Setup the AWS CLI

Goals

Create and download Access Key and secret
Use aws configure to configure the CLI

Steps

The AWS CLI must be installed to perform these steps

Use the following link to install the AWS CLI on your platform:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2.html

Create an Access Key and Secret

In the AWS Console, click on your name
Select "My Security Credentials"
Click on the "Access Keys" section
Click the "Create New Access Key" button
Click the "Download Key File" button
Click the "Close" button

Configure the AWS CLI

Open the downloaded "rootkey.csv" file
In your command line, run the command aws configure
The first prompt will say "AWS Access Key ID". Enter the "AWSAccessKeyID" value from the file and hit "enter"
The next prompt will say "AWS Secret Access Key". Enter the "AWSSecretKey" value from the file and hit "enter"
Enter your default region if desired. Hit enter
Enter your default output format (text or json) if desired. Hit enter
To confirm everything works, run the command aws ec2 describe-instances