# Unable to import certificate on Cisco IOS

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-import-certificate-on-cisco-ios/42013>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Tags:** cisco, ansible, network\
**Created:** [April 24, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-import-certificate-on-cisco-ios/42013 "2025-04-24T18:31:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JLBrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JLBrito](https://forum.ansible.com/u/JLBrito)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-import-certificate-on-cisco-ios/42013/1 "2025-04-24T18:31:51Z")

</div>

I’m currently trying to write a playbook in order to automate the process of importing an identity certificate into a Cisco IOS device. The issue is that after issuing the the command "crypto pki import {{ trustpoint }} certificate, the task will either timeout because it’s waiting on the certificate to be pasted in with ios\_config module, or Ansible is adding an additional return character somewhere essentially exiting out before the certificate is delivered with ios\_command or cli\_command modules.

```auto
- name: Get Identity Certificate
  set_fact:
    idcert: >
      {{ (lookup('file', s2s_tp_identity_cert_file)) }}

- name: Import identity certificate
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: "{{ item }}"
    prompt: ".*itself.*"
    answer: "{{ idcert }}"
  loop:
    - "config t"
    - "crypto pki import TEST-TP certificate"

Result:
 TASK [roles/ansible.role.cisco-8k-generate-csr : Import identity certificate] **************
ok: [gry-s2s-02] => (item=config t)
failed: [gry-s2s-02] (item=crypto pki import OVPN_NPE_PROD certificate) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "crypto pki import OVPN_NPE_PROD certificate", "msg": "rse or verify imported certificate\r\n\r\ngry-s2s-02(config)#MIICljCCAhygAwIBAgIURvT6AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIYwCgYIKoZIzj0EAwMw\r\nMIICljCCAhygAwIBAgIURvT6AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIYwCgYIKoZIzj0EAwMw\r\n ^\r\n% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.\r\n\r\ngry-s2s-02(config)#"}

```

If I use the ios\_config module, it’ll timeout after issuing the crypto command.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![motorbass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@motorbass](https://forum.ansible.com/u/motorbass)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/unable-to-import-certificate-on-cisco-ios/42013/2 "2025-04-30T14:14:26Z")

</div>

Could you share what’s you ansible version, cisco device and cisco ios version ?

Are you using multiple plays ? probably please share your entire playbook , cause if you run multiple plays, variables precedences may be important (in your case, i’m talking about idcert fact you set).