title: Error creating AWS CloudFormation Stack (AMI cannot be described)
body: <p>I want to create a Amazon Web Services stack (CloudFormation)  (clicking the New Stack Button to create a new AWS CLoudFormation Stack)
  based on this template:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
    "AWSTemplateFormatVersion" : "2010-09-09",
    "Description" : "AWS CodeDeploy infra",
    "Parameters" : {
      "VPCID": {
        "Description" : "VPC ID",
        "Type": "String",
        "Default": "vpc-16438e72"
      },
  
      "myIP": {
        "Description" : "Enter your IP address in CIDR notation, e.g. 100.150.200.225/32",
        "Type": "String",
        "Default": "50.186.16.59/32"
      },
  
      "InstanceProfile": {
        "Description" : "Use the full ARN for SimpleCodeDeployInstanceProfile or AdvancedCodeDeployInstanceProfile",
        "Type": "String",
        "Default": "arn:aws:iam::663934185745:instance-profile/SimpleCodeDeployInstanceProfile"
      },
  
      "KeyName" : {
        "Description" : "Name of an existing EC2 KeyPair to enable SSH access to the instances",
        "Type" : "AWS::EC2::KeyPair::KeyName",
        "ConstraintDescription" : "The name of an existing EC2 KeyPair.",
        "Default": "alexdglover"
      },
      "AZ"  : {
        "Description" : "Comma delimited list of AvailabilityZones where the instances will be created",
        "Type"        : "CommaDelimitedList",
        "Default": "us-east-1a,us-east-1c,us-east-1d"
      },
  
      "PublicSubnets"  : {
        "Description" : "Comma delimited list of public subnets",
        "Type"        : "CommaDelimitedList",
        "Default": "subnet-6fa38e36,subnet-4ba2f160,subnet-13b1ba64"
      },
  
      "InstanceType" : {
        "Description" : "Provide InstanceType to be used",
        "Type" : "String",
        "ConstraintDescription" : "Must be a valid EC2 instance type, such as t2.medium",
        "Default": "t2.medium"
      },
  
      "LinuxAMIID" : {
        "Description" : "Linux AMI ID",
        "Type" : "String",
        "Default": "ami-e3106686"
      },
      "WindowsAMIID" : {
        "Description" : "Windows AMI ID",
        "Type" : "String",
        "Default": "ami-f7482692"
      }
    },
    "Resources" : {
    "WebSecurityGroup": {
      "Type": "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup",
      "Properties": {
        "GroupDescription": "WebSecurityGroup",
        "SecurityGroupEgress": [
          {
            "CidrIp": "0.0.0.0/0",
            "FromPort": -1,
            "IpProtocol": "-1",
            "ToPort": -1
          }
        ],
        "SecurityGroupIngress": [
          {
            "CidrIp": "0.0.0.0/0",
            "FromPort": 80,
            "IpProtocol": "6",
            "ToPort": 80
          },
          {
            "CidrIp": {
              "Ref": "myIP"
            },
            "IpProtocol": "-1"
          }
        ],
        "VpcId": {
          "Ref": "VPCID"
        }
      }
      },
  
      "LinuxWebSNSTopic" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::SNS::Topic"
      },
      "LinuxWebASG" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::AutoScaling::AutoScalingGroup",
        "Properties" : {
          "AvailabilityZones" : { "Ref" : "AZ" },
          "VPCZoneIdentifier" : { "Ref": "PublicSubnets" },
          "MinSize" : "3",
          "MaxSize" : "3",
          "HealthCheckType" : "ELB",
          "HealthCheckGracePeriod" : "600",
          "NotificationConfiguration" : {
            "TopicARN" : { "Ref" : "LinuxWebSNSTopic" },
            "NotificationTypes" : [
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_LAUNCH",
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_LAUNCH_ERROR",
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_TERMINATE",
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_TERMINATE_ERROR"
            ]
        },
        "LoadBalancerNames" : [ { "Ref" : "LinuxWebELB" } ],
        "DesiredCapacity" : "3",
        "LaunchConfigurationName" : { "Ref" : "LinuxWebLaunchConfig" },
        "Tags" : [
          {"Key" : "Name", "Value" : "LinuxWebServer", "PropagateAtLaunch" : "true" }
        ]
       }
      },
      "LinuxWebLaunchConfig": {
        "Properties": {
          "AssociatePublicIpAddress" : "true",
          "ImageId": { "Ref": "LinuxAMIID" },
          "InstanceType": { "Ref": "InstanceType" },
          "KeyName": { "Ref": "KeyName" },
          "SecurityGroups": [ { "Ref": "WebSecurityGroup" } ],
          "IamInstanceProfile": { "Ref": "InstanceProfile" },
          "UserData": {
            "Fn::Base64": {
              "Fn::Join": [
                "",
                [
                  "#!/bin/bash\n\n",
                  "yum update -y\n\n",
                  "yum install httpd -y\n\n",
                  "yum install ruby\n\n",
                  "yum install aws-cli\n\n",
                  "cd ~\n\n",
                  "aws s3 cp s3://aws-codedeploy-us-east-1/latest/install . --region us-east-1\n\n",
                  "chmod +x ./install\n\n",
                  "./install auto\n\n",
                  "echo 'hello world' &gt; /var/www/html/index.html\n\n",
                  "hostname &gt;&gt; /var/www/html/index.html\n\n",
                  "chkconfig httpd on\n\n",
                  "service httpd start\n\n"
                ]
              ]
            }
          }
        },
        "Type": "AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration"
      },
  
