Recovery from lost EC2 PEM file

Introduction

This 10-step process will enable access to an EC2 instance you have lost access to.

This assumes basic AWS / Linux knowledge.

Take notes

Note down the AZ of the problem server, its instance name, and the ID of the root volume.

Make a recovery instance

Create a new instance in the same AZ Create a new key pair for the instance and download it. Don't lose the.PEM file again!!!

Make recovery instance accessable

Give the recovery instance an external IP and assign security groups.

Stop the old instance

Stop the old instance. Don't delete it!

Detatch the root vloume

Detach the root volume from the old instance Attach it to the recovery instance - it is best to use /xvdf

Mount the root volume

use lsblk to find the root volume, it shoud be /dev/xvdf1

Make the Magic happen

Copy the certs:

sudo mkdir /mnt/removery_vol
sudo mount /dev/xvdf1	/mnt/recovery_vol
cp .ssh/authorized_keys /mnt/recovery_vol/home/ubuntu/.ssh/authorized_keys

Move the volume back

Stop the recovery instance Detach the volume from the old server Attach the volume back on the old server

Start the old server

Sart the original instance Connect with the new .PEM file

Cleanup

Terminate the recovery instance