How to create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
To create an AMI, you must first convert your recovery points to a .vhdx/.vhd format. Ensure that all your drives are backed up including hidden drives. After you convert the .sv2i files to .vhdx/.vhd files either using Veritas System Recovery or the PowerShell script, you can create the AMI.
To run the CREATE_AMI_IN_AWS script.
  1. Run the CREATE_AMI_IN_AWS script from the PowerShell command line in the administrator mode.
A message is displayed asking if you want to use a .vhdx or .vhd file for creating the AMI.
  1. Press Yto use a .vhdx format or pressN or any other key to use a .vhd format.
    Note: The steps to create an AMI remain the same whether you pressYfor .vhdx files orNfor .vhd files.
  2. Do one of the following.
    Press Y if you already have a .vhdx/.vhd file Do the following in the order listed\:
    1. Press 1 to upload the .vhdx/.vhd to an Amazon S3 bucket before creating the AMI or press 2 if the .vhdx/.vhd file is already available in an Amazon S3 bucket.
    2. If you pressed 1 , enter the path where the .vhdx/.vhd file is located. Note: If the .vhdx/.vhd file is available at a network location, enter the credentials of the network path. You must maintain separate folders for the virtual hard disks of each computer. When you create the AMI, all .vhdx/.vhd files for one computer are used. If .vhdx/.vhd files are not maintained separately, when creating an AMI, files belonging to different computers may get used together. If you pressed 2 , continue from step 3.
    3. Type the Amazon account details. Type the Access Key. Type Secret Key.
    4. Press 1 to create a new bucket or press 2 for an existing bucket.
    5. If you pressed 1 , type a name for the new bucket, the region name, and the name of the folder to be created to upload the .vhdx/.vhd files. For more information about AWS regions, refer to the following link: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html If you pressed 2 , type the name of the existing bucket, the region of the bucket, and the name of the folder to upload the .vhdx/.vhd files. After you enter all the inputs, the vhdx/vhd files are uploaded, the AMI is created, and you can view the created AMI in the AWS account.
    Press N if you do not have a .vhdx/.vhd file. Do the following in the order listed\:
    1. Type the path of the .sv2i file, which is to be converted to a .vhdx/.vhd format. Note: If the .sv2i file is on a network location, type the credentials of the network path.
    2. Type the path where you want to the converted .vhdx/.vhd file to be placed. Note: If the .vhdx/.vhd file is to be created a network location, type the credentials of the network path. You must maintain separate folders for the virtual hard disks of each computer. When you create the AMI, all .vhdx/.vhd files for one computer are used. If .vhdx/.vhd files are not maintained separately, when creating an AMI, files belonging to different computers may get used together.
    3. Type the Amazon account details. Type the Access Key. Type the Secret Key.
    4. Press 1 to create a new Amazon S3 bucket or press 2 for an existing bucket.
    5. If you pressed 1 , type a name for the new bucket, the region name, and the name of the folder to be created to upload the .vhdx/.vhd files. For more information about AWS regions, refer to the following link: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html If you pressed 2 , type the name of the existing bucket, the region of the bucket, and the name of the folder to upload the .vhdx/.vhd files. After you enter all the inputs, the .sv2i file is converted to .vhdx/.vhd file, the .vhdx/.vhd files are uploaded. The AMI is created, and you can view the created AMI in the AWS account.
When the script creates the AMI, an ImportTaskId is generated. The AMI is then created with an AMI ID and listed on the Amazon account. You can right-click the AMI and launch the EC2 instance.
See About creation of Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in Amazon from Veritas System Recovery backups.