Most EC2 Windows Server instances don't expose nested virtualization to the guest OS. WSL2 requires Hyper-V extensions, so it simply won't start. WSL1 works fine — it's a translation layer, not a VM.
Enable the WSL feature and reboot in an Admin powershell window:
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
Restart-Computer
After reboot, pin the default version to 1:
wsl --set-default-version 1
On Windows Server, Add-AppxPackage is often broken or unavailable, so the standard wsl --install route fails. Use wsl --import with a rootfs tarball instead:
Now use a non-admin powershell:
mkdir $HOME\WSL
mkdir $HOME\WSL\Ubuntu
Then:
wsl --import Ubuntu $HOME\WSL\Ubuntu .\ubuntu.tar.gz --version 1
What you lose with WSL1: no Docker, no real Linux kernel, no systemd, weaker filesystem compatibility. Fine for CLI tooling, scripting, and build environments. If you need a real kernel, spin up a native Linux EC2 instance instead.
AWS console offers three ways to duplicate an EC2 instance, differing in whether disk data is carried over.
Create AMI (recommended, full clone) — preserves the system disk, installed software, and all configuration.
In the EC2 console, select the target instance → Actions → Image and templates → Create image. Wait for the AMI status to become available (a few minutes to tens of minutes), then go to AMIs → select it → Launch instance from AMI. Adjust instance type, subnet, Security Group as needed.
Launch More Like This (fastest, no data) — copies only instance configuration (type, SG, subnet, tags). The system disk is brand new.
Actions → Image and templates → Launch more like this. The Launch page opens with config pre-filled; confirm and launch. Good for stateless instances, e.g. web servers initialized via userdata.
Launch Template — if the original instance had a Launch Template saved, launch directly from it. EC2 → Launch Templates → select template → Actions → Launch instance from template.
Use AMI for most cases. Use Launch More Like This when you only need the same specs with a clean disk.
AWS 控制台里有三种复制 EC2 的方式，区别在于是否携带磁盘数据。
创建 AMI（推荐，完整克隆） — 保留系统盘数据、已安装软件和所有配置。
EC2 控制台选中目标实例 → Actions → Image and templates → Create image。等 AMI 状态变为 available（几分钟到几十分钟），再到 AMIs 页面选中它 → Launch instance from AMI，按需调整 instance type、subnet、Security Group 即可。
Launch More Like This（最快，但不含数据） — 只复制实例规格配置（type、SG、subnet、tags），系统盘是全新的。
Actions → Image and templates → Launch more like this，进入 Launch 页面时配置已预填好，确认启动就行。适合无状态实例，比如用 userdata 初始化的 web server。
Launch Template — 如果原实例之前保存过 Launch Template，可以直接从模板启动。EC2 → Launch Templates → 选模板 → Actions → Launch instance from template。
大多数场景用 AMI，只需要同规格全新系统时用 Launch More Like This。