      "LinuxWebAutoscaleUpPolicy" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::AutoScaling::ScalingPolicy",
        "Properties" : {
          "AdjustmentType" : "ChangeInCapacity",
          "AutoScalingGroupName" : { "Ref" : "LinuxWebASG" },
          "Cooldown" : "300",
          "ScalingAdjustment" : "1"
        }
      },
      "LinuxWebAutoscaleDownPolicy" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::AutoScaling::ScalingPolicy",
        "Properties" : {
          "AdjustmentType" : "ChangeInCapacity",
          "AutoScalingGroupName" : { "Ref" : "LinuxWebASG" },
          "Cooldown" : "300",
          "ScalingAdjustment" : "-1"
        }
      },
      "LinuxWebCloudWatchCPUAlarmHigh" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
        "Properties" : {
          "AlarmDescription" : "SNS Notification and scale up if CPU Util is Higher than 90% for 10 mins",
          "MetricName" : "CPUUtilization",
          "Namespace" : "AWS/EC2",
          "Statistic" : "Average",
          "Period" : "300",
          "EvaluationPeriods" : "2",
          "Threshold" : "90",
          "AlarmActions" : [ { "Ref": "LinuxWebAutoscaleUpPolicy" }, { "Ref" : "LinuxWebSNSTopic" } ],
          "Dimensions" : [
            {
              "Name" : "AutoScalingGroupName",
              "Value" : { "Ref" : "LinuxWebASG" }
            }
          ],
          "ComparisonOperator" : "GreaterThanThreshold"
        }
      },
      "LinuxWebCloudWatchCPUAlarmLow" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
        "Properties" : {
          "AlarmDescription" : "SNS Notification and scale down if CPU Util is less than 70% for 10 mins",
          "MetricName" : "CPUUtilization",
          "Namespace" : "AWS/EC2",
          "Statistic" : "Average",
          "Period" : "300",
          "EvaluationPeriods" : "2",
          "Threshold" : "70",
          "AlarmActions" : [ { "Ref": "LinuxWebAutoscaleDownPolicy" }, { "Ref" : "LinuxWebSNSTopic" } ],
          "Dimensions" : [
            {
              "Name" : "AutoScalingGroupName",
              "Value" : { "Ref" : "LinuxWebASG" }
            }
          ],
          "ComparisonOperator" : "LessThanThreshold"
        }
      },
  
      "LinuxWebELB" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer",
        "Properties" : {
          "CrossZone" : true,
          "ConnectionDrainingPolicy": {
            "Enabled" : "true",
            "Timeout" : "60"
          },
          "HealthCheck" :  {
            "Target" : "HTTP:80/index.html",
            "HealthyThreshold" : "3",
            "UnhealthyThreshold" : "3",
            "Interval" : "15",
            "Timeout" : "5"
          },
          "LoadBalancerName" :  "LinuxWebELB",
          "Scheme" : "internet-facing",
          "Listeners" : [
          {
            "LoadBalancerPort" : "80",
            "InstancePort" : "80",
            "InstanceProtocol" : "HTTP",
            "Protocol" :  "HTTP"
          }
  
