# Prerequisites for working with AWS Resource Groups
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Before you get started working with resource groups, be sure you have an active AWS account with existing resources and appropriate rights to tag resources and create groups.

**Topics**
+ [Sign up for an AWS account](#sign-up-for-aws)
+ [Create resources](#gettingstarted-prereqs-create)
+ [Set up permissions](gettingstarted-prereqs-permissions.md)

## Sign up for an AWS account
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To get started with AWS, you need an AWS account. There are two ways to sign up for AWS. If you want complete control over account configuration and where your content is stored, or if you have regulated workloads such as HIPAA or FedRAMP, use [Sign up for AWS (advanced)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/getting-started.html). If you are a new user and want to use a login you already own to sign in to AWS and create an AWS environment with preconfigured defaults in select [AWS Regions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/project-regions.html), use [Sign up for AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/accounts/latest/reference/sign-in-new.html).

## Create resources
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You can create an empty resource group, but won't be able to perform any tasks on resource group members until there are resources in the group. For more information about the supported resource types, see [Resource types you can use with AWS Resource Groups and Tag Editor](supported-resources.md).