Uploading PC CD Games to my workspace

Question

HI,   I have some PC CD games that I used on my Windows machine.   I want to know if I can upload the games to my AWS Windows workspace?   I now would use the AWS desktop app to connect to my AWS windows workspace and play the game using the cloud.  Is this possible?
1)  how do I get the game uploaded to my AWS workspace?  Do I order a hardrive (snow device) from AWS load the games on the snowdevice at home and then send the hardrive back to AWS data center and have them uploaded to my workspace?   I like this idea so I can go to any computer with internet connection and the AWS Workspace App and play the game from anywhere.
2)  Am I thinking about this all wrong?   What other means do you recommend for playing games using the AWS workspace or any suggestions?

Part of my motivation is to learn about AWS workspaces and what the capabilities are over a home computer.   Maybe all I need to buy is a thin client here at home and not buy the new windows 11 machine.

Answer

One thing to keep in mind is that the standard WorkSpaces streaming instances don't have a graphics card, whereas your standard laptop does (at least an integrated GPU), and a gaming desktop certainly will. Your performance of playing a game through a remote virtual machine may vary. Other options you have to get a GPU are to launch an EC2 instance and use a streaming protocol like DCV to access it. AppStream 2.0 does offer GPUs, though the streaming instances are non-persistent (other than image builder), which will add some frictions to the process.  Here's an example of an EC2 instance with a GPU using NiceDCV: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/gametech/stream-remote-environment-nice-dcv-quic-udp-4k-monitor-60-fps/

That aside, rather than using a SnowDevice to transfer files, your better bet is to create ISOs of the CDs that you have, and upload those to an S3 bucket. Once uploaded, you can create presigned URLs for those objects, and download them within your WorkSpaces or virtual machine, then install the game as you would any other PC. Another option would be to use a file transfer service such as Google Drive or OneDrive.

One thing to explore is the cost associated with this setup and compare them to the cost of a physical.

Uploading PC CD Games to my workspace

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