           ],
          "SecurityGroups": [ { "Ref": "WebSecurityGroup" } ],
          "Subnets" : { "Ref": "PublicSubnets" },
          "Tags" : [{"Key" : "Network", "Value" : "public"}]
        }
      },
      "WindowsWebSNSTopic" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::SNS::Topic"
      },
      "WindowsWebASG" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::AutoScaling::AutoScalingGroup",
        "Properties" : {
          "AvailabilityZones" : { "Ref" : "AZ" },
          "VPCZoneIdentifier" : { "Ref": "PublicSubnets" },
          "MinSize" : "3",
          "MaxSize" : "3",
          "HealthCheckType" : "ELB",
          "HealthCheckGracePeriod" : "600",
          "NotificationConfiguration" : {
            "TopicARN" : { "Ref" : "WindowsWebSNSTopic" },
            "NotificationTypes" : [
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_LAUNCH",
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_LAUNCH_ERROR",
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_TERMINATE",
              "autoscaling:EC2_INSTANCE_TERMINATE_ERROR"
            ]
        },
        "LoadBalancerNames" : [ { "Ref" : "WindowsWebELB" } ],
        "DesiredCapacity" : "3",
        "LaunchConfigurationName" : { "Ref" : "WindowsWebLaunchConfig" },
        "Tags" : [
          {"Key" : "Name", "Value" : "WindowsWebServer", "PropagateAtLaunch" : "true" }
        ]
       }
      },
      "WindowsWebLaunchConfig": {
        "Properties": {
          "AssociatePublicIpAddress" : "true",
          "ImageId": { "Ref": "WindowsAMIID" },
          "InstanceType": { "Ref": "InstanceType" },
          "KeyName": { "Ref": "KeyName" },
          "SecurityGroups": [ { "Ref": "WebSecurityGroup" } ],
          "IamInstanceProfile": { "Ref": "InstanceProfile" },
          "UserData": {
            "Fn::Base64": {
              "Fn::Join": [
                "",
                [
                  "&lt;script&gt;\n",
                    "echo hello world &gt; c:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\index.html\n",
                    "hostname &gt;&gt; c:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\index.html\n",
                    "if not exist \"c:\temp\" mkdir c:\temp\n",
                    "powershell.exe -Command Read-S3Object -BucketName aws-codedeploy-us-east-1/latest -Key codedeploy-agent.msi -File c:\\temp\\codedeploy-agent.msi\n",
                    "c:\\temp\\codedeploy-agent.msi /quiet /l c:\\temp\\host-agent-install-log.txt\n",
                    "powershell.exe -Command Get-Service -Name codedeployagent\n",
                  "&lt;/script&gt;\n"
                ]
              ]
            }
          }
        },
        "Type": "AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration"
      },
  
      "WindowsWebAutoscaleUpPolicy" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::AutoScaling::ScalingPolicy",
        "Properties" : {
          "AdjustmentType" : "ChangeInCapacity",
          "AutoScalingGroupName" : { "Ref" : "WindowsWebASG" },
          "Cooldown" : "300",
          "ScalingAdjustment" : "1"
        }
      },
      "WindowsWebAutoscaleDownPolicy" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::AutoScaling::ScalingPolicy",
        "Properties" : {
          "AdjustmentType" : "ChangeInCapacity",
          "AutoScalingGroupName" : { "Ref" : "WindowsWebASG" },
          "Cooldown" : "300",
          "ScalingAdjustment" : "-1"
        }
      },
      "WindowsWebCloudWatchCPUAlarmHigh" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
        "Properties" : {
          "AlarmDescription" : "SNS Notification and scale up if CPU Util is Higher than 90% for 10 mins",
          "MetricName" : "CPUUtilization",
          "Namespace" : "AWS/EC2",
          "Statistic" : "Average",
          "Period" : "300",
          "EvaluationPeriods" : "2",
          "Threshold" : "90",
          "AlarmActions" : [ { "Ref": "WindowsWebAutoscaleUpPolicy" }, { "Ref" : "WindowsWebSNSTopic" } ],
          "Dimensions" : [
            {
              "Name" : "AutoScalingGroupName",
              "Value" : { "Ref" : "WindowsWebASG" }
            }
          ],
          "ComparisonOperator" : "GreaterThanThreshold"
        }
      },
      "WindowsWebCloudWatchCPUAlarmLow" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::CloudWatch::Alarm",
        "Properties" : {
          "AlarmDescription" : "SNS Notification and scale down if CPU Util is less than 70% for 10 mins",
          "MetricName" : "CPUUtilization",
          "Namespace" : "AWS/EC2",
          "Statistic" : "Average",
          "Period" : "300",
          "EvaluationPeriods" : "2",
          "Threshold" : "70",
          "AlarmActions" : [ { "Ref": "WindowsWebAutoscaleDownPolicy" }, { "Ref" : "WindowsWebSNSTopic" } ],
          "Dimensions" : [
            {
              "Name" : "AutoScalingGroupName",
              "Value" : { "Ref" : "WindowsWebASG" }
            }
          ],
          "ComparisonOperator" : "LessThanThreshold"
        }
      },
  
