Upgrade an EC2 Windows instance to a newer version of Windows Server
If it's time to upgrade the Windows Server operating system on your EC2 Windows instance from an earlier version, you can use one of the following methods.
- In-place upgrade
-
An in-place upgrade operates on an existing instance. Only the operating system files are affected during this proces, while your settings, server roles, and data are left intact.
- Migration (also known as a side-by-side upgrade)
-
A migration involves capturing settings, configurations, and data, and porting these to a newer operating system on a fresh EC2 Windows instance. You can launch your instance from a public or private Windows AMI that you subscribe to from the AWS Marketplace, or an AMI that's shared with you. You can also create a custom AMI with EC2 Image Builder. See the Image Builder User Guide for more information.
Note
AWS provides a set of publicly available Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) for Windows Server versions that run on EC2 instances. These AMIs are updated on a monthly basis. For information about the latest Windows AMIs, see the AWS Windows AMI Reference.
Microsoft has traditionally recommended migrating to a newer version of Windows Server instead of upgrading in place. Migrating can result in fewer upgrade errors or issues, but can take longer than an in-place upgrade because of the need to provision a new instance, plan for and port applications, and adjust configuration settings on the new instance. An in-place upgrade can be faster, but software incompatibilities can produce errors.