Initialising instance on AWS with no keypair getting API error

[m1keil]

I'm trying to start an instance in AWS with no ssh_keypair_name but with ssh_key_path defined.
(The scenario is that the AMI already has a pre-embedded key pair which is not part of the aws keystore).

Getting this:

Running Packer..
1442589607,,ui,say,nightly_virtualbox_build output will be in this color.
1442589607,,ui,say,
1442589607,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Prevalidating AMI Name...
1442589608,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Inspecting the source AMI...
1442589608,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Creating temporary security group for this instance...
1442589609,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Authorizing access to port 22 the temporary security group...
1442589609,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Launching a source AWS instance...
1442589610,,ui,error,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Error launching source instance: InvalidParameterValue: Invalid value '' for keyPairNames. It should not be blank\n==> nightly_virtualbox_build:     status code: 400%!(PACKER_COMMA) request id: []
1442589610,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: No AMIs to cleanup
1442589610,,ui,say,==> nightly_virtualbox_build: Deleting temporary security group...
1442589610,,ui,error,Build 'nightly_virtualbox_build' errored: Error launching source instance: InvalidParameterValue: Invalid value '' for keyPairNames. It should not be blank\n  status code: 400%!(PACKER_COMMA) request id: []
1442589610,,error-count,1
1442589610,,ui,error,\n==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
1442589610,nightly_virtualbox_build,error,Error launching source instance: InvalidParameterValue: Invalid value '' for keyPairNames. It should not be blank\n   status code: 400%!(PACKER_COMMA) request id: []
1442589610,,ui,error,--> nightly_virtualbox_build: Error launching source instance: InvalidParameterValue: Invalid value '' for keyPairNames. It should not be blank\n  status code: 400%!(PACKER_COMMA) request id: []
1442589610,,ui,say,\n==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.

This started in 0.8.x branch. Works in 0.7.x without any problem.
This is similar to #2440

[jantman]

I'm having this issue as well. I have ssh_username and ssh_private_key_file set in the builder config.

[dave2]

Also getting this. The user being used inside the AMI to perform provisioning is already created with an authorized pubkey (and the AMI will not accept the externally-defined key anyway).

(Adding ssh_keypair_name with a key that exists fixes the problem. It still seems to use my keypair internally defined).

[cbednarski]

Thanks for the report. I think this is a duplicate of #2301

[m1keil]

Yep. Sorry about that, couldn't find anything similar when I opened it but it seems like it is in fact a duplicate. I'll close this one.