      "WindowsWebELB" : {
        "Type" : "AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer",
        "Properties" : {
          "CrossZone" : true,
          "ConnectionDrainingPolicy": {
            "Enabled" : "true",
            "Timeout" : "60"
          },
          "HealthCheck" :  {
            "Target" : "HTTP:80/index.html",
            "HealthyThreshold" : "3",
            "UnhealthyThreshold" : "3",
            "Interval" : "15",
            "Timeout" : "5"
          },
          "LoadBalancerName" :  "WindowsWebELB",
          "Scheme" : "internet-facing",
          "Listeners" : [
          {
            "LoadBalancerPort" : "80",
            "InstancePort" : "80",
            "InstanceProtocol" : "HTTP",
            "Protocol" :  "HTTP"
          }
  
           ],
          "SecurityGroups": [ { "Ref": "WebSecurityGroup" } ],
          "Subnets" : { "Ref": "PublicSubnets" },
          "Tags" : [{"Key" : "Network", "Value" : "public"}]
        }
      }
  
    },
    "Outputs" : {
      "LinuxWebFQDN" : { "Value": { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "LinuxWebELB", "DNSName" ]} },
      "WindowsWebFQDN" : { "Value": { "Fn::GetAtt" : [ "WindowsWebELB", "DNSName" ]} }
    }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but I got some errors in the creation step:</p>
  
  <pre><code>21:44:58 UTC+0200   DELETE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup WebSecurityGroup    
      21:44:56 UTC+0200   DELETE_COMPLETE AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer LinuxWebELB 
      21:44:55 UTC+0200   DELETE_COMPLETE AWS::SNS::Topic LinuxWebSNSTopic    
      21:44:54 UTC+0200   DELETE_COMPLETE AWS::SNS::Topic WindowsWebSNSTopic  
      21:44:54 UTC+0200   DELETE_COMPLETE AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer WindowsWebELB   
      21:44:54 UTC+0200   DELETE_COMPLETE AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   LinuxWebLaunchConfig    
      21:44:53 UTC+0200   DELETE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   LinuxWebLaunchConfig    
      21:44:53 UTC+0200   DELETE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer LinuxWebELB 
      21:44:53 UTC+0200   DELETE_COMPLETE AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   WindowsWebLaunchConfig  
      21:44:53 UTC+0200   DELETE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::SNS::Topic WindowsWebSNSTopic  
      21:44:53 UTC+0200   DELETE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::SNS::Topic LinuxWebSNSTopic    
      21:44:53 UTC+0200   DELETE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer WindowsWebELB   
      21:44:47 UTC+0200   ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS    AWS::CloudFormation::Stack  Infra   The following resource(s) failed to create: [WindowsWebLaunchConfig, LinuxWebELB, WindowsWebELB]. . Rollback requested by user.
      21:44:46 UTC+0200   CREATE_FAILED   AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer LinuxWebELB Resource creation cancelled
      21:44:45 UTC+0200   CREATE_FAILED   AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer WindowsWebELB   Resource creation cancelled
      21:44:45 UTC+0200   CREATE_COMPLETE AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   LinuxWebLaunchConfig    
      21:44:44 UTC+0200   CREATE_FAILED   AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   WindowsWebLaunchConfig  AMI cannot be described
      21:44:44 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer WindowsWebELB   Resource creation Initiated
      21:44:44 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   LinuxWebLaunchConfig    Resource creation Initiated
      21:44:44 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   WindowsWebLaunchConfig  
      21:44:43 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::AutoScaling::LaunchConfiguration   LinuxWebLaunchConfig    
      21:44:43 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer LinuxWebELB 
      21:44:43 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::ElasticLoadBalancing::LoadBalancer WindowsWebELB   
      21:44:39 UTC+0200   CREATE_COMPLETE AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup WebSecurityGroup    
      21:44:37 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup WebSecurityGroup    Resource creation Initiated
      21:44:32 UTC+0200   CREATE_COMPLETE AWS::SNS::Topic WindowsWebSNSTopic  
      21:44:31 UTC+0200   CREATE_COMPLETE AWS::SNS::Topic LinuxWebSNSTopic    
      21:44:21 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::SNS::Topic WindowsWebSNSTopic  Resource creation Initiated
      21:44:21 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::SNS::Topic WindowsWebSNSTopic  
      21:44:20 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup WebSecurityGroup    
      21:44:20 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::SNS::Topic LinuxWebSNSTopic    Resource creation Initiated
      21:44:19 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::SNS::Topic LinuxWebSNSTopic    
      21:44:12 UTC+0200   CREATE_IN_PROGRESS  AWS::CloudFormation::Stack  Infra   User Initiated
  </code></pre>