registerImage

Registers an AMI. When you're creating an instance-store backed AMI, registering the AMI is the final step in the creation process. For more information about creating AMIs, see Create an AMI from a snapshot and Create an instance-store backed AMI in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

If needed, you can deregister an AMI at any time. Any modifications you make to an AMI backed by an instance store volume invalidates its registration. If you make changes to an image, deregister the previous image and register the new image.

Register a snapshot of a root device volume

You can use RegisterImage to create an Amazon EBS-backed Linux AMI from a snapshot of a root device volume. You specify the snapshot using a block device mapping. You can't set the encryption state of the volume using the block device mapping. If the snapshot is encrypted, or encryption by default is enabled, the root volume of an instance launched from the AMI is encrypted.

For more information, see Create an AMI from a snapshot and Use encryption with EBS-backed AMIs in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Amazon Web Services Marketplace product codes

If any snapshots have Amazon Web Services Marketplace product codes, they are copied to the new AMI.

In most cases, AMIs for Windows, RedHat, SUSE, and SQL Server require correct licensing information to be present on the AMI. For more information, see Understand AMI billing information in the Amazon EC2 User Guide. When creating an AMI from a snapshot, the RegisterImage operation derives the correct billing information from the snapshot's metadata, but this requires the appropriate metadata to be present. To verify if the correct billing information was applied, check the PlatformDetails field on the new AMI. If the field is empty or doesn't match the expected operating system code (for example, Windows, RedHat, SUSE, or SQL), the AMI creation was unsuccessful, and you should discard the AMI and instead create the AMI from an instance. For more information, see Create an AMI from an instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

If you purchase a Reserved Instance to apply to an On-Demand Instance that was launched from an AMI with a billing product code, make sure that the Reserved Instance has the matching billing product code. If you purchase a Reserved Instance without the matching billing product code, the Reserved Instance is not applied to the On-Demand Instance. For information about how to obtain the platform details and billing information of an AMI, see Understand AMI billing information in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.