When using Ansible to manage Windows, many of the syntax and rules that apply for Unix/Linux hosts also apply to Windows, but there are still some differences when it comes to components like path separators and OS-specific tasks. This document covers details specific to using Ansible for Windows.
Ansible can be used to orchestrate a multitude of tasks on Windows servers. Below are some examples and info about common tasks.
There are three main ways that Ansible can be used to install software:
win_chocolatey module. This sources the program data from the default public Chocolatey repository. Internal repositories can be used instead by setting the source option.win_package module. This installs software using an MSI or .exe installer from a local/network path or URL.win_command or win_shell module to run an installer manually.The win_chocolatey module is recommended since it has the most complete logic for checking to see if a package has already been installed and is up-to-date.
Below are some examples of using all three options to install 7-Zip:
# Install/uninstall with chocolatey
- name: Ensure 7-Zip is installed via Chocolatey
win_chocolatey:
name: 7zip
state: present
- name: Ensure 7-Zip is not installed via Chocolatey
win_chocolatey:
name: 7zip
state: absent
# Install/uninstall with win_package
- name: Download the 7-Zip package
win_get_url:
url: https://www.7-zip.org/a/7z1701-x64.msi
dest: C:\temp\7z.msi
- name: Ensure 7-Zip is installed via win_package
win_package:
path: C:\temp\7z.msi
state: present
- name: Ensure 7-Zip is not installed via win_package
win_package:
path: C:\temp\7z.msi
state: absent
# Install/uninstall with win_command
- name: Download the 7-Zip package
win_get_url:
url: https://www.7-zip.org/a/7z1701-x64.msi
dest: C:\temp\7z.msi
- name: Check if 7-Zip is already installed
win_reg_stat:
name: HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{23170F69-40C1-2702-1701-000001000000}
register: 7zip_installed
- name: Ensure 7-Zip is installed via win_command
win_command: C:\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe /i C:\temp\7z.msi /qn /norestart
when: 7zip_installed.exists == false
- name: Ensure 7-Zip is uninstalled via win_command
win_command: C:\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe /x {23170F69-40C1-2702-1701-000001000000} /qn /norestart
when: 7zip_installed.exists == true
Some installers like Microsoft Office or SQL Server require credential delegation or access to components restricted by WinRM. The best method to bypass these issues is to use become with the task. With become, Ansible will run the installer as if it were run interactively on the host.
Note
Many installers do not properly pass back error information over WinRM. In these cases, if the install has been verified to work locally the recommended method is to use become.
Note
Some installers restart the WinRM or HTTP services, or cause them to become temporarily unavailable, making Ansible assume the system is unreachable.
The win_updates and win_hotfix modules can be used to install updates or hotfixes on a host. The module win_updates is used to install multiple updates by category, while win_hotfix can be used to install a single update or hotfix file that has been downloaded locally.
Note
The win_hotfix module has a requirement that the DISM PowerShell cmdlets are present. These cmdlets were only added by default on Windows Server 2012 and newer and must be installed on older Windows hosts.
The following example shows how win_updates can be used:
- name: Install all critical and security updates
win_updates:
category_names:
- CriticalUpdates
- SecurityUpdates
state: installed
register: update_result
- name: Reboot host if required
win_reboot:
when: update_result.reboot_required
The following example show how win_hotfix can be used to install a single update or hotfix:
- name: Download KB3172729 for Server 2012 R2
win_get_url:
url: http://download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/secu/2016/07/windows8.1-kb3172729-x64_e8003822a7ef4705cbb65623b72fd3cec73fe222.msu
dest: C:\temp\KB3172729.msu
- name: Install hotfix
win_hotfix:
hotfix_kb: KB3172729
source: C:\temp\KB3172729.msu
state: present
register: hotfix_result
- name: Reboot host if required
win_reboot:
when: hotfix_result.reboot_required
Ansible can be used to create Windows users and groups both locally and on a domain.
The modules win_user, win_group and win_group_membership manage Windows users, groups and group memberships locally.
