# Added ANSIBLE\_KEEP\_REMOTE\_FILES but nothing happens

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/added-ansible-keep-remote-files-but-nothing-happens/16388>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [September 30, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/added-ansible-keep-remote-files-but-nothing-happens/16388 "2014-09-30T20:30:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tennis\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Tennis\_Smith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tennis_Smith)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/added-ansible-keep-remote-files-but-nothing-happens/16388/1 "2014-09-30T20:30:50Z")

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Hi,

This is in reference to a CentOS 6.5 host using ansible as a vagrant provisioner.

I added “export ANSIBLE\_KEEP\_REMOTE\_FILES=1” to /etc/profile.d/ansible\_debug.sh so that all users would pick up the env var.

However, after running ansible, there aren’t any files in /home/vagrant/.ansible directory. There also isn’t a “.ansible” dir in /root either.

This environment var is definitely getting set because both the “vagrant” user and “root” return the correct value when I execute “echo $ANSIBLE\_KEEP\_REMOTE\_FILES”.

What am I missing?

-T

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan1)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/added-ansible-keep-remote-files-but-nothing-happens/16388/2 "2014-10-01T12:19:23Z")

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That parameter needs to be set on the control machine, not the remote.

I suspect that’s what’s happening to you, perhaps?

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**Author:** ![Tennis\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Tennis\_Smith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tennis_Smith)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/added-ansible-keep-remote-files-but-nothing-happens/16388/3 "2014-10-01T13:16:51Z")

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Ah! Thank you.-T

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tennis\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Tennis\_Smith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tennis_Smith)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/added-ansible-keep-remote-files-but-nothing-happens/16388/4 "2014-10-01T15:21:59Z")

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FYI. I submitted a doc update.  
-T