community.vmware.vmware_guest_sendkey module – Send USB HID codes to the Virtual Machine’s keyboard.

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 2.10.2).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.vmware.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.vmware.vmware_guest_sendkey.

Synopsis

  • This module is used to send keystrokes to given virtual machine.

  • All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Parameters

Parameter

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 / elements=string

The list of the keys will be sent to the virtual machine.

Valid values are ENTER, ESC, BACKSPACE, TAB, SPACE, CAPSLOCK, HOME, DELETE, END, CTRL_ALT_DEL, CTRL_C, CTRL_X 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.

Values HOME and END are added in version 1.17.0.

Default: []

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

aliases: pass, pwd

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.

port

integer

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.

Default: 443

proxy_host

string

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

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.

sleep_time

integer

added in community.vmware 1.4.0

Sleep time in seconds between two keys or string sent to the virtual machine.

API is faster than actual key or string send to virtual machine, this parameter allow to control delay between keys and/or strings.

Default: 0

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

aliases: admin, user

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.

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

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 true, please make sure Python >= 2.7.9 is installed on the given machine.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

Notes

Note

  • All modules requires API write access and hence is not supported on a free ESXi license.

Examples

- name: Send list of keys to virtual machine
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_sendkey:
    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
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_sendkey:
    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
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_sendkey:
    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

Description

sendkey_info

dictionary

display the keys and the number of keys sent to the virtual machine

Returned: always

Sample: {"keys_send": ["SPACE", "DOWNARROW", "DOWNARROW", "ENTER"], "keys_send_number": 4, "returned_keys_send_number": 4, "string_send": null, "virtual_machine": "test_vm"}

Authors

  • Diane Wang (@Tomorrow9)