Deprecate an Amazon EC2 AMI - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
CostsConsiderationsDeprecate an AMIDescribe deprecated AMIsCancel AMI deprecation

Deprecate an Amazon EC2 AMI

You can deprecate an AMI to indicate that it is out of date and should not be used. You can also specify a future deprecation date for an AMI, indicating when the AMI will be out of date. For example, you might deprecate an AMI that is no longer actively maintained, or you might deprecate an AMI that has been superseded by a newer version. By default, deprecated AMIs do not appear in AMI listings, preventing new users from using out-of-date AMIs. However, existing users and launch services, such as launch templates and Auto Scaling groups, can continue to use a deprecated AMI by specifying its ID. To delete the AMI so that users and services cannot use it, you must deregister it.

After an AMI is deprecated:

  • For AMI users, the deprecated AMI does not appear in DescribeImages API calls unless you specify its ID or specify that deprecated AMIs must appear. AMI owners continue to see deprecated AMIs in DescribeImages API calls.

  • For AMI users, the deprecated AMI is not available to select via the EC2 console. For example, a deprecated AMI does not appear in the AMI catalog in the launch instance wizard. AMI owners continue to see deprecated AMIs in the EC2 console.

  • For AMI users, if you know the ID of a deprecated AMI, you can continue to launch instances using the deprecated AMI by using the API, CLI, or the SDKs.

  • Launch services, such as launch templates and Auto Scaling groups, can continue to reference deprecated AMIs.

  • EC2 instances that were launched using an AMI that is subsequently deprecated are not affected, and can be stopped, started, and rebooted.

You can deprecate both private and public AMIs.

Costs

When you deprecate an AMI, the AMI is not deleted. The AMI owner continues to pay for the AMI's snapshots. To stop paying for the snapshots, the AMI owner must delete the AMI by deregistering it.

Considerations

  • To deprecate an AMI, you must be the owner of the AMI.

  • AMIs that have not been used recently to launch an instance might be good candidates for deprecation or deregistering. For more information, see Check when an Amazon EC2 AMI was last used.

  • You can create Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager EBS-backed AMI policies to automate the deprecation of EBS-backed AMIs. For more information, see Create AMI lifecycle policies.

  • By default, the deprecation date of all public AMIs is set to two years from the AMI creation date. You can set the deprecation date to earlier than two years. To cancel the deprecation date, or to move the deprecation to a later date, you must make the AMI private by only sharing it with specific AWS accounts.

Deprecate an AMI

You can deprecate an AMI on a specific date and time. You must be the owner of the AMI.

The upper limit for the deprecation date is 10 years from now, except for public AMIs, where the upper limit is 2 years from the creation date. You can't specify a date in the past.

Console
To deprecate an AMI on a specific date

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the left navigator, choose AMIs.

  3. From the filter bar, choose Owned by me.

  4. Select the AMI, and then choose Actions, Manage AMI Deprecation. You can select multiple AMIs to set the same deprecation date of several AMIs at once.

  5. Select the Enable checkbox, and then enter the deprecation date and time.

  6. Choose Save.

AWS CLI
To deprecate an AMI on a specific date

Use the following enable-image-deprecation command. If you specify a value for seconds, Amazon EC2 rounds the seconds to the nearest minute.

aws ec2 enable-image-deprecation \
    --image-id ami-0abcdef1234567890 \
    --deprecate-at "2025-04-15T13:17:12.000Z"
PowerShell
To deprecate an AMI on a specific date

Use the following Enable-EC2ImageDeprecation cmdlet. If you specify a value for seconds, Amazon EC2 rounds the seconds to the nearest minute.

Enable-EC2ImageDeprecation `
    -ImageId ami-0abcdef1234567890 `
    -DeprecateAt 2025-04-15T13:17:12.000Z

Describe deprecated AMIs

You can view the deprecation date and time of an AMI, and filter AMIs by deprecation date.

Console
To view the deprecation date of an AMI

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the left navigator, choose AMIs, and then select the AMI.

  3. Check the Deprecation time field (if you selected the checkbox next to the AMI, it's located on the Details tab). The field shows the deprecation date and time of the AMI. If the field is empty, the AMI is not deprecated.

To filter AMIs by deprecation date

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the left navigator, choose AMIs.

  3. From the filter bar, choose Owned by me or Private images (private images include AMIs that are shared with you as well as owned by you).

  4. In the Search bar, enter Deprecation time (as you enter the letters, the Deprecation time filter appears), and then choose an operator and a date and time.

AWS CLI

When you describe all AMIs, the results depend on whether you are an AMI user or the AMI owner.

  • AMI user – By default, when you describe all AMIs, deprecated AMIs that are shared with you but not owned by you are excluded. To include deprecated AMIs in the results, specify the --include-deprecated option.

  • AMI owner – When you describe all AMIs, all AMIs that you own, including deprecated AMIs, are included. You can't exclude deprecated AMIs that you own by using the --no-include-deprecated option.

To include deprecated AMIs when describing all AMIs for an account

Use the following describe-images command.

aws ec2 describe-images 
    --owners 123456789012 \   
    --include-deprecated
To describe the deprecated AMIs for your account

Use the following describe-images command.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --owners self \
    --query "Images[?DeprecationTime!=null].ImageId" \
    --output text

The following is example output.

ami-0abcdef1234567890
To describe the deprecation date of an AMI

Use the following describe-images command. If DeprecationTime is not present in the output, the AMI is not deprecated or set to deprecate at a future date.

aws ec2 describe-images \
    --image-ids ami-0abcdef1234567890 \
    --query Images[].DeprecationTime \
    --output text

The following is example output.

2025-05-01T00:00:00.000Z
PowerShell
To list the deprecated AMIs for your account

Use the following Get-EC2Image cmdlet.

(Get-EC2Image -Owner self | Where-Object {$_.DeprecationTime -ne $null}).ImageId

The following is example output.

ami-0abcdef1234567890
To describe the deprecation date of an AMI

Use the following Get-EC2Image cmdlet. If DeprecationTime is not present in the output, the AMI is not deprecated or set to deprecate at a future date.

(Get-EC2Image -ImageId ami-0abcdef1234567890).DeprecationTime

The following is example output.

2025-05-01T00:00:00.000Z

Cancel AMI deprecation

You can cancel the deprecation of an AMI, which removes the deprecation date and time. You must be the AMI owner to perform this procedure.

Console
To cancel the deprecation of an AMI

  1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

  2. In the left navigator, choose AMIs.

  3. From the filter bar, choose Owned by me.

  4. Select the AMI, and then choose Actions, Manage AMI Deprecation. You can select multiple AMIs to cancel the deprecation of several AMIs at once.

  5. Clear the Enable checkbox, and then choose Save.

AWS CLI
To cancel the deprecation of an AMI

Use the following disable-image-deprecation command.

aws ec2 disable-image-deprecation --image-id ami-0abcdef1234567890
PowerShell

Use the following Disable-EC2ImageDeprecation cmdlet.

Disable-EC2ImageDeprecation -ImageId ami-0abcdef1234567890