diff --git a/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadata.java b/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadata.java
index 69876dc4b1..877ed21638 100644
--- a/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadata.java
+++ b/apis/ec2/src/main/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadata.java
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ import com.google.common.cache.LoadingCache;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet.Builder;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.UncheckedExecutionException;
 
@@ -186,21 +187,28 @@ public class RunningInstanceToNodeMetadata implements Function<RunningInstance,
 
    @VisibleForTesting
    String getGroupForInstance(final RunningInstance instance) {
+      String group = parseGroupFrom(instance, instance.getGroupIds());
+      if(group == null && instance.getKeyName() != null) {
+         // when not using a generated security group, e.g. in VPC, try from key:
+         group = parseGroupFrom(instance, Sets.newHashSet(instance.getKeyName()));
+      }
+      return group;
+   }
+
+   private String parseGroupFrom(final RunningInstance instance, final Set<String> data) {
       String group = null;
       try {
-         group = Iterables.getOnlyElement(Iterables.filter(instance.getGroupIds(), new Predicate<String>() {
+         group = Iterables.getOnlyElement(Iterables.filter(data, new Predicate<String>() {
 
             @Override
             public boolean apply(String input) {
-               return input.startsWith("jclouds#") && input.endsWith("#" + instance.getRegion());
+               return input.startsWith("jclouds#") && input.contains("#" + instance.getRegion());
             }
-
-         })).substring(8).replaceAll("#" + instance.getRegion() + "$", "");
+         })).split("#")[1];
       } catch (NoSuchElementException e) {
-         logger.debug("no group parsed from %s's security groups: %s", instance.getId(), instance.getGroupIds());
+         logger.debug("no group parsed from %s's data: %s", instance.getId(), data);
       } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-         logger.debug("too many groups match %s; %s's security groups: %s", "jclouds#", instance.getId(), instance
-                  .getGroupIds());
+         logger.debug("too many groups match %s; %s's data: %s", "jclouds#", instance.getId(), data);
       }
       return group;
    }
diff --git a/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadataTest.java b/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadataTest.java
index 03987761c4..455bd8a60b 100644
--- a/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadataTest.java
+++ b/apis/ec2/src/test/java/org/jclouds/ec2/compute/functions/RunningInstanceToNodeMetadataTest.java
@@ -217,6 +217,20 @@ public class RunningInstanceToNodeMetadataTest {
                   .hardware(m1_small32().build()).location(provider).build());
    }
 
+   @Test
+   public void testGroupNameIsSetWhenCustomKeyNameIsSetAndSecurityGroupIsGenerated() {
+      checkGroupName(RunningInstance.builder().instanceId("id").imageId("image").instanceType("m1.small")
+              .instanceState(InstanceState.RUNNING).region("us-east-1").keyName("custom-key")
+              .groupId("jclouds#groupname#us-east-1").build());
+   }
+
+   @Test
+   public void testGroupNameIsSetWhenCustomSecurityGroupIsSetAndKeyNameIsGenerated() {
+      checkGroupName(RunningInstance.builder().instanceId("id").imageId("image").instanceType("m1.small")
+              .instanceState(InstanceState.RUNNING).region("us-east-1").groupId("custom-sec")
+              .keyName("jclouds#groupname#us-east-1#23").build());
+   }
+
    protected RunningInstance firstInstanceFromResource(String resource) {
       RunningInstance server = Iterables.get(Iterables.get(DescribeInstancesResponseHandlerTest
                .parseRunningInstances(resource), 0), 0);
@@ -239,6 +253,12 @@ public class RunningInstanceToNodeMetadataTest {
       return createNodeParser(hardware, locations, credentialStore, instanceToNodeState, instanceToImage);
    }
 
+   private void checkGroupName(RunningInstance instance) {
+      assertEquals("groupname", createNodeParser(ImmutableSet.<Hardware> of(), ImmutableSet
+            .<Location> of(), ImmutableSet.<Image> of(), ImmutableMap.<String, Credentials> of())
+            .apply(instance).getGroup());
+   }
+
    private RunningInstanceToNodeMetadata createNodeParser(final ImmutableSet<Hardware> hardware,
             final ImmutableSet<Location> locations, Map<String, Credentials> credentialStore,
             Map<InstanceState, NodeState> instanceToNodeState, LoadingCache<RegionAndName, Image> instanceToImage) {