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AWS ec2 medium security documentation change

Service: ec2 · 2025-06-07 · Security-related medium

File: ec2/latest/windows-ami-reference/specialized-windows-amis.md

Summary

Restructured documentation to emphasize specialized AMI types, added NitroTPM/UEFI Secure Boot AMI section, expanded search examples, and added language-specific AMI information

Security assessment

Added documentation for NitroTPM-enabled AMIs which implement hardware-rooted trust and Secure Boot capabilities. STIG Hardened AMIs reference compliance with DoD security standards. These changes document security-enhancing features rather than patching vulnerabilities.

Diff

diff --git a/ec2/latest/windows-ami-reference/specialized-windows-amis.md b/ec2/latest/windows-ami-reference/specialized-windows-amis.md
index 8cfd194e2..520593728 100644
--- a//ec2/latest/windows-ami-reference/specialized-windows-amis.md
+++ b//ec2/latest/windows-ami-reference/specialized-windows-amis.md
@@ -5 +5 @@
-# Specialized AWS Windows AMIs
+Find an AWS Windows AMI
@@ -7 +7 @@
-You can use specialized AWS Windows AMIs to create instances for your database and compliance hardening use cases as follows.
+# Specialized AWS Windows AMIs
@@ -9 +9 @@ You can use specialized AWS Windows AMIs to create instances for your database a
-**SQL Server AMIs**
+In addition to its standard operating system version AMIs, Amazon creates the following types of specialized AWS Windows AMIs:
@@ -10,0 +11 @@ You can use specialized AWS Windows AMIs to create instances for your database a
+**SQL Server license-included AMIs**
@@ -12 +12,0 @@ You can use specialized AWS Windows AMIs to create instances for your database a
-Some AWS Windows AMIs include an edition of Microsoft SQL Server (SQL Enterprise Edition, SQL Server Standard, SQL Server Express, or SQL Server Web). Launching an instance from a Windows AMI with Microsoft SQL Server enables you to run the instance as a database server. Alternatively, you can launch an instance from any Windows AMI and then install the database software that you need on the instance.
@@ -14 +14 @@ Some AWS Windows AMIs include an edition of Microsoft SQL Server (SQL Enterprise
-To discover available SQL Server license-included AMIs, see [Find a SQL Server license-included AMI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sql-server-ec2/latest/userguide/sql-server-on-ec2-amis.html) in the _Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon EC2 User Guide_.
+Launching an instance from a Windows AMI with Microsoft SQL Server enables you to run the instance as a database server. For more information, see [AWS Windows Server license-included SQL Server AMIs](./ami-windows-sql.html).
@@ -20,0 +21,95 @@ STIG Hardened EC2 Windows Server AMIs are pre-configured with over 160 required
+**NitroTPM enabled AMIs**
+    
+
+Amazon creates a set of AMIs that are pre-configured with NitroTPM and UEFI Secure Boot requirements. For more information, see [AWS Windows Server NitroTPM enabled AMIs](./ami-windows-tpm.html).
+
+You can also create your own customized AMI from one of the AWS Windows AMIs with EC2 Image Builder. For more information, see the [EC2 Image Builder User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/imagebuilder/latest/userguide/).
+
+We recommend PowerShell for the command line examples in this section. To install PowerShell in your environment, see the [Installation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v4/userguide/pstools-getting-set-up.html) page in the _AWS Tools for PowerShell (version 4) User Guide_.
+
+###### Note
+
+Not all AMIs are available in all Regions.
+
+## Find an AWS Windows AMI
+
+Each of the specialized AMI pages linked above has its own filtered search examples, as follows:
+
+  * [Find Windows Server AMIs with Microsoft SQL Server](./ami-windows-sql.html#ami-windows-sql-find)
+
+  * [Find a STIG Hardened AMI](./ami-windows-stig.html#find-windows-stig-ami)
+
+  * [Find Windows Server AMIs configured with NitroTPM and UEFI Secure Boot](./ami-windows-tpm.html#ami-windows-tpm-find)
+
+
+
+
+You can also search for the latest Windows AMIs that include the EC2Launch v2 agent, as shown in the following PowerShell example:
+    
+    
+    Get-SSMLatestEC2Image `
+        -Path ami-windows-latest `
+        -ImageName EC2LaunchV2-Windows* | `
+    Sort-Object Name
+    
+
+###### Note
+
+If this command doesn't run in your environment, you might be missing a PowerShell module. For more information about this command, see [Get-SSMLatestEC2Image Cmdlet](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v4/reference/items/Get-SSMLatestEC2Image.html).
+
+Alternatively, you can use the [CloudShell console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudshell/home) and run `pwsh` to bring up a PowerShell prompt that already has all of the AWS tools installed. For more information, see the [AWS CloudShell User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudshell/latest/userguide/welcome.html).
+
+### Find an AWS Windows AMI in a specific language
+
+The following language-specific AWS Windows AMIs are included in the monthly release:
+
+  * English
+
+  * Japanese
+
+  * Chinese
+
+  * Korean
+
+  * Czech
+
+  * Dutch
+
+  * French
+
+  * German
+
+  * Hungarian
+
+  * Italian
+
+  * Polish
+
+  * Russian
+
+  * Portuguese
+
+  * Spanish
+
+  * Swedish
+
+  * Turkish
+
+
+
+
+The following example uses PowerShell to search for the latest English language AWS Windows AMIs:
+    
+    
+    Get-SSMLatestEC2Image `
+        -Path ami-windows-latest `
+        -ImageName *Windows_Server-*English* | `
+    Sort-Object Name
+    
+
+###### Note
+
+If this command doesn't run in your environment, you might be missing a PowerShell module. For more information about this command, see [Get-SSMLatestEC2Image Cmdlet](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/powershell/v4/reference/items/Get-SSMLatestEC2Image.html).
+
+Alternatively, you can use the [CloudShell console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudshell/home) and run `pwsh` to bring up a PowerShell prompt that already has all of the AWS tools installed. For more information, see the [AWS CloudShell User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudshell/latest/userguide/welcome.html).
+
@@ -29 +124 @@ AWS Windows AMIs
-STIG Hardened AMIs
+SQL Server AMIs