community.windows.win_psexec module – Runs commands (remotely) as another (privileged) user

Note

This module is part of the community.windows collection (version 2.3.0).

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.windows. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.windows.win_psexec.

Synopsis

  • Run commands (remotely) through the PsExec service.

  • Run commands as another (domain) user (with elevated privileges).

Requirements

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

  • Microsoft PsExec

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

chdir

path

Run the command from this (remote) directory.

command

string / required

The command line to run through PsExec (limited to 260 characters).

elevated

boolean

Run the command with elevated privileges.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

executable

path

The location of the PsExec utility (in case it is not located in your PATH).

Default: "psexec.exe"

hostnames

list / elements=string

The hostnames to run the command.

If not provided, the command is run locally.

interactive

boolean

Run the program so that it interacts with the desktop on the remote system.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

limited

boolean

Run the command as limited user (strips the Administrators group and allows only privileges assigned to the Users group).

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

nobanner

boolean

Do not display the startup banner and copyright message.

This only works for specific versions of the PsExec binary.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

noprofile

boolean

Run the command without loading the account’s profile.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

password

string

The password for the (remote) user to run the command as.

This is mandatory in order authenticate yourself.

priority

string

Used to run the command at a different priority.

Choices:

  • "abovenormal"

  • "background"

  • "belownormal"

  • "high"

  • "low"

  • "realtime"

session

integer

Specifies the session ID to use.

This parameter works in conjunction with interactive.

It has no effect when interactive is set to no.

system

boolean

Run the remote command in the System account.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

timeout

integer

The connection timeout in seconds

username

string

The (remote) user to run the command as.

If not provided, the current user is used.

wait

boolean

Wait for the application to terminate.

Only use for non-interactive applications.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

Notes

Note

See Also

See also

community.windows.psexec

Runs commands on a remote Windows host based on the PsExec model.

ansible.builtin.raw

Executes a low-down and dirty command.

ansible.windows.win_command

Executes a command on a remote Windows node.

ansible.windows.win_shell

Execute shell commands on target hosts.

Examples

- name: Test the PsExec connection to the local system (target node) with your user
  community.windows.win_psexec:
    command: whoami.exe

- name: Run regedit.exe locally (on target node) as SYSTEM and interactively
  community.windows.win_psexec:
    command: regedit.exe
    interactive: true
    system: true

- name: Run the setup.exe installer on multiple servers using the Domain Administrator
  community.windows.win_psexec:
    command: E:\setup.exe /i /IACCEPTEULA
    hostnames:
      - remote_server1
      - remote_server2
    username: DOMAIN\Administrator
    password: some_password
    priority: high

- name: Run PsExec from custom location C:\Program Files\sysinternals\
  community.windows.win_psexec:
    command: netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off
    executable: C:\Program Files\sysinternals\psexec.exe
    hostnames: [remote_server]
    password: some_password
    priority: low

Return Values

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

Key

Description

cmd

string

The complete command line used by the module, including PsExec call and additional options.

Returned: always

Sample: "psexec.exe -nobanner \\\\remote_server -u \"DOMAIN\\Administrator\" -p \"some_password\" -accepteula E:\\setup.exe"

pid

integer

The PID of the async process created by PsExec.

Returned: when wait=False

Sample: 1532

rc

integer

The return code for the command.

Returned: always

Sample: 0

stderr

string

The error output from the command.

Returned: always

Sample: "Error 15 running E:\\setup.exe"

stdout

string

The standard output from the command.

Returned: always

Sample: "Success."

Authors

  • Dag Wieers (@dagwieers)