How to launch AWS EC2 Instance (Windows)
Published: 2024-04-07 12:01:08

Hello!

Today we will be launching a Windows EC2 instance using the AWS management console.

**Step 1**

- Log in to the AWS account 
- Navigate to the **EC2 dashboard** 
- Click on **Launch instance**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gp7q8nhjc2803a4ipxxy.png)



**Step 2**

Here you will be required to input some details and make some selections. 

- Specify Instance name
- Select a Windows AMI


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gv640j0k4sg1c4mtkwcj.png)


**Step 3**

This is where you select your RAM, CPU, Hard disk etc 

- Select the t2 micro (it's within the free tier)


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/meuu1avl0uv803nxdivv.png)



**Step 4**

- Select an existing key pair or create a new one. For this purpose, we will create a new key pair
- Click **Create new Key pair**
- Specify the Key pair name
- Select the **.pem **key type

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/099mvx6likmwe0f8q7bx.png)


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2k2w3aiy4qkgtcdd4a43.png)


Your new keypair has been created

**Step 5**

Here a default VPC, Security group and storage has been selected
Leave everything else as default for now.


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/we9ij2fh5m02x3bu03ey.png)

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/466ylf02r6ey9z9n7kbn.png)




**Step 6**

Here is a summary of our instance 
- Select **launch instance**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zl2bg75n13mfi7nixlfq.png)



Our instance has been launched successfully, 
- Click **view all instance**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tc8m7li94d66zsncc62t.png)



**Step 7**

Our instance is running


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/xutu0x5li1jqeyo1rtbh.png)



Now let's connect to our instance 
- Click on **Connect**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gbaldsf52vsvi2aglea1.png)



**Step 8 **

- Select RDP Client (Remote Desktop Protocol Client)

- Download the RDP file 
Now we need our key pair so click on **Get password**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3xp2w989bv05jq1b7mwn.png)



**Step 9**

We need to upload the key pair we created earlier 
- Upload the keypair
- Click on **decrypt**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nebsy2x9fazn88z9902v.png)



Now our password is available for use after decryption


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/axaxewxgttlm1n1v4yvt.png)



**Step 10**

- Launch the RDP client we downloaded earlier


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/dfb4xmu4zf5gs064b2tr.png)



- Click on Connect 
- Enter the password we generated


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/kuape9jxzecybydw40n2.png)



Click **yes**


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/kczybdlyjx9nmcjk170s.png)



Yes! We have successfully connected to our Windows instance Now our Windows environment is ready


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/eg1zt9mxhsuku0eaenlk.png)


The Windows instance has been deployed successfully. 
Now we can perform different Windows activities on it. 


Remember to delete the EC2 we just created after this project to avoid being charged.