Select your cookie preferences

We use essential cookies and similar tools that are necessary to provide our site and services. We use performance cookies to collect anonymous statistics, so we can understand how customers use our site and make improvements. Essential cookies cannot be deactivated, but you can choose “Customize” or “Decline” to decline performance cookies.

If you agree, AWS and approved third parties will also use cookies to provide useful site features, remember your preferences, and display relevant content, including relevant advertising. To accept or decline all non-essential cookies, choose “Accept” or “Decline.” To make more detailed choices, choose “Customize.”

Requirements to launch an EC2 instance in UEFI boot mode

Focus mode
Requirements to launch an EC2 instance in UEFI boot mode - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

The boot mode of an instance is determined by the configuration of the AMI, the operating system contained in it, and the instance type. To launch an instance in UEFI boot mode, you must meet the following requirements.

AMI

The AMI must be configured for UEFI as follows:

Linux – The following Linux AMIs support UEFI:

  • Amazon Linux 2023

  • Amazon Linux 2 (Graviton instance types only)

For other Linux AMIs, you must configure the AMI, import the AMI through VM Import/Export, or import the AMI through CloudEndure.

Windows – The following Windows AMIs support UEFI:

  • Windows_Server-2025-* (except for AMIs with the BIOS- name prefix)

  • TPM-Windows_Server-2022-English-Full-Base

  • TPM-Windows_Server-2022-English-Core-Base

  • TPM-Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-Base

  • TPM-Windows_Server-2019-English-Core-Base

  • TPM-Windows_Server-2016-English-Full-Base

  • TPM-Windows_Server-2016-English-Core-Base

Instance type

All instances built on the AWS Nitro System support both UEFI and Legacy BIOS, except the following: bare metal instances, DL1, G4ad, P4, u-3tb1, u-6tb1, u-9tb1, u-12tb1, u-18tb1, u-24tb1, and VT1. For more information, see Determine the supported boot modes of an EC2 instance type.

The following table shows that the boot mode of an instance (indicated by the Resulting instance boot mode column) is determined by a combination of the boot mode parameter of the AMI (column 1), the boot mode configuration of the operating system contained in the AMI (column 2), and the boot mode support of the instance type (column 3).

AMI boot mode parameter Operating system boot mode configuration Instance type boot mode support Resulting instance boot mode
UEFI UEFI UEFI UEFI
Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS
UEFI Preferred UEFI UEFI UEFI
UEFI Preferred UEFI UEFI and Legacy BIOS UEFI
UEFI Preferred Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS
UEFI Preferred Legacy BIOS UEFI and Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS
No boot mode specified - ARM UEFI UEFI UEFI
No boot mode specified - x86 Legacy BIOS UEFI and Legacy BIOS Legacy BIOS
PrivacySite termsCookie preferences
© 2025, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.