Why does my Amazon EC2 Windows instance generate a "Waiting for the metadata service" error?
Last updated: 2020-12-14
My Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Windows instance is unable to retrieve instance metadata. How can I fix this?
Resolution
My EC2 instance in a VPC is inaccessible and failing instance status checks
Attach a second elastic network interface to the instance to provide the needed route and a valid IP address. This allows you to:
- Access the EC2 instance on the second network interface.
- Resolve issues with the networking configuration of the primary network interface.
My EC2 instance is passing both status checks and is accessible
First, run the route print command from PowerShell or CMD. Review the output to confirm if there is a route similar to the following:
Network Address Netmask Gateway Address
169.254.169.254 255.255.255.255 <Subnet Router Address>
If the route isn't present or the Gateway Address doesn't match that of the current subnet, then follow these steps:
Import-Module c:\ProgramData\Amazon\EC2-Windows\Launch\Module\Ec2Launch.psm1 ; Add-Routes
If the route exists, but the instance is still unable to retrieve metadata, then review your instance’s Windows Firewall, third-party firewall, or antivirus configuration. Confirm that traffic to 169.254.169.254 isn’t explicitly denied.
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