Retrieve recommended Microsoft Windows AMI IDs

You can programmatically retrieve the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) ID for Amazon EKS optimized AMIs by querying the AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store API. This parameter eliminates the need for you to manually look up Amazon EKS optimized AMI IDs. For more information about the Systems Manager Parameter Store API, see GetParameter. The IAM principal that you use must have the ssm:GetParameter IAM permission to retrieve the Amazon EKS optimized AMI metadata.

You can retrieve the image ID of the latest recommended Amazon EKS optimized Windows AMI with the following command, which uses the sub-parameter image_id. Make the following modifications to the command as needed and then run the modified command:

• Replace release with one of the following options.

  • Use 2022 for Windows Server 2022, but only if you're using Kubernetes version 1.24 or later.

  • Use 2019 for Windows Server 2019.

• Replace installation-option with one of the following options. For more information, see What is the Server Core installation option in Windows Server.

  • Use Core for a minimal installation with a smaller attack surface.

  • Use Full to include the Windows desktop experience.

• Replace kubernetes-version with a supported Amazon EKS version.

• Replace region-code with an Amazon EKS supported AWS Region for which you want the AMI ID.

aws ssm get-parameter --name /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-release-English-installation-option-EKS_Optimized-kubernetes-version/image_id \
    --region region-code --query "Parameter.Value" --output text

Here's an example command after placeholder replacements have been made.

aws ssm get-parameter --name /aws/service/ami-windows-latest/Windows_Server-2022-English-Core-EKS_Optimized-1.30/image_id \
    --region us-west-2 --query "Parameter.Value" --output text

An example output is as follows.

ami-1234567890abcdef0