vmware_guest_sendkey – Send USB HID codes to the Virtual Machine’s keyboard

New in version 2.9.

Synopsis

  • This module is used to send keystrokes to given virtual machine.
  • All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • python >= 2.6
  • PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
cluster
string
The name of cluster where the virtual machine is running.
This is a required parameter, if esxi_hostname is not set.
esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
datacenter
string
The datacenter name to which virtual machine belongs to.
esxi_hostname
string
The ESXi hostname where the virtual machine is running.
This is a required parameter, if cluster is not set.
esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
folder
string
Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest.
This is a required parameter, only if multiple VMs are found with same name.
The folder should include the datacenter. ESXi server's datacenter is ha-datacenter.
Examples:
folder: /ha-datacenter/vm
folder: ha-datacenter/vm
folder: /datacenter1/vm
folder: datacenter1/vm
folder: /datacenter1/vm/folder1
folder: datacenter1/vm/folder1
folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm
folder: folder1/datacenter1/vm
folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm/folder2
hostname
string
The hostname or IP address of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_HOST will be used instead.
Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
keys_send
list
The list of the keys will be sent to the virtual machine.
Valid values are ENTER, ESC, BACKSPACE, TAB, SPACE, CAPSLOCK, DELETE, CTRL_ALT_DEL, CTRL_C and F1 to F12, RIGHTARROW, LEFTARROW, DOWNARROW, UPARROW.
If both keys_send and string_send are specified, keys in keys_send list will be sent in front of the string_send.
moid
string
Managed Object ID of the instance to manage if known, this is a unique identifier only within a single vCenter instance.
This is required if name or uuid is not supplied.
name
string
Name of the virtual machine.
This is a required parameter, if parameter uuid or moid is not supplied.
password
string
The password of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PASSWORD will be used instead.
Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.

aliases: pass, pwd
port
integer
added in 2.5
 Default:
443
The port number of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PORT will be used instead.
Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
proxy_host
string
added in 2.9
Address of a proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them.
The format is a hostname or a IP.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PROXY_HOST will be used instead.
This feature depends on a version of pyvmomi greater than v6.7.1.2018.12
proxy_port
integer
added in 2.9
Port of the HTTP proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PROXY_PORT will be used instead.
string_send
string
The string will be sent to the virtual machine.
This string can contain valid special character, alphabet and digit on the keyboard.
username
string
The username of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_USER will be used instead.
Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.

aliases: admin, user
uuid
string
UUID of the instance to gather facts if known, this is VMware's unique identifier.
This is a required parameter, if parameter name or moid is not supplied.
validate_certs
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
Allows connection when SSL certificates are not valid. Set to false when certificates are not trusted.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_VALIDATE_CERTS will be used instead.
Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
If set to yes, please make sure Python >= 2.7.9 is installed on the given machine.

Notes

Note

  • Tested on vSphere 6.5 and 6.7

Examples

- name: Send list of keys to virtual machine
  vmware_guest_sendkey:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    keys_send:
      - TAB
      - TAB
      - ENTER
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: keys_num_sent

- name: Send list of keys to virtual machine using MoID
  vmware_guest_sendkey:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    moid: vm-42
    keys_send:
      - CTRL_ALT_DEL
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: ctrl_alt_del_sent

- name: Send a string to virtual machine
  vmware_guest_sendkey:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    string_send: "user_logon"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: keys_num_sent

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
sendkey_info
dictionary
always
display the keys and the number of keys sent to the virtual machine

Sample:
{'virtual_machine': 'test_vm', 'keys_send': ['SPACE', 'DOWNARROW', 'DOWNARROW', 'ENTER'], 'string_send': None, 'keys_send_number': 4, 'returned_keys_send_number': 4}


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