[windows]
127.0.0.1
[windows:vars]
ansible_user: admin
ansible_password: admin
ansible_connection: winrm
ansible_winrm_transport: basic
ansible_port: 5986
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation: ignore
validate_certs: false
Results while running ansible playbook:
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {
“changed”: false,
“dest”: “C:\”,
“module_stderr”: “”,
“module_stdout”: “”,
“msg”: “MODULE FAILURE\nSee stdout/stderr for the exact error”,
“operation”: “folder_copy”,
“rc”: 0,**_
Hi ,
Error says in dest. Can you try to put in any other destination with absolute path ?
Hi,
We have tried changing the destination to C://Toolsinstall/.
But the problem here is win_copy , which is not allowing to copy the file to remote server.
Please suggest any other alternative…
If your inventory is targeting localhost then that means it’s trying to run a Windows module on the Ansible controller which won’t work. You cna use the azure_rm_virtualmachine module to spin up a host but then you will have to use something like ‘add_host’ [1] to add the host for the current execution then change the play to that new host.
[1] https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/add_host_module.html
Thanks
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
Can you please describe it briefly? You want us to create a new VM and then point that IP to add_host?
its a module failure…is the localhost linux or windows.???..win_copy works for windows …for rest use copy module
localhost is windows. And we are using win_copy for copying the file. Any alternative for this?
If u want to copy from local to remote u should mention -host: remote_host…i think u r using localhost
I changed localhost to remote_host as suggested, but while running the playbook getting error as “no hosts matched”.
Is there any possible way that we can get on call to discuss further…Please suggest…!!!
Please clarify a couple questions:
You’re running the ansible command from a Linux (RedHat, Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian) system, correct?
The playbook you’re using has these tasks:
win_copy:
src: files
dest: C:\
register: myfile
debug: var=myfile
win_command: powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File C:/userdata-winsetup.ps1
The directory where your playbook and inventory file reside also have a directory called “files”.
Your inventory file has this section:
[windows]
127.0.0.1
Based on your inventory file, you’re attempting to run the commands in the playbook on the system you’re running Ansible on. Your inventory file probably needs the windows server listed in the “[windows]” section like this:
[windows]
Then when you run your playbook with Ansible, it will connect using the “winrm” protocol and login with “admin” (password: “admin”), then copy the files from ".\files" to "c:" on the remote system.
Once you’ve validated all that, please re-run the playbook with “-v” (or more for additional verbose output) and post it here.
Thanks,
DanL
Hi,
We are running the playbook via azure cloud shell “bash” editor.
The source file and the inventory are placed in the same folder and while running playbook we are invoking the playbook and below is the command:
ansible-playbook -i inventory wincopy.yml
We are getting the below error:
“fatal: [remote host]: UNREACHABLE! => {“changed”: false, “msg”: “Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ssh: connect to host remote_host port 22: Connection timed out”, “unreachable”: true}”
We are trying to copy the file from Azure cloud shell to the remote machine, but the error says ssh connection time out(Ideally it should be windows exception as we are using windows but it’s trying ssh like linux machine)
I don’t do much Ansible work on Windows systems, but the message “Failed to connect to host via ssh” seems to imply that the connection type for that remote host isn’t setup for Windows. At minimum you’ll need to setup these connection variables (connection type, user, and password) as shown here:
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/windows_winrm.html#inventory-options
Once you get that setup, try re-running your playbook but add a “-vvv” (verbose output) to show more details on the error:
ansible-playbook -i inventory -vvv wincopy.yml
Hi,
We are using the mentioned connection variables and below are the inventory file details:
[windows]
remote_host
[windows:vars]
ansible_user: admin
ansible_password: admin
ansible_connection: winrm
ansible_winrm_transport: basic
ansible_port: 5986
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation: ignore
validate_certs: false
And executed playbook as mentioned by placing -vvv:
[WARNING]: Unable to parse /home/f2/.ansible/inventory as an inventory source
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match ‘all’
PLAYBOOK: wincopy.yml ***************************************************************************************************************************
1 plays in wincopy.yml
PLAY [Configurations for windows instance] ******************************************************************************************************
META: ran handlers
TASK [A single debug statement] *****************************************************************************************************************
task path: /home/f2/.ansible/wincopy.yml:7
<remote_host> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: None
<remote_host> SSH: EXEC ssh -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey -o PasswordAuthentication=no -o ConnectTimeout=10 -o ControlPath=/home/f2/.ansible/cp/56de033974 [WARNING]: Unable to parse /home/f2/.ansible/inventory as an inventory source
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match ‘all’
PLAYBOOK: wincopy.yml ***************************************************************************************************************************
1 plays in wincopy.yml
PLAY [Configurations for windows instance] ******************************************************************************************************
META: ran handlers
TASK [A single debug statement] *****************************************************************************************************************
task path: /home/f2/.ansible/wincopy.yml:7
<remote_host> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: None
<remote_host> SSH: EXEC ssh -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no -o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey -o PasswordAuthentication=no -o ConnectTimeout=10 -o ControlPath=/home/f2c34c90-9efb-4ea2-afcc-f24ace01/.ansible/cp/56de033974 40.71.47.192 ‘/bin/sh -c ‘"’“‘echo ~ && sleep 0’”’"‘’
<remote_host> (255, ‘’, ‘ssh: connect to host remote_host port 22: Connection timed out\r\n’)
fatal: [remote_host]: UNREACHABLE! => {
“changed”: false,
“msg”: “Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ssh: connect to host remote_host port 22: Connection timed out”,
“unreachable”: true
}
to retry, use: --limit @/home/f2/.ansible/wincopy.retry
PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************************************************************
remote_host : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=1 failed=0 ‘/bin/sh -c ‘"’“‘echo ~ && sleep 0’”’"‘’
<remote_host> (255, ‘’, ‘ssh: connect to host remote_host port 22: Connection timed out\r\n’)
fatal: [remote_host]: UNREACHABLE! => {
“changed”: false,
“msg”: “Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ssh: connect to host remote_host port 22: Connection timed out”,
“unreachable”: true
}
to retry, use: --limit @/home/f2/.ansible/wincopy.retry
PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************************************************************
remote_host : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=1 failed=0
Somethign is wrong with your inventory file (format, access, etc) - this is why it’s not connecting to the Windows system using your connection information. Fix this and reply with the results.