The following is an example of creating local accounts and groups that can access a folder on the same host:
- name: Create local group to contain new users
win_group:
name: LocalGroup
description: Allow access to C:\Development folder
- name: Create local user
win_user:
name: '{{ item.name }}'
password: '{{ item.password }}'
groups: LocalGroup
update_password: no
password_never_expires: yes
loop:
- name: User1
password: Password1
- name: User2
password: Password2
- name: Create Development folder
win_file:
path: C:\Development
state: directory
- name: Set ACL of Development folder
win_acl:
path: C:\Development
rights: FullControl
state: present
type: allow
user: LocalGroup
- name: Remove parent inheritance of Development folder
win_acl_inheritance:
path: C:\Development
reorganize: yes
state: absent
The modules win_domain_user and win_domain_group manages users and groups in a domain. The below is an example of ensuring a batch of domain users are created:
- name: Ensure each account is created
win_domain_user:
name: '{{ item.name }}'
upn: '{{ item.name }}@MY.DOMAIN.COM'
password: '{{ item.password }}'
password_never_expires: no
groups:
- Test User
- Application
company: Ansible
update_password: on_create
loop:
- name: Test User
password: Password
- name: Admin User
password: SuperSecretPass01
- name: Dev User
password: '@fvr3IbFBujSRh!3hBg%wgFucD8^x8W5'
In cases where there is no appropriate module available for a task, a command or script can be run using the win_shell, win_command, raw, and script modules.
The raw module simply executes a Powershell command remotely. Since raw has none of the wrappers that Ansible typically uses, become, async and environment variables do not work.
The script module executes a script from the Ansible controller on one or more Windows hosts. Like raw, script currently does not support become, async, or environment variables.
The win_command module is used to execute a command which is either an executable or batch file, while the win_shell module is used to execute commands within a shell.
The win_shell and win_command modules can both be used to execute a command or commands. The win_shell module is run within a shell-like process like PowerShell or cmd, so it has access to shell operators like <, >, |, ;, &&, and ||. Multi-lined commands can also be run in win_shell.
The win_command module simply runs a process outside of a shell. It can still run a shell command like mkdir or New-Item by passing the shell commands to a shell executable like cmd.exe or PowerShell.exe.
Here are some examples of using win_command and win_shell:
- name: Run a command under PowerShell
win_shell: Get-Service -Name service | Stop-Service
- name: Run a command under cmd
win_shell: mkdir C:\temp
args:
executable: cmd.exe
- name: Run a multiple shell commands
win_shell: |
New-Item -Path C:\temp -ItemType Directory
Remove-Item -Path C:\temp -Force -Recurse
$path_info = Get-Item -Path C:\temp
$path_info.FullName
- name: Run an executable using win_command
win_command: whoami.exe
- name: Run a cmd command
win_command: cmd.exe /c mkdir C:\temp
- name: Run a vbs script
win_command: cscript.exe script.vbs
Note
Some commands like mkdir, del, and copy only exist in the CMD shell. To run them with win_command they must be prefixed with cmd.exe /c.
When running a command through win_command, the standard Windows argument rules apply:
". Anything inside these quotes is interpreted as a single argument even if it contains whitespace.\ is interpreted as just a double quote " and not as an argument delimiter.\ == \ and \" == "
With those rules in mind, here are some examples of quoting:
- win_command: C:\temp\executable.exe argument1 "argument 2" "C:\path\with space" "double \"quoted\""
argv[0] = C:\temp\executable.exe
argv[1] = argument1
argv[2] = argument 2
argv[3] = C:\path\with space
argv[4] = double "quoted"
- win_command: '"C:\Program Files\Program\program.exe" "escaped \\\" backslash" unquoted-end-backslash\'
argv[0] = C:\Program Files\Program\program.exe
argv[1] = escaped \" backslash
argv[2] = unquoted-end-backslash\
# Due to YAML and Ansible parsing '\"' must be written as '{% raw %}\\{% endraw %}"'
- win_command: C:\temp\executable.exe C:\no\space\path "arg with end \ before end quote{% raw %}\\{% endraw %}"
argv[0] = C:\temp\executable.exe
argv[1] = C:\no\space\path
argv[2] = arg with end \ before end quote\"
For more information, see escaping arguments.
WinRM has some restrictions in place that cause errors when running certain commands. One way to bypass these restrictions is to run a command through a scheduled task. A scheduled task is a Windows component that provides the ability to run an executable on a schedule and under a different account.
