot the latest OS features quickly, but are not intended for long term use.
SMS (AWS Server Migration Service): is an AWS Service used to import Operating System Images to AWS EC2 in an online mode.
WorkSpaces (Amazon Workspaces): is a managed, secure cloud desktop service. You can use Amazon WorkSpaces to provision either Windows or Linux desktops in just a few minutes and quickly scale to provide thousands of desktops to workers across the globe.

Not completely. We provide one Windows Server 2008 R2 image that offers Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 SP2.

You can run SharePoint on AWS by deploying eligible licenses with active Software Assurance through Microsoft’s License Mobility program. Learn more at http://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensemobility/. SharePoint can also be deployed on Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts without Software Assurance.

Microsoft License Mobility through Software Assurance allows Microsoft customers to move current on-premises Microsoft Server application workloads to Amazon Web Services (AWS), without any additional Microsoft software license fees. This benefit is available to Microsoft Volume Licensing (VL) customers with eligible server applications covered by active Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) contracts. Learn more at http://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensemobility/.

Please contact your Microsoft Large Account Reseller (LAR) for options on how to purchased and/or add Software Assurance to existing licenses.  For information on bringing licenses without Software Assurance or License Mobility benefits, please see this section of the FAQ.

One SharePoint license can be assigned to one AWS instance (no max/min size).

Customers can run their existing SQL licenses per the License Mobility program or they can run on an AWS SQL instance. For more information on SQL instances running on Amazon EC2, including pricing, please visit http://aws.amazon.com/windows/products/ec2.

EC2Rescue for EC2 Windows is a convenient, straightforward, GUI-based troubleshooting tool that can be run on your Amazon EC2 Windows Server instances to troubleshoot operating system-level issues and collect advanced logs and configuration files for further analysis. EC2Rescue simplifies and expedites the troubleshooting of EC2 Windows instances. For more information, visit here.

Not officially. While it may be possible to create an image of an older operating system, driver support would pose a major challenge to functionality. AWS cannot offer support for these scenarios, however customers are welcome to run these workloads without the expectation of support.

No. Customers can receive support running Microsoft workloads on AWS from both AWS and Microsoft under the customer’s support agreements with AWS or Microsoft without having to recreate their environment using other technologies. In the very rare case a problem could not be duplicated, AWS would work with the customer to recreate the issue in a Microsoft validated environment.

AWS does not need to be SVVP validated for customers to be fully supported running Microsoft workloads on AWS. As Microsoft explains: “SVVP does not apply to vendors that are hosting Windows Server or other Microsoft products through the Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement Program (SPLA). Support for SPLA customers is provided under the SPLA agreement by the SPLA hoster.” (see http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx).

Yes. SVVP validation is not applicable to SPLA providers. Support for SPLA customers is provided under the SPLA agreement by AWS. AWS is fully committed to supporting our customers running Microsoft workloads on AWS.