Hi,
I tried changing the format of the inventory but still the same issue. Not sure what else to be done. I mentioned all the necessary modules for windows connection.
Do you anything to suggest here?
Thanks in Advance.
You could upload all these files (playbook, inventory, sample file to copy, etc) to a temporary GitHub.com or GitLab.com repository for us to look at it. The “unable to parse inventory” probably means formatting or other weirdness, not a bug or problem with Ansible.
The first thing you want to do is create an inventory with a Windows group that contains the generic WinRM connection vars like;
`
[windows]
[windows:vars]
ansible_connection=winrm
ansible_port=5986
ansible_winrm_transport=ntlm
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore
`
This group is empty as we use add_host to add the new Azure VM to the host mid play. This host will be an in memory host and is not persisted once the play is complete. If you want to persist this then you should look at using a dynamic inventory but that is outside of the scope here. The reason we do this is to define generic connection vars like ‘ansible_connection=winrm’, ‘ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore’ so we don’t have to do it in the play. You could define more vars here or in a group_vars file but that’s dependent on what your play does.
From there you want a play similar to
`
tasks:
name: provision Windows VM
azure_rm_virtualmachine:
admin_username: ‘{{ windows_username }}’
admin_password: ‘{{ windows_password }}’
os_type: Windows
image:
offer: WindowsServer
publisher: MicrosoftWindowsServer
sku: 2016-Datacenter
version: latest
name: ‘{{ azure_vm_name }}’
resource_group: ‘{{ azure_resource_group }}’
state: present
register: azure_vm
name: set fact for VM extension PS script to run
set_fact:
azure_vm_extension_ps: Invoke-Expression -Command ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString(‘https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ansible/ansible/devel/examples/scripts/ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1’))
name: set fact for VM extension setings
azure_vm_extension:
commandToExecute: powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -EncodedCommand {{ azure_vm_extension_ps | string | b64encode(encoding=‘utf-16-le’) }}
name: set fact for newly create VM public IP address
set_fact:
azure_vm_ip: ‘{{ azure_vm.properties.networkProfile.networkInterfaces[0].properties.ipConfigurations[0].properties.publicIPAddress.properties.ipAddress }}’
name: create Azure VM extension to enable HTTPS WinRM listener
azure_rm_virtualmachine_extension:
name: winrm-extension
resource_group: ‘{{ azure_resource_group }}’
virtual_machine_name: ‘{{ azure_vm_name }}’
publisher: Microsoft.Compute
virtual_machine_extension_type: CustomScriptExtension
type_handler_version: 1.9
settings: ‘{{ azure_vm_extension | to_json }}’
auto_upgrade_minor_version: yes
name: wait for the WinRM port to come online
wait_for:
port: 5986
host: ‘{{ azure_vm_ip }}’
timeout: 600
name: add new Azure VM as a Windows host
add_host:
name: ‘{{ azure_vm_ip }}’
groups: windows
ansible_user: ‘{{ windows_username }}’
ansible_password: ‘{{ windows_password }}’
name: deploy configuration to Windows host in Azure
hosts: windows
gather_facts: no
tasks:
name: wait for the WinRM connection to be fully reachable
wait_for_connection:
name: gather facts about host
setup:
This playbook contains 2 plays;
I’ve left some comments in line to explain some of the steps a bit more but hopefully it is mostly self explanatory. I haven’t actually tested this so there could be some mistakes but the general workflow should work and give you enough info to continue onwards.
Thanks
Jordan