diff --git a/baseimage/createEC2Image b/baseimage/createEC2Image
index a3aa74395..c839391bf 100755
--- a/baseimage/createEC2Image
+++ b/baseimage/createEC2Image
@@ -135,21 +135,47 @@ aws ec2 modify-image-attribute --region ${region} --profile ${aws_credentials} -
 
 # http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html#ec2_region
 # Images are currently created in eu-central-1
-echo "Copy image to other regions"
-aws ec2 copy-image --region us-east-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region us-west-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region us-west-2 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region ap-south-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region ap-northeast-2 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region ap-southeast-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region ap-southeast-2 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region ap-northeast-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region eu-west-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
-aws ec2 copy-image --region sa-east-1 --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name}
+echo "Coping image to other regions"
+ec2_regions=( "us-east-1" "us-west-1" "us-west-2" "ap-south-1" "ap-northeast-2" "ap-southeast-1" "ap-southeast-2" "ap-northeast-1" "eu-west-1" "sa-east-1" )
+ec2_amis=( )
+
+for r in ${ec2_regions[@]}; do
+    echo "=> ${r}"
+    ami_id=$(aws ec2 copy-image --region ${r} --profile ${aws_credentials} --source-image-id ${image_id} --source-region ${region} --name ${snapshot_name} | $JSON ImageId)
+
+    # append in the same order as the regions
+    ec2_amis+=( ${ami_id} )
+done
+
+# wait for all images to be available
+echo "Waiting for images to be ready (first will take the longest)..."
+region_string="${region}=${image_id}"
+i=0
+while [ $i -lt ${#ec2_regions[*]} ]; do
+    echo "=> ${ec2_regions[$i]} ${ec2_amis[$i]}"
+    while true; do
+        event_status=`aws ec2 describe-images --region ${ec2_regions[$i]} --profile ${aws_credentials} --image-id ${ec2_amis[$i]} | $JSON Images[0].State`
+        if [[ "${event_status}" == "available" ]]; then
+            break
+        fi
+        debug -n "."
+        sleep 10
+    done
+
+    # now make it public
+    aws ec2 modify-image-attribute --region ${ec2_regions[$i]} --profile ${aws_credentials} --image-id ${ec2_amis[$i]} --launch-permission "{\"Add\":[{\"Group\":\"all\"}]}"
+
+    # append to output string for release tool
+    region_string+=",${ec2_regions[$i]}:${ec2_amis[$i]}"
+
+    # inc the iteration counter
+    i=$(( $i + 1));
+done
 
-echo "Done."
 echo ""
 echo "--------------------------------------------------"
 echo "New image id is: ${image_id}"
+echo "Image region string for release:"
+echo "${region_string}"
 echo "--------------------------------------------------"
 echo ""