sharing an Amazon AWS AMI to another account via the console

Question

I'm trying to view an AMI shared from one of my amazon accounts with another amazon account and it's not visible. I've followed all of the instructions here:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/sharingamis-explicit.html

I've been able to share an EBS Volume successfully, but not the AMI. Are there any undocumented issues or steps anyone has run in to which might keep me from viewing the shared AMI?

Alternatively - is there a way to build an AMI from the snapshot?

Boroughenglish

Answer 1

It's possible that one of your accounts is set to a different region than your other. At least, that's what I just ran into.

AMIs don't cross regions - an AMI created in region A will never show up in any other region. You'll see this if your two accounts are in different regions, or even if you switch regions in one of your accounts.

There are two things you can do:

1. Just change regions in your target account. The AMI should magically appear - at least, it did for me. Easy, but unsatisfying, if you really like some other region.

2. In your source account, copy the AMI into the region that you'd like to use it from. Here are the official docs, but it's pretty straightforward. From the console, right-click the AMI, select Copy AMI, choose your region, and press the Copy AMI button. Wait until copied, then set permissions on the newly-generated AMI.

You'll have to wait, but at least you won't have to go through the song-and-dance that you used to.

Mule

I had the same problem as well, not finding an AMI shared with me. Switching the target region worked – Walloping

Any idea the time it takes for it to show up in the destination account? – Cheriecherilyn

Answer 2

You need to be in the correct region as well on the left hand side of the filter below launch there is a drop down menu that defaults the AMI's to "Owned by Me". Since you are in the destination account you need to select "Private Images"

Cheriecherilyn

Answer 3

All Amazon AWS AMI's are public and visible to all accounts. Are you talking about an AMI that you (or someone else) explicitly created following these steps:

 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/creating-an-ami.html

If so, the instructions for sharing those are here:

 http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/AESDG-chapter-sharingamis.html
 (I'm not sure the difference between your link and this link. They seem... the same)

EBS Snapshots, which are not AMIs, can be shared with other accounts. The instructions for sharing EBS Snapshots with other accounts are here:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ebs-modifying-snapshot-permissions.html

I don't know of any direct way to create an AMI from a snapshot. I don't think there is one.

Heine