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My current instance is 32 Bit Windows 2008 server with 613 MB memory. I create an ami and then try to launch new instance from that AMI. I want create an large instance with(7.5 GB Memory etc) from that AMI. But there is a problem. The choices are micro, small and high cpu with max 1.7 GB Ram.

  • Micro (t1.micro)Up to 2 ECUs1 Core613 MB
  • Small (m1.small)1 ECU1 Core1.7GB
  • High-CPU Medium (c1.medium) 5 ECUs2 Cores1.7 GB...

Why? What should I do?

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2 Answers

I think the issue here is that the large instances are 64 bit only. You can't just spin up a 64 bit virtual machine with a 32 bit server image.

So what to do? You need to start up an new 64 bit machine and configure it in the same way as you currently have you 32 bit machine.

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This is correct - 32bit AMIs cannot be used at the larger instance sizes, since those sizes are targeted at 64bit VMs. Think about it - how would a 32bit Windows install address 7.5GB RAM...? The trick is to create two baseline AMIs, one 32bit and one 64bit, with working data on EBS, and then spin-up whichever VM size you need with the EBS volume attached to it. –  Eight-Bit Guru May 6 '11 at 12:38
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up vote 3 down vote accepted

64 bit instances cannot be generated from 32 bit AMI.

You need a manual operation, something like "create a 64 bit instance and turn off a 32 bit instance".

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