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Before You Get Started
This section discusses the things you need to know and what you must have before you begin the process of importing your virtual machine.
Operating Systems—The following operating systems can be imported to Amazon EC2:
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 (Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise).
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R1 and R2 (Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise).
Image Formats—We support import of the following image formats for importing both volumes and instances to Amazon Web Services:
RAW format for importing volumes and instances.
Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) image formats, which are compatible with Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix Xen virtualization products.
ESX Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) image formats, which are compatible with VMware ESX and VMware vSphere virtualization products.
![[Note]](http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/docs-common/images/note.png)
Note VMDK images from VMware Workstation are not compatible.
Known Limitations—The importing of instances and volumes is subject to the following limitations:
You can have up to five conversions and tasks in progress at the same time per Region.
Typically, you import a compressed version of a disk image; the expanded image cannot exceed 1TB.
Tasks must complete within 7 days of the start date.
Importing virtual machines with more than one virtual disk is not supported. We suggest that you import the VM with only the boot volume, and import any additional disks using
ImportVolume(ec2-import-volume) in the command line. After theImportInstancetask is complete, useAttachVolume(ec2-attach-volume) to associate the additional volumes with your instance.Multiple network interfaces are not currently supported. When converted and imported, your instance will have a single virtual NIC using DHCP for address assignment.
For vCenter 4.0 and vSphere 4.0 users, remove any attached CD-ROM images or ISOs from the virtual machine.
Preparing Your Virtual Machine
Use the following guidelines to configure your virtual machine before exporting it from the virtualization environment.
![[Important]](http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/docs-common/images/important.png) | Important |
|---|---|
If you are importing a virtual machine from Citrix Xen, you must uninstall the Citrix Tools for Virtual Machines from the VM. If you don't uninstall the tools, your import will fail. For more information, see Exporting from Citrix. |
Enable Remote Desktop (RDP) for remote access.
Make sure your host firewall (Windows firewall), if configured, allows access to RDP. Otherwise, you will not be able to access your instance after the conversion is complete.
Make sure all user accounts use secure passwords. This includes the administrator account.
Note All accounts must have passwords. Otherwise, the import might fail.
Disable any antivirus or intrusion detection software on your virtual machine. These services can be re-enabled after the import process is complete.
Disconnect any CD-ROM drives (virtual or physical).
