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ansible.windows.win_shell module – Execute shell commands on target hosts

Note

This module is part of the ansible.windows collection (version 2.8.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.windows.win_shell.

Synopsis
Parameters
Notes
See Also
Examples
Return Values

Synopsis

The ansible.windows.win_shell module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments. It is similar to the ansible.windows.win_command module, but runs the command via a shell (defaults to PowerShell) on the target host.
For non-Windows targets, use the ansible.builtin.shell module instead.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
chdir path	Set the specified path as the current working directory before executing a command
creates path	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path exists on the target host, the task will be skipped.
executable path	Change the shell used to execute the command (eg, `cmd`). The target shell must accept a `/c` parameter followed by the raw command line to be executed.
free_form string / required	The ansible.windows.win_shell module takes a free form command to run. There is no parameter actually named ‘free form’. See the examples!
no_profile boolean	Do not load the user profile before running a command. This is only valid when using PowerShell as the executable. Choices: `false` ← (default) `true`
output_encoding_override string	This option overrides the encoding of stdout/stderr output. You can use this option when you need to run a command which ignore the console’s codepage. You should only need to use this option in very rare circumstances. This value can be any valid encoding `Name` based on the output of `[System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncodings(`). See https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/api/system.text.encoding.getencodings.
removes path	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path does not exist on the target host, the task will be skipped.
stdin string	Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.

Notes

Note

If you want to run an executable securely and predictably, it may be better to use the ansible.windows.win_command module instead. Best practices when writing playbooks will follow the trend of using ansible.windows.win_command unless win_shell is explicitly required. When running ad-hoc commands, use your best judgement.
WinRM will not return from a command execution until all child processes created have exited. Thus, it is not possible to use ansible.windows.win_shell to spawn long-running child or background processes. Consider creating a Windows service for managing background processes. - Consider using ansible.windows.win_powershell if you want to capture the output from the PowerShell script as structured objects.

Examples

- name: Execute a command in the remote shell, stdout goes to the specified file on the remote
  ansible.windows.win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1 >> C:\somelog.txt

- name: Change the working directory to somedir/ before executing the command
  ansible.windows.win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1 >> C:\somelog.txt
  args:
    chdir: C:\somedir

- name: Run a command with an idempotent check on what it creates, will only run when somedir/somelog.txt does not exist
  ansible.windows.win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1 >> C:\somelog.txt
  args:
    chdir: C:\somedir
    creates: C:\somelog.txt

- name: Run a command under a non-Powershell interpreter (cmd in this case)
  ansible.windows.win_shell: echo %HOMEDIR%
  args:
    executable: cmd
  register: homedir_out

- name: Run multi-lined shell commands
  ansible.windows.win_shell: |
    $value = Test-Path -Path C:\temp
    if ($value) {
        Remove-Item -Path C:\temp -Force
    }
    New-Item -Path C:\temp -ItemType Directory

- name: Retrieve the input based on stdin
  ansible.windows.win_shell: '$string = [Console]::In.ReadToEnd(); Write-Output $string.Trim()'
  args:
    stdin: Input message

- name: Run a PowerShell script with -NoProfile
  ansible.windows.win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1
  args:
    no_profile: true

- name: Run a PowerShell script that outputs text with big5 encoding
  ansible.windows.win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1
  args:
    output_encoding_override: big5

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
cmd string	The command executed by the task. Returned: always Sample: `"rabbitmqctl join_cluster rabbit@main"`
delta string	The command execution delta time. Returned: always Sample: `"0:00:00.325771"`
end string	The command execution end time. Returned: always Sample: `"2016-02-25 09:18:26.755339"`
msg boolean	Changed. Returned: always Sample: `true`
rc integer	The command return code (0 means success). Returned: always Sample: `0`
start string	The command execution start time. Returned: always Sample: `"2016-02-25 09:18:26.429568"`
stderr string	The command standard error. Returned: always Sample: `"ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory"`
stdout string	The command standard output. Returned: always Sample: `"Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@main ..."`
stdout_lines list / elements=string	The command standard output split in lines. Returned: always Sample: `["u'Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@main ...'"]`

Authors

Matt Davis (@nitzmahone)

Collection links

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2025 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/windows/win_shell_module.html