Need to install tools manually
Barebones AMI and you'll need to install everything manually or just use of the metapackages. You should be able to get the default packages Kali normally comes with with the command
$ sudo apt -y install kali-linux-default
This makes sense since not all default packages such as desktop environments and wireless tools need to be included for a cloud-based AMI. The documentation explaining the process could be improved though.
Complete list of the metapackages can be found here:
https://www.kali.org/news/major-metapackage-makeover/
No tools installed
Everything went smoothly with the first config, I could connect to the machine via SSH (with "kali", not with "ec2-user" anymore!) and I could install the packages needed for RDP. The connection was great!
Unfortunately, once logged in, I couldn't find any of the usual Kali security tools (Wireshark, nmap, Metasploit, ...)...am I missing something perhaps?!
XRDP is painfully slow
When setting up XRDP it is extremely slow; I tend to have to go to /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini and set max_bpp=8. It makes it work faster but makes the GUI look awful.
Is this AMI broken? Port 22 seems completely closed
I've installed this into a VPC which I have other AMIs running in. I can SSH into my other boxes, but this image, I can't seem to SSH into it. I don't think the problem is with keys or credentials (although I've double checked just to be sure I'm specifying those correctly). From what I can see, port 22 is not even OPEN on this AMI. I have verified that I have TCP port 22 allowed from my IP address in the security group. I'm certain of this, because I'm using this same security group for other [non-Kali] machines within in the same VPC.
From what I can tell, this current build is broken.