Install the latest version of EC2Config

By default, the EC2Config service is included in AMIs prior to Windows Server 2016. When the EC2Config service is updated, new Windows AMIs from AWS include the latest version of the service. However, you need to update your own Windows AMIs and instances with the latest version of EC2Config.

Note

EC2Launch replaces EC2Config on Windows Server 2016 and 2019. For more information, see Use the EC2Launch v1 agent to perform tasks during EC2 Windows instance launch. The latest launch service for all supported Windows Server versions is EC2Launch v2, which replaces both EC2Config and EC2Launch.

For information about how to receive notifications for EC2Config updates, see Subscribe to EC2 Windows launch agent notifications. For information about the changes in each version, see the EC2Config version history.

Before you begin

• Verify that you have .NET framework 3.5 SP1 or greater.

• By default, Setup replaces your settings files with default settings files during installation and restarts the EC2Config service when the installation is completed. If you changed EC2Config service settings, copy the config.xml file from the %Program Files%\Amazon\Ec2ConfigService\Settings directory. After you update the EC2Config service, you can restore this file to retain your configuration changes.

• If your version of EC2Config is earlier than version 2.1.19 and you are installing version 2.2.12 or earlier, you must first install version 2.1.19. To install version 2.1.19, download EC2Install_2.1.19.zip, unzip the file, and then run EC2Install.exe.

  Note

  If your version of EC2Config is earlier than version 2.1.19 and you are installing version 2.3.313 or later, you can install it directly without installing version 2.1.19 first.

Verify the EC2Config version

Use the following procedure to verify the version of EC2Config that is installed on your instances.

To verify the installed version of EC2Config

1. Launch an instance from your AMI and connect to it.

2. In Control Panel, select Programs and Features.

3. In the list of installed programs, look for Ec2ConfigService. Its version number appears in the Version column.

Update EC2Config

Use the following procedure to download and install the latest version of EC2Config on your instances.

To download and install the latest version of EC2Config

1. Download and unzip the EC2Config installer.

2. Run EC2Install.exe. For a complete list of options, run EC2Install with the /? option. By default, setup displays prompts. To run the command with no prompts, use the /quiet option.

   Important

   To keep the custom settings from the config.xml file that you saved, run EC2Install with the /norestart option, restore your settings, and then restart the EC2Config service manually.

3. If you are running EC2Config version 4.0 or later, you must restart SSM Agent on the instance from the Microsoft Services snap-in.

   Note

   The updated EC2Config version information will not appear in the instance System Log or Trusted Advisor check until you reboot or stop and start your instance.

To download and install the latest version of EC2Config using PowerShell

To download, unzip, and install the latest version of EC2Config using PowerShell, run the following commands from a PowerShell window:

$Url = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/EC2Config/EC2Install.zip"
$DownloadZipFile = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\" + $(Split-Path -Path $Url -Leaf)
$ExtractPath = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $Url -OutFile $DownloadZipFile
$ExtractShell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application 
$ExtractFiles = $ExtractShell.Namespace($DownloadZipFile).Items() 
$ExtractShell.NameSpace($ExtractPath).CopyHere($ExtractFiles) 
Start-Process $ExtractPath
Start-Process `
    -FilePath $env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\EC2Install.exe `
    -ArgumentList "/S"

Note

If you receive an error when downloading the file, and you are using Windows Server 2016 or earlier, TLS 1.2 might need to be enabled for your PowerShell terminal. You can enable TLS 1.2 for the current PowerShell session with the following command and then try again:

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

Verify the installation by checking C:\Program Files\Amazon\ for the Ec2ConfigService directory.