ansible.windows.win_powershell module – Run PowerShell scripts

Note

This module is part of the ansible.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 ansible.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.windows.win_powershell.

New in ansible.windows 1.5.0

Synopsis 

Runs a PowerShell script and outputs the data in a structured format.
Use ansible.windows.win_command or ansible.windows.win_shell to run a traditional PowerShell process with stdout, stderr, and rc results.

Parameters 

Parameter	Comments
arguments list / elements=string	A list of arguments to pass to executable when running a script in another PowerShell process. These are not arguments to pass to script, use parameters for that purpose.
chdir string	The PowerShell location to set when starting the script. This can be a location in any of the PowerShell providers. The default location is dependent on many factors, if relative paths are used then set this option.
creates string	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path exists on the target host, the task will be skipped.
depth integer	How deep the return values are serialized for `result`, `output`, and `information[x].message_data`. This also controls the depth of the diff output set by `$Ansible.Diff`. Setting this to a higher value can dramatically increase the amount of data that needs to be returned. Default: `2`
error_action string	The `$ErrorActionPreference` to set before executing script. `silently_continue` will ignore any errors and exceptions raised. `continue` is the default behaviour in PowerShell, errors are present in the error return value but only terminating exceptions will stop the script from continuing and set it as failed. `stop` will treat errors like exceptions, will stop the script and set it as failed. Choices: `"silently_continue"` `"continue"` ← (default) `"stop"`
executable string	A custom PowerShell executable to run the script in. When not defined the script will run in the current module PowerShell interpreter. Both the remote PowerShell and the one specified by executable must be running on PowerShell v5.1 or newer. Setting this value may change the values returned in the `output` return value depending on the underlying .NET type.
parameters dictionary	Parameters to pass into the script as key value pairs. The key corresponds to the parameter name and the value is the value for that parameter.
removes string	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path does not exist on the target host, the task will be skipped.
script string / required	The PowerShell script to run.

Notes 

Note

The module is set as failed when a terminating exception is throw, or error_action=stop and a normal error record is raised.
The output values are processed using a custom filter and while it mostly matches the ConvertTo-Json result the following value types are different.
DateTime will be an ISO 8601 string in UTC, DateTimeOffset will have the offset as specified by the value.
Enum will contain a dictionary with Type, String, Value being the type name, string representation and raw integer value respectively.
Type will contain a dictionary with Name, FullName, AssemblyQualifiedName, BaseType being the type name, the type name including the namespace, the full assembly name the type was defined in and the base type it derives from.
The script has access to the $Ansible variable where it can set Result, Changed, Failed, Diff, or access Tmpdir.
$Ansible.Result is a value that is returned back to the controller as is.
$Ansible.Diff was added in the 1.12.0 release of ansible.windows and is a dictionary that is set to the diff result that can be interepreted by Ansible.
$Ansible.Changed can be set to true or false to reflect whether the module made a change or not. By default this is set to true.
$Ansible.Failed can be set to true if the script wants to return the failure back to the controller.
$Ansible.Tmpdir is the path to a temporary directory to use as a scratch location that is cleaned up after the module has finished.
$Ansible.Verbosity reveals Ansible’s verbosity level for this play. Allows the script to set VerbosePreference/DebugPreference based on verbosity. Added in 1.9.0.
Any host/console direct output like Write-Host or [Console]::WriteLine is not considered an output object, they are returned as a string in host_out and host_err.
Any output stream object is instead returned as a list in output. This is true not only for Write-Output and its built-in alias echo, but also for implicit output; i.e. Write-Output "foo" and "foo" give the same result.
The module will skip running the script when in check mode unless the script defines [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess]).

Examples 

- name: Run basic PowerShell script
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      echo "Hello World"

- name: Run PowerShell script with parameters
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      [CmdletBinding()]
      param (
          [String]
          $Path,

          [Switch]
          $Force
      )

      New-Item -Path $Path -ItemType Directory -Force:$Force
    parameters:
      Path: C:\temp
      Force: true

- name: Run PowerShell script that modifies the module changed result
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      if (Get-Service -Name test -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
          Remove-Service -Name test
      }
      else {
          $Ansible.Changed = $false
      }

- name: Run PowerShell script in PowerShell 7
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      $PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Major
    executable: pwsh.exe
    arguments:
    - -ExecutionPolicy
    - ByPass
  register: pwsh_output
  failed_when:
  - pwsh_output.output[0] != 7

- name: Run code in check mode
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]
      param ()

      # Use $Ansible to detect check mode
      if ($Ansible.CheckMode) {
          echo 'running in check mode'
      }
      else {
          echo 'running in normal mode'
      }

