Requirements for resources that you import with VM Import/Export
Before you begin, you must be aware of the operating systems and image formats that VM Import/Export supports, and understand the limitations on importing instances and volumes.
Topics
Image formats supported by VM Import/Export
VM Import/Export supports the following image formats for importing both disks and VMs:
-
Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) image format, which supports importing images with multiple hard disks.
-
Stream-optimized ESX Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) image format, which is compatible with VMware ESX and VMware vSphere virtualization products.
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Fixed and Dynamic Virtual Hard Disk (VHD/VHDX) image formats, which are compatible with Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure, and Citrix Xen virtualization products.
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Raw format for importing disks and VMs.
Important
VMs that are created as the result of a physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion are not supported. For more information, see Limitations for resources being imported with VM Import/Export.
Operating systems supported by VM Import/Export
The following operating systems (OS) can be imported to and exported from Amazon EC2.
VMs using ARM64 architecture are not currently supported.
Important
Starting from April 1, 2026, VM Import Export will stop supporting i386 architecture. Import and Export tasks will stop working for i386 OS versions. These OS versions include Windows Server 2003 (32-bit), Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit), Windows Server 2008 (32-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit), Windows 8 (32-bit), CentOS 5 (32-bit), CentOS 6 (32-bit), Debian 6 (32-bit), Debian 7 (32-bit), Debian 10 (32-bit), Debian 11 (32-bit), Debian 12 (32-bit), Fedora 18 (32-bit), Fedora 19 (32-bit), Fedora 20 (32-bit), Oracle Linux 5 (32-bit), Oracle Linux 6 (32-bit), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (32-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (32-bit), Ubuntu 12.04 (32-bit), Ubuntu 12.10 (32-bit), Ubuntu 13.04 (32-bit), Ubuntu 13.10 (32-bit), Ubuntu 14.04 (32-bit), Ubuntu 14.10 (32-bit), Ubuntu 15.04 (32-bit), Ubuntu 16.04 (32-bit), Ubuntu 16.10 (32-bit), and Ubuntu 17.04 (32-bit).
Important
We strongly recommend that you avoid using OS versions that have reached End-of-Life (EOL). OS vendors typically don't provide security patches or other updates for versions that have reached EOL. Continuing to use an EOL system greatly increases the risk of not being able to apply upgrades, including security fixes, and other operational problems. VM Import Export functionalities are not tested on OS versions that have reached EOL. EOL OS versions include Windows Server 2003 (all versions), Windows Server 2003 R2 (all versions), Windows Server 2008 (all versions), Windows Server 2008 R2 (all versions), Windows Server 1709 (all versions), Windows Server 1803 (all versions), Windows 7 (all versions), Windows 8 (all versions), Windows 8.1 (all versions), CentOS 5 (all versions), CentOS 6 (all versions), CentOS 7 (all versions), CentOS 8 (all versions), Debian 6 (all versions), Debian 7 (all versions), Debian 10 (all versions), Fedora 18 (all versions), Fedora 19 (all versions), Fedora 20 (all versions), Fedora 37 (all versions), Fedora 38 (all versions), Fedora 39 (all versions), Fedora 40 (all versions), Oracle Linux 5 (all versions), Oracle Linux 6 (all versions), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (all versions), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (all versions), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (all versions), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (all versions), Ubuntu 12.04 (all versions), Ubuntu 12.10 (all versions), Ubuntu 13.04 (all versions), Ubuntu 13.10 (all versions), Ubuntu 14.04 (all versions), Ubuntu 14.10 (all versions), Ubuntu 15.04 (all versions), Ubuntu 16.04 (all versions), Ubuntu 16.10 (all versions), and Ubuntu 17.04 (all versions).
The following Linux/Unix operating systems are support by VM Import/Export.
| Operating system | Version | Kernel | Service pack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | - | 6.1 | - |
Amazon Linux 2 |
- |
4.14, 4.19, 5.4, 5.10 |
- |
CentOS |
5.1–5.11 |
2.6.18 |
- |
6.1–6.8 |
2.6.32 |
- |
|
7.0–7.9 |
3.10.0 |
- |
|
8.0–8.2 |
4.18.0 |
- |
|
9 |
5.14.0 |
- |
|
Debian |
6.0.0–6.0.8 |
2.6.32 |
- |
7.0.0–7.8.0 |
3.2.0 |
- |
|
10 |
4.19.0 |
- |
|
11 |
5.10.0 |
- |
|
12.2 |
6.1.0 |
- |
|
12.4 |
6.1.0 |
- |
|
12.7 |
6.1.0 |
- |
|
Fedora |
18 |
3.2.5 |
- |
19 |
3.9.5 |
- |
|
20 |
3.11.10 |
- |
|
37 |
6.0.7 |
- |
|
38 |
6.2.9 |
- |
|
39 |
6.5.6 |
- |
|
40 |
6.8.5 |
- |
|
41 |
6.11.4 |
- |
|
42 |
6.14.0 |
- |
|
43 |
6.17.1 |
- |
|
|
Oracle Linux |
5.10–5.11 |
Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) el5uek kernel suffixes |
- |
6.1–6.10 |
Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) 2.6.32, 2.6.39 Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) 3.8.13, 4.1.12 |
- |
|
7.0–7.6 |
Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) 3.10.0 Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) 3.8.13, 4.1.12, 4.14.35, 5.4.17 |
- |
|
8.0–8.9 |
Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) 4.18.0 Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) 5.15.0 (el8uek) |
- |