ec2 import-image fails with "ClientError: Unknown OS / Missing OS files"

Question

Hi,

I am trying to get images that I run in VMWare Workstation Pro, to be running in EC2...
Steps taken:
 - Export from VMWare Workstation as OVF
 - Used ovftool to pack files into one OVA file locally
 - Uploaded OVA to S3, setup roles and policies as documented
 - run "aws ec2 import-image" with the folling config file:

![Enter image description here](/media/postImages/original/IMRnikJ3MMSTy-NJKB9UCqNg)

This results in an error shown by "aws ec2 describe-import-image-tasks":

```
     "Status": "deleted",
     "StatusMessage": "ClientError: Unknown OS / Missing OS files.",
     "Tags": []
```
Any idea what is missing here?

The image is:
* Debian 11
* not encrypted

Answer

You want to make sure you meet the requirements in the AWS VM Import/Export document. Based on information provided Debian 11 is supported just make sure the kernel is the same.

Additional if this fails it might be better to import just the VMDK file method instead of OVA. You can find it in Example 2 on this Import VMDK file.

Additional if this fails it might be better to import just the VMDK file method instead of OVA. You can find it in Example 2 on this [Import VMDK file](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vm-import/latest/userguide/vmimport-image-import.html#import-vm).

ec2 import-image fails with "ClientError: Unknown OS / Missing OS files"

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