# ansible user module change passwd **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [September 30, 2016, 9:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687 "2016-09-30T09:08:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hzj.zh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9bd4f/32.png) [@hzj.zh](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hzj.zh)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 9:08am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/1 "2016-09-30T09:08:27Z")
hello，all i want to use ansible user module to change password on the remote hosts, but , if the user is not in the remote hosts, ansible will create the user, how can i change password only, if user is not exist, return error is ok; ---
**Author:** ![JayB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@JayB](https://forum.ansible.com/u/JayB)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 9:18am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/2 "2016-09-30T09:18:18Z")
Please try the below. It works. ---
**Author:** ![hzj.zh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9bd4f/32.png) [@hzj.zh](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hzj.zh)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 9:50am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/3 "2016-09-30T09:50:18Z")
i tried, the playbook still creates the user if user not exists on the remote hosts ; ---
**Author:** ![JayB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@JayB](https://forum.ansible.com/u/JayB)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 10:31am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/4 "2016-09-30T10:31:19Z")
It worked for me. It throws error if user doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/5 "2016-09-30T11:53:28Z")
> i tried, the playbook still creates the user if user not exists on > the remote hosts ; You'll need to add a test to check if the user exist and use a when on the update password task. > --- > - hosts: localhost >   remote\_user: root >   become: yes >   gather\_facts: yes >   vars: >     user\_name: youruser > >   vars\_prompt: >     - name: "new\_password" >       prompt: "Enter New Password" >       private: yes >       encrypt: "md5\_crypt" >       confirm: yes >       salt\_size: 7 > >   tasks: >     - name: Change password of existing user >       user: name={{user\_name}} update\_password=always password={{new\_password}} tasks:    - name: Get information about the user      getent:        key={{user\_name}}        database=passwd        fail\_key=false    - name: Change password of existing user      user:        name={{user\_name}}        update\_password=always        password={{new\_password}}      when: getent\_passwd[user\_name] != None ---
**Author:** ![hzj.zh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9bd4f/32.png) [@hzj.zh](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hzj.zh)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/6 "2016-10-01T02:24:25Z")
thanks for ur advice, i have aix and linux, i wrote the playbook based on ur reply, it works , but i think it’s too long, is there a better way to rewrite this ? ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 9:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/7 "2016-10-01T09:00:42Z")
> thanks for ur advice, i have aix and linux, i wrote the playbook based on ur reply, it works , but i think it's too long, is there a better way to rewrite this ? In my opinion it's not long, you could but the code in it's one file and use include if you would like the playbook to have less code. > --- > - name: test >   hosts: all >   gather\_facts: true > >   tasks: >    - name: Get information about the user for linux >      getent: >        key=foo >        database=passwd >        fail\_key=false >      register: user\_info\_linux >      when: ansible\_system == 'Linux' >    - debug: var=user\_info\_linux > >    - name: Get information about the user for aix >      command: "lsuser foo" >      ignore\_errors: yes >      register: user\_info\_aix >      when: ansible\_system == 'AIX' >    - debug: var=user\_info\_aix > >    - name: change pwd for linux >      command: uname -a >      when: ansible\_system == 'Linux' and user\_info\_linux.ansible\_facts.getent\_passwd.foo != None > >    - name: change pwd for aix >      command: uname -a >      when: ansible\_system == 'AIX' and user\_info\_aix.stdout != "" The other option is to use grep/egrep on /etc/passwd, the you can use the same code on AIX and Linux. I think AIX has egrep. tasks:    - Name get user      shell: egrep "^{{ user }}:" /etc/passwd      register: user\_info    - name: Change passwd      command: \      when: user\_info.rc == 0 ---
**Author:** ![hzj.zh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9bd4f/32.png) [@hzj.zh](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hzj.zh)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-user-module-change-passwd/22687/8 "2016-10-03T00:51:37Z")
thanks, my final playbook comes to this, works pretty well, problem solved!