AWS Free Usage Tier now Includes Microsoft Windows on EC2

The AWS Free Usage Tier now allows you to run Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 on an EC2 t1.micro instance for up to 750 hours per month. This benefit is open to new AWS customers and to those who are already participating in the Free Usage Tier, and is available in all AWS Regions with the exception of GovCloud. This is an easy way for Windows users to start learning about and enjoying the benefits of cloud computing with AWS.

The micro instances provide a small amount of consistent processing power and the ability to burst to a higher level of usage from time to time. You can use this instance to learn about Amazon EC2, support a development and test environment, build an AWS application, or host a web site (or all of the above). We've fine-tuned the micro instances to make them even better at running Microsoft Windows Server.

You can launch your instance from the AWS Management Console:

We have lots of helpful resources to get you started:

• An updated (and even more helpful) Amazon EC2 Microsoft Windows Guide.
• Getting Started Guide: Web Application Hosting for Microsoft Windows.
• The Getting Started Guide includes a new section on Deploying a WordPress Blog.
• Our Windows and .NET Developer Center.
• A brand new AWS Microsite, with a focus on running Windows on Amazon EC2.
• Additional documentation on the AWS free usage tier, including eligibility information and some tips for making the most of it.

Along with 750 instance hours of Windows Server 2008 R2 per month, the Free Usage Tier also provides another 750 instance hours to run Linux (also on a t1.micro), Elastic Load Balancer time and bandwidth, Elastic Block Storage, Amazon S3 Storage, and SimpleDB storage, a bunch of Simple Queue Service and Simple Notification Service requests, and some CloudWatch metrics and alarms (see the AWS Free Usage Tier page for details). We've also boosted the amount of EBS storage space offered in the Free Usage Tier to 30GB, and we've doubled the I/O requests in the Free Usage Tier, to 2 million.

I look forward to hearing more about your experience with this new offering. Please feel free to leave a comment!

-- Jeff;

PS - If you want to learn more about what's next in the AWS Cloud, please sign up for our live event.

Comments

[Rus Dyas]

Whats the point of offering both a linux and windows instance on the free tier when only 30GB EBS is included (the minimum for windows is 30GB)?

[Carlhoerberg]

Last time i tried, windows wasn't usable on micro instances. just to download and install the windows updates on first boot took something like 6 hours due to the heavy cpu throttling (on a small instance it took a couple of minutes). but maybe it's fixed now?

[Jeff Barr]

As I noted in the post:

"We've fine-tuned the micro instances to make them even better at running Microsoft Windows Server."

[Ericabrescia]

Just thought I would mention that all of the apps in the BitNami library are available for Windows, so you can now run them all free of charge on Windows: http://blog.bitnami.org/2012/01/run-bitnami-apps-on-windows-free-on-aws.html

[Kevin]

Geoff,
How do you get the launch window in your post?
and
Are the free instances the ones with the big star next to them?
and
Thanks for this, really good to get some windows presence

[Jeff Barr]

Hi Rus, I spoke to the Product Manager. This is what he said:

"Give it a try Rus… latest Windows 2008 R2 AMIs that we published along with this announcement are up-to-date with Windows updates till Jan 2012. Moreover base OS AMI leaves you with 12 GB of free space and SQL Server Express AMI leaves you with 10 GB of free space."

[du hoc canada]

I downloaded and installed it, why i see skin not as your inamge post ? May be i did step another wrong?