Launching Windows European AMIs in Different Languages

Microsoft Windows Server enables you to configure your instances based on locality, which includes changing the language, standards and formats (e.g., currency), and the time zone. Amazon EC2 supports the following languages when running an instance in Europe:

• English (en)
• Français (fr)
• Español (es)
• Deutsch (de)
• Italiano (it)

This document describes how to customize your instance based on locality.

To select an AMI in a specific language, you can use the AWS Management Console or select an AMI based on the manifest name.

To select an AMI using the AWS Management Console:

• Log in to the AWS Management Console at: https://console.aws.amazon.com.
• In the left pane, click Instances.
• From the My Instances pane, click Launch Instances.
• From the quick start list, select the version of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 to launch.
• Select the language to run from the Language menu.
• Configure the rest of your settings for your instance and click Launch.
• After the instance launches, switch the language as described in the next section.

To select an AMI based on the manifest name using ElasticFox:

1. Start ElasticFox.
2. Click the AMIs, AKIs, and ARIs tab.
3. In the Search list box, type the appropriate manifest name as shown below where country_code is the two letter country code (as described in the overview) and cpu_type is i386 for 32-bit or x86_64 for 64-bit.

• Windows Server 2003
  country_code-Server2003r2-cpu_type-Win
• Windows Server 2003 with Authentication Services
  country_code-Server2003r2-cpu_type-WinAuth
• Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server Express
  country_code-SqlSvrExp2003r2-cpu_type-Win
• Windows Server 2003 with Authentication Services and SQL Server Express
  country_code-SqlSvrExp2003r2-cpu_type-WinAuth
• Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server Standard
  country_code-SqlSvrStd2003r2-cpu_type-Win
• Windows Server 2003 with Authentication Services and SQL Server Standard
  country_code-SqlSvrStd2003r2-cpu_type-WinAuth

Right-click the AMI and select Launch Instances of the AMI.

Configure the AMI options and click Launch.

After the instance launches, switch the language as described in the next section.

To select an AMI based on the manifest name using the API tools:

1. Open the comand line interface.
2. Enter the following:
   ec2-describe-images -o amazon | grep -i windows | grep -i country_code- | grep cpu_type
   where country_code is the two letter country code (as described in the overview) and cpu_type is i386 for 32-bit or x86_64 for 64-bit.
   To perform a more detailed search, the AMIs use the following format:

• Windows Server 2003
  country_code-Server2003r2-cpu_type-Win
• Windows Server 2003 with Authentication Services
  country_code-Server2003r2-cpu_type-WinAuth
• Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server Express
  country_code-SqlSvrExp2003r2-cpu_type-Win
• Windows Server 2003 with Authentication Services and SQL Server Express
  country_code-SqlSvrExp2003r2-cpu_type-WinAuth
• Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server Standard
  country_code-SqlSvrStd2003r2-cpu_type-Win
• Windows Server 2003 with Authentication Services and SQL Server Standard
  country_code-SqlSvrStd2003r2-cpu_type-WinAuth

Launch the desired AMI using the ec2-run-instances command..

After the instance launches, switch the language as described in the next section.

Note: The full manifest name is appended with the version number followed by .manifest.xml. For example, the 32-bit English version of Windows Server 2003 might be "ec2-public-windows-images/en-Server2003r2-i386-Win-v1.04.manifest.xml".

After your Windows instance is running, customize your instance to have the appropriate language, standards and formats, location, and time zone by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start and select Control Panel.
2. Double-click Regional and Language Options.
3. From the Regional Options tab, select your preferred country from the Standards and formats list box..
4. Select your desired location from the Location list box.
5. Click the Languages tab.
6. Click Details and select your desired language profile.
7. Click OK. You are prompted to log off.
8. Log off and log back in. The settings are applied.
9. Change the time zone by clicking Start and selecting Control Panel.
10. Click Date and Time Properties.
11. Select your time zone.
12. Click OK.

After customizing your instance, re-bundle it so you can preserve your settings. For information on bundling instances, go to the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Developer Guide.