Ansible version 2.5 added modules that make it easier to work with scheduled tasks in Windows. The following is an example of running a script as a scheduled task that deletes itself after running:
- name: Create scheduled task to run a process
win_scheduled_task:
name: adhoc-task
username: SYSTEM
actions:
- path: PowerShell.exe
arguments: |
Start-Sleep -Seconds 30 # This isn't required, just here as a demonstration
New-Item -Path C:\temp\test -ItemType Directory
# Remove this action if the task shouldn't be deleted on completion
- path: cmd.exe
arguments: /c schtasks.exe /Delete /TN "adhoc-task" /F
triggers:
- type: registration
- name: Wait for the scheduled task to complete
win_scheduled_task_stat:
name: adhoc-task
register: task_stat
until: (task_stat.state is defined and task_stat.state.status != "TASK_STATE_RUNNING") or (task_stat.task_exists == False)
retries: 12
delay: 10
Note
The modules used in the above example were updated/added in Ansible version 2.5.
Windows differs from a traditional POSIX operating system in many ways. One of the major changes is the shift from / as the path separator to \. This can cause major issues with how playbooks are written, since \ is often used as an escape character on POSIX systems.
Ansible allows two different styles of syntax; each deals with path separators for Windows differently:
When using the YAML syntax for tasks, the rules are well-defined by the YAML standard:
', YAML will not consider the backslash an escape character.", the backslash is considered an escape character and needs to escaped with another backslash.Note
You should only quote strings when it is absolutely necessary or required by YAML, and then use single quotes.
The YAML specification considers the following escape sequences:
\0, \\, \", \_, \a, \b, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v, \L, \N and \P – Single character escape<TAB>, <SPACE>, <NBSP>, <LNSP>, <PSP> – Special characters\x.. – 2-digit hex escape\u.... – 4-digit hex escape\U........ – 8-digit hex escapeHere are some examples on how to write Windows paths:
# GOOD tempdir: C:\Windows\Temp # WORKS tempdir: 'C:\Windows\Temp' tempdir: "C:\\Windows\\Temp" # BAD, BUT SOMETIMES WORKS tempdir: C:\\Windows\\Temp tempdir: 'C:\\Windows\\Temp' tempdir: C:/Windows/Temp
This is an example which will fail:
# FAILS tempdir: "C:\Windows\Temp"
This example shows the use of single quotes when they are required:
---
- name: Copy tomcat config
win_copy:
src: log4j.xml
dest: '{{tc_home}}\lib\log4j.xml'
The legacy key=value syntax is used on the command line for ad-hoc commands, or inside playbooks. The use of this style is discouraged within playbooks because backslash characters need to be escaped, making playbooks harder to read. The legacy syntax depends on the specific implementation in Ansible, and quoting (both single and double) does not have any effect on how it is parsed by Ansible.
The Ansible key=value parser parse_kv() considers the following escape sequences:
\, ', ", \a, \b, \f, \n, \r, \t and \v – Single character escape\x.. – 2-digit hex escape\u.... – 4-digit hex escape\U........ – 8-digit hex escape\N{...} – Unicode character by nameThis means that the backslash is an escape character for some sequences, and it is usually safer to escape a backslash when in this form.
Here are some examples of using Windows paths with the key=value style:
# GOOD tempdir=C:\\Windows\\Temp # WORKS tempdir='C:\\Windows\\Temp' tempdir="C:\\Windows\\Temp" # BAD, BUT SOMETIMES WORKS tempdir=C:\Windows\Temp tempdir='C:\Windows\Temp' tempdir="C:\Windows\Temp" tempdir=C:/Windows/Temp # FAILS tempdir=C:\Windows\temp tempdir='C:\Windows\temp' tempdir="C:\Windows\temp"
The failing examples don’t fail outright but will substitute \t with the <TAB> character resulting in tempdir being C:\Windows<TAB>emp.
Some things you cannot do with Ansible and Windows are:
Because WinRM is reliant on the services being online and running during normal operations, you cannot upgrade PowerShell or interact with WinRM listeners with Ansible. Both of these actions will cause the connection to fail. This can technically be avoided by using async or a scheduled task, but those methods are fragile if the process it runs breaks the underlying connection Ansible uses, and are best left to the bootstrapping process or before an image is created.
Because Ansible modules for Windows are written in PowerShell, the development guides for Windows modules differ substantially from those for standard standard modules. Please see Windows module development walkthrough for more information.
See also
© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.9/user_guide/windows_usage.html