Lab Guide: Create Your First Amazon EC2 Instance (Windows)

Welcome to QA's Lab Guide for our Hands-on Lab Create Your First Amazon EC2 Instance (Windows).

The most common concern students report is unable to connect to the Remote Desktop using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection.

This can be caused by either a misconfuration in the deployment or a corporate network/VPN is blocking the communication between your computer and the server. Below, you can find steps for each concern:

• Creating the Remote Desktop
• Training While Connected to a Corporate or VPN connection

Creating the Remote Desktop

1. Ensure that the lab has loaded 100% prior to logging in to AWS:

2. Log in to the AWS console using the provided credentials for the lab session.

3. Ensure that the previous steps are followed strictly.

4. On the previous step, you will be asked to create an instance using a Windows base.; The last instruction is to create a keypair. Please make sure to create a key pair named testkey and download it as below:
   

5. On the next step: https://cloudacademy.com/lab/create-your-first-amazon-ec2-instance-windows/retrieve-the-administrator-password-using-the-keypair/. You will be asked to go back to the Ec2 service. Either right-click on the instance or my personal choice is to tick the box to choose it, then use Actions>Networking>Security>Get windows password menu as shown below:
   
   

6. You will be led to the below page, where you need to click browse and look for the testkey.pem file you have to save earlier and upload it.
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7. Once uploaded, click decrypt:
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8. Copy and paste the details in a separate space (notepad  for example). Then copy and paste the password as well into the same document for safe keeping.
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   6) You will be asked to go to the EC2 service window once more in the next step: https://cloudacademy.com/lab/create-your-first-amazon-ec2-instance-windows/connect-to-a-windows-instance-using-a-remote-desktop-connection/
   From here, chose the instance once more and click connect:
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9. You will land on this page. Make sure you chose RDP and download the RDP file: Important: make sure your device will allow downloading or has the vpn/proxy/firewall/antivirus off that can block this. If you are using a MAC, you will need to have an RDP client (I am using a Microsoft Remote Desktop that is free from Apple's Mac App Store):
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10. Open the RDP file you have downloaded:
    
    9)Once you open the RDP file you will be asked to enter the password (the one you have kept earlier). For MACs it will look like this.
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    Enter the password and click continue in the next prompt and you should be able to open the RDP:
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If you are using Windows, after clicking open you will see this click on show details, just o check if you can use the clipboard (for copu and pasting): Then click connect:

​Enter the password here. Make sure to check that the username has populated along with the credentials on where to connect (this usually auto populates):
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Click yes on the next prompt, and you should be now directed to the RDP:
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If at any point you get an error to open or download the RDP please do the below troubleshooting steps:

1)Log off from the platform and close all open browsers.
2)Clear cache and cookies. (very important to clear the stored URL that may have been causing the error leading to broken link)
3)Ensure direct network connectivity is used versus VPN/ proxy which tends to block connection.
4) Please make sure no antivirus or firewall is blocking the environment from opening.
5) Start a fresh browser and log back in, allow cookies if prompted.

Training While Connected to a Corporate or VPN connection

If you're performing the lab while using a VPN connection, or if you're using a corporate network controlled and managed by an organization, and if you have performed all of the steps above correctly, you might be receiving a connection error due to the security policies of your connection. This means that your computer is unable to use the Remote Desktop Protocol on port 22 of your network. You will not be able to connect to the Remote Desktop in this case. Here are two steps you can take to get around this issue:

1. Disconnect your VPN

2. Hot spot your computer to your cell phone (if allowed by your carrier and phone data plan)

3. Change networks entirely

4. Contact your corporate support team or help desk to ask about their connection policies

I hope you have found this guide helpful! Should you encounter any further issues,or if you have any other questions, please do not hesitateto email support@cloudacademy.com

​Happy Training!