      # Use builtin ShouldProcess (-WhatIf)
      if ($PSCmdlet.ShouldProcess('target')) {
          echo 'also running in normal mode'
      }
      else {
          echo 'also running in check mode'
      }
  check_mode: yes

- name: Return a failure back to Ansible
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      if (Test-Path C:\bad.file) {
          $Ansible.Failed = $true
      }

- name: Define when the script made a change or not
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      if ((Get-Item WSMan:\localhost\Service\Auth\Basic).Value -eq 'true') {
          Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Service\Auth\Basic -Value false
      }
      else {
          $Ansible.Changed = $true
      }

- name: Define when to enable Verbose/Debug output
  ansible.windows.win_powershell:
    script: |
      if ($Ansible.Verbosity -ge 3) {
          $VerbosePreference = "Continue"
      }
      if ($Ansible.Verbosity -eq 5) {
          $DebugPreference = "Continue"
      }
      Write-Output "Hello World!"
      Write-Verbose "Hello World!"
      Write-Debug "Hello World!"

Return Values 

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

Key	Description
debug list / elements=string	A list of warning messages created by the script. Debug messages only appear when `$DebugPreference = 'Continue'`. Returned: always Sample: `["debug record"]`
error list / elements=dictionary	A list of error records created by the script. Returned: always
category_info dictionary	More information about the error record. Returned: success
activity string	Description of the operation which encountered the error. Returned: always Sample: `"Write-Error"`
category string	The category name of the error record. Returned: always Sample: `"NotSpecified"`
category_id integer	The integer representation of the category. Returned: always Sample: `0`
reason string	Description of the error. Returned: always Sample: `"WriteErrorException"`
target_name string	Description of the target object. Can be an empty string if no target was specified. Returned: always Sample: `"C:\\Windows"`
target_type string	Description of the type of the target object. Can be an empty string if no target object was specified. Returned: always Sample: `"String"`
error_details dictionary	Additional details about an ErrorRecord. Can be null if there are not additional details. Returned: success
message string	Message for the error record. Returned: always Sample: `"Specific error message"`
recommended_action string	Recommended action in the even that this error occurs. This is empty unless the code which generates the error adds this explicitly. Returned: always Sample: `"Delete file"`
exception dictionary	Details about the exception behind the error record. Returned: success
help_link string	A link to the help details for the exception. May not be set as it’s dependent on whether the .NET exception class provides this info. Returned: always Sample: `"http://docs.ansible.com/"`
hresult integer	The signed integer assigned to this exception. May not be set as it’s dependent on whether the .NET exception class provides this info. Returned: always Sample: `-1`
inner_exception dictionary	The inner exception details if there is one present. The dict contains the same keys as a normal exception. Returned: always
message string	The exception message. Returned: always Sample: `"The method ran into an error"`
source string	Name of the application or object that causes the error. This may be an empty string as it’s dependent on the code that raises the exception. Returned: always Sample: `"C:\\Windows"`
type string	The full .NET type of the Exception class. Returned: always Sample: `"System.Exception"`
fully_qualified_error_id string	The unique identifier for the error condition May be null if no id was specified when the record was created. Returned: always Sample: `"ParameterBindingFailed"`
output string	The formatted error record message as typically seen in a PowerShell console. Returned: always Sample: `"Write-Error \"error\" : error\n + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException\n + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException\n"`
pipeline_iteration_info list / elements=integer	The status of the pipeline when this record was created. The values are 0 index based. Each element entry represents the command index in a pipeline statement. The value of each element represents the pipeline input idx in that command. For Example `'C:\Windows', 'C:\temp' \| Get-ChildItem \| Get-Item`, `[1, 2, 9]` represents an error occured with the 2nd output, 3rd, and 9th output of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd command in that pipeline respectively. Returned: always Sample: `[0, 0]`
script_stack_trace string	The script stack trace for the error record. Returned: always Sample: `"at <ScriptBlock>, <No file>: line 1"`
target_object any	The object which the error occured. May be null if no object was specified when the record was created. Type type of this object depends on the error record itself. If the value is a complex type, it will follow the `depth` limit specified. Returned: always Sample: `"C:\\Windows"`
host_err string	The strings written to the host error output, typically the stderr. This is not the same as objects sent to the error stream in PowerShell. Returned: always Sample: `"Error 1\nError 2"`
host_out string	The strings written to the host output, typically the stdout. This is not the same as objects sent to the output stream in PowerShell. Returned: always Sample: `"Line 1\nLine 2"`
information list / elements=dictionary	A list