π§ What is EC2 Fast Launch?
EC2 Fast Launch improves launch time for Windows EC2 instances by pre-initializing AMI snapshots, resulting in:
β‘ Faster instance boot times β±οΈ Reduced wait for RDP and service readiness π Better support for auto-scaling, blue/green deployments, or patch testing
π οΈ How to Enable EC2 Fast Launch (via Console)
Open the Amazon EC2 Console: π https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ In the left navigation pane, choose Images > AMIs. Select your Windows AMI by checking the box next to its name. Click on Actions > Configure fast launch. On the configuration page: β
Check "Enable fast launch for Windows" π Choose your anticipated launch frequency β AWS uses this to maintain pre-provisioned snapshots matching your launch volume. Click Save changes.
β How to Disable EC2 Fast Launch
Open the EC2 Console > AMIs section. Select the AMI you want to update. Click Actions > Configure fast launch. On the page: β Uncheck the "Enable fast launch for Windows" box. π This will delete pre-provisioned snapshots and revert the AMI to standard launch behavior. Click Save changes.
π Note: If you want to enable it again later, you'll need to reconfigure everything after snapshots are removed.
π Why It Matters
π Launch Windows instances faster without the setup hassle π‘ Simplifies infrastructure for automation and CI/CD π§ Works even without a Default VPC π‘οΈ Ideal for custom networking setups and scale-out scenarios
Top comments (0)