# Ansible shows status as changed even though the LXC has been created **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** proxmox\ **Created:** [April 22, 2026, 9:45am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726 "2026-04-22T09:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Parameter4509](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Parameter4509](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Parameter4509)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 9:45am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/1 "2026-04-22T09:45:27Z")
- When I run my playbook on my Proxmox instance to create an LXC, it successfully creates the LXC and shows status as `ok=2 changed=1` - However, when I run the playbook again, even though nothing inside the LXC changes, the play shows status as `ok=2 changed=1` - The proxmox tasks, show no rerun either, however, I believe the play should not display `changed=1` in Play Recap either. - Is this the expected behaviour? I am new to Ansible so please guide me in case my understanding is wrong. - Version(s) of the relevant software tools, libraries, collections etc – ansible `[core 2.20.5]` – proxmoxer `[2.2.0]` – community.proxmox `[1.6.0]` - Logs from running the play with `-vvv` flag ```js changed: [192.168.1.50] => { "changed": true, "invocation": { "module_args": { "api_host": "192.168.1.50", "api_password": null, "api_port": null, "api_timeout": 5, "api_token_id": "ansible", "api_token_secret": "VALUE_SPECIFIED_IN_NO_LOG_PARAMETER", "api_user": "root@pam", "ca_path": null, "clone": null, "clone_type": "opportunistic", "cores": 4, "cpus": null, "cpuunits": null, "delete": null, "description": "Copyparty LXC", "disk": null, "disk_volume": { "host_path": null, "options": null, "size": 200, "storage": "local-lvm", "volume": null }, "features": [ "nesting=1" ], "force": false, "hookscript": null, "hostname": "copyparty-ct", "ip_address": null, "memory": 4096, "mount_volumes": null, "mounts": null, "nameserver": null, "netif": { "net0": "name=eth0,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1,ip=dhcp,ip6=dhcp,type=veth" }, "node": "msi", "onboot": true, "ostemplate": "local:vztmpl/alpine-3.23-default_20260116_amd64.tar.xz", "ostype": "alpine", "password": "VALUE_SPECIFIED_IN_NO_LOG_PARAMETER", "pool": null, "purge": false, "searchdomain": null, "startup": null, "state": "present", "storage": "local", "swap": 512, "tags": [ "copyparty", "alpine" ], "timeout": 30, "timezone": "host", "unprivileged": true, "update": true, "validate_certs": false, "vmid": 408 } }, "msg": "VM copyparty-ct (408) has been updated.", "vmid": 408 } ``` ---
**Author:** ![BoerBart](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/boerbart/32/10083_2.png) [@BoerBart](https://forum.ansible.com/u/BoerBart)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 10:15am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/2 "2026-04-22T10:15:24Z")
Hi there, first of all, welcome to the forum. To get a better understanding of what exactly is happening, we’d need to see the actual task(s) within the playbook that happen, but I’ll try to explain what could possibly be the reason. Depending on how the task is performed, it might be that the task will always be performed, no matter whether it’s necessary. Let’s say i have a task that writes “1” into “file.conf”, that task will always be performed, and thus will show up as changed. Same goes for changing the owner:group of a file, even if the value is already correct, it will always show up as changed. Some modules are rather simple, and just perform what you ask it to do, even when the values are already set. I’m sure there’s others on this forum that can give you a way more descriptive explanation, but above should answer your question, whether it might be partially. ---
**Author:** ![Parameter4509](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Parameter4509](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Parameter4509)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/3 "2026-04-22T10:29:24Z")
That seems like a plausible explanation, anyways here is the task in question ```yml --- - hosts: all tasks: - name: Create a new container for copyparty. community.proxmox.proxmox: api_host: "192.168.1.50" api_token_id: API_TOKEN_ID api_token_secret: API_TOKEN_SECRET api_user: API_USER cores: 4 description: Copyparty LXC disk_volume: storage: 'local-lvm' size: 200 features: - nesting=1 hostname: copyparty-ct memory: 4096 netif: net0: "name=eth0,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1,ip=dhcp,ip6=dhcp,type=veth" node: NODE_NAME onboot: true ostemplate: 'local:vztmpl/alpine-3.23-default_20260116_amd64.tar.xz' ostype: 'alpine' password: 'PASSWORD' pubkey: 'ssh-ed25519 PUBKEY' state: present swap: 512 tags: ['copyparty', 'alpine'] timezone: host vmid: 408 ``` ---
**Author:** ![BoerBart](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/boerbart/32/10083_2.png) [@BoerBart](https://forum.ansible.com/u/BoerBart)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 10:58am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/4 "2026-04-22T10:58:30Z")
Thanks for sharing the task. I don’t have personal experience with the proxmox module, but my assumption remains the same as shared earlier.The API call/ Ansible task writes a few values, and probably sees them as changed, even though they remain the same. ---
**Author:** ![IamLunchbox](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/iamlunchbox/32/10232_2.png) [@IamLunchbox](https://forum.ansible.com/u/IamLunchbox)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/5 "2026-04-22T12:24:50Z")
That is a major drawback of proxmox\_kvm and proxmox - they have historically grown and are not fully idempotent. So until someone does the heavy lifting and refactors those two modules, they will not be idempotent. Most likely it is caused by the network interface configuration, since the MAC changes whenever the interface is changed. This probably happenened to your container as well. ---
**Author:** ![Parameter4509](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Parameter4509](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Parameter4509)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 3:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/6 "2026-04-22T15:17:50Z")
Ah yes the MAC address is dynamic. Let me try fixing it and see how it works. If it does not work out then that’s what I will make do with. ---
**Author:** ![IamLunchbox](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/iamlunchbox/32/10232_2.png) [@IamLunchbox](https://forum.ansible.com/u/IamLunchbox)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/7 "2026-04-22T16:28:08Z")
You may use the dedicated nic module to set the mac address, this will make it idempotent. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Parameter4509](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Parameter4509](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Parameter4509)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 3:11am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-shows-status-as-changed-even-though-the-lxc-has-been-created/45726/8 "2026-04-23T03:11:05Z")
Unfortunately fixing mac address inside the play in question didn’t work. I tried using the nic module too, however, it fails with the following message, maybe because it is meant to be used with VMs only `"msg": "Getting information for VM with vmid = 408 failed with exception: 500 Internal Server Error: Configuration file 'nodes/msi/qemu-server/408.conf' does not exist"`