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

Answer 1

This happened to me earlier (didn't have access to an EC2 instance someone else created but had access to AWS web console) and I blogged the answer: http://readystate4.com/2013/04/09/aws-gaining-ssh-access-to-an-ec2-instance-you-lost-access-to/

Basically, you can detached the EBS drive, attach it to an EC2 that you do have access to. Add your SSH pub key to ~ec2-user/.ssh/authorized_keys on this attached drive. Then put it back on the old EC2 instance. step-by-step in the link using Amazon AMI.

No need to make snapshots or create a new cloned instance.