kubernetes/kops · error

spotinst: unable to resolve image %q: not found

Error message

spotinst: unable to resolve image %q: not found

What it means

resolveImage wraps kops' AWSCloud.ResolveImage when provisioning a Spotinst Elastigroup. When the lookup succeeds but returns no image (nil), it reports that the requested AMI identifier/name could not be found. This means the given image name did not resolve to any AMI visible to the configured AWS credentials.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/spotinsttasks/elastigroup.go:1878

	if e.Orientation == nil || (e.Orientation != nil && fi.ValueOf(e.Orientation) == "") {
		e.Orientation = new("balanced")
	}

	if e.Monitoring == nil {
		e.Monitoring = new(false)
	}

	if e.HealthCheckType == nil {
		e.HealthCheckType = new("K8S_NODE")
	}
}

func resolveImage(cloud awsup.AWSCloud, name string) (*ec2types.Image, error) {
	image, err := cloud.ResolveImage(name)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("spotinst: unable to resolve image %q: %v", name, err)
	} else if image == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("spotinst: unable to resolve image %q: not found", name)
	}

	return image, nil
}

func subnetSlicesEqualIgnoreOrder(l, r []*awstasks.Subnet) bool {
	var lIDs []string
	for _, s := range l {
		lIDs = append(lIDs, *s.ID)
	}

	var rIDs []string
	for _, s := range r {
		if s.ID == nil {
			klog.V(4).Infof("Subnet ID not set; returning not-equal: %v", s)
			return false
		}
		rIDs = append(rIDs, *s.ID)

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Verify the image name/AMI ID exists in the target region (aws ec2 describe-images)
2. Run kops get cluster --cloud aws and update the cluster spec's kubernetesVersion/image to a valid AMI for that region
3. If using a custom AMI, confirm the AMI is shared with the account whose credentials kops uses
4. Check AWS credentials/profile point to the intended account and region

Example fix

// before (cluster spec)
image: ami-0abcdef1234567890
// after
image: ami-0123456789abcdef0  # AMI present in the target region

out, err := cloud.ResolveImage(name)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("resolving image %q: %w", name, err)
}
if out == nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("image %q does not exist in region %s; check the AMI id/name", name, cloud.Region())
}

func imageFound(img *ec2types.Image) bool { return img != nil }

if err != nil {
    var notFound bool
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not found") {
        notFound = true
    }
    if notFound {
        // fall back to a region-appropriate default AMI
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling create/update on an Elastigroup task whose Image field is an AMI name/alias that AWS APIs return no match for: cloud.ResolveImage(name) returns (nil, nil).

Common situations: Typo in AMI name; AMI does not exist in the target region; AMI is private or was deregistered; using a Debian/Ubuntu name without the image config; wrong AWS account/credentials.

Related errors

• spotinst: unable to resolve image %q: %v
• unable to resolve image: %q: %v
• error building ssh key: %v
• error building load balancers: %v
• error building public ip options: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/43ddc4f50a41b6ba. Report an issue: GitHub.