Add Keypair to existing EC2 instance

Question

I was given AWS Console access to an account with 2 instances running that I cannot shut down (in production). I would however like to gain SSH access to these instances, is it possible to create a new Keypair and apply it to the instances so I can SSH in? Obtaining the exisiting pem file for the keypair the instances were created under is currently not an option.

If this isn't possible is there some other way I can get into the instances?

Answer 1

You cant apply a keypair to a running instance. You can only use the new keypair to launch new instance.

For recovery, if it's an EBS boot AMI, you can stop it, make a snapshot of the volume. Create a new volume based on it. And be able to use it back to start the old instance, create new image, or recover data.

Though data at ephemaral storage will be lost.