# What Can I Do with a Cloud-Init ECS?

#### Introduction to Cloud-Init

Cloud-Init is an open-source tool for cloud instance initialization. When creating ECSs from an image with Cloud-Init, you can use user data injection to inject customized initialization details (for example, an ECS login password) to the ECSs. You can also configure and manage a running ECS by querying and using metadata. If Cloud-Init is not installed, you cannot apply custom configurations to the ECSs. You will have to use the original password in the image file to log in to the ECSs.

#### Installation Methods

You are advised to install Cloud-Init or Cloudbase-Init on the ECS to be used to create a private image so that new ECSs created from the private image support custom configurations.

- For Windows OSs, download and install Cloudbase-Init.

  For how to install Cloudbase-Init, see Installing and Configuring Cloudbase-Init.

- For Linux OSs, download and install Cloud-Init.

  For how to install Cloud-Init, see Installing Cloud-Init.

  For how to configure Cloud-Init, see Configuring Cloud-Init.

Parent topic: Cloud-Init