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I have a snapshot in AWS Oregon I can't deleted. When I try it says 

Snapshot is in use by AMI ami-d2d83cxx

I've checked every region, I have no instance with that ID. I used to run in the Sydney region, now I use Oregon. I only have one instance running anywhere, plus an RDS instance.

The description of the snapshot is

Copied for DestinationAmi ami-d2d83xx from SourceAmi ami-55cfbbxx
for SourceSnapshot snap-3bf220xx. Task created on 1,453,573,325,838.

When I click the volume link it goes to the volume page but there's no volume with that ID.

My best guess is AWS console has gotten confused. I did create the odd AMI for performance testing, but those AMIs were private and I only used them for a short time. I also moved things from Sydney to Oregan.

How do I delete this snapshot? It'll be costing me money. Not much money, but some.

Tim
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2 Answers2

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This snapshot is not associated with an EC2 instance.

It is associated with an AMI image as mentioned in the error message.

AMI images that are EBS-backed have associated EBS snapshots. These associated snapshots cannot be deleted until you deregister the AMI image.

The snapshot you are trying to delete is such a snapshot.

If you want to delete this snapshot, then you need to deregister the AMI image first. Once that has been done, you can delete the snapshot.

Matt Houser
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  • This was right. I think what happened is I saved my server as an AMI in Sydney, moved it to Oregon, then started it from the AMI. Now I can't delete the AMI or the snapshot because the server is running from it. If it was important I could create a snapshot, stop the server, and create a new server from the snapshot, but it's a production website so I think I'll just leave it alone. Thanks for your help :) – Tim Feb 13 '16 at 18:37
  • You should be able to delete the AMI anytime. AMIs are not held by running instances. – Matt Houser Feb 13 '16 at 19:13
  • You're right. I deleted the AMI, which left the instance running, then I could delete the snapshot :) – Tim Feb 13 '16 at 19:17
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Once the AMI is deleted (available under IMAGES->AMIs) then, the snapshot can be easily deleted.

Note: AMI deleted means selecting the 'de-register' option under AMI Actions.

Majid Qureshi
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    That was already said in the other answer. – RalfFriedl Jun 20 '19 at 09:41
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    Yes, and I solved this problem over three years ago. I've learned a thing or two since then. Appreciate you trying to help, but suggest you try with newer questions that don't have answers yet. – Tim Jun 20 '19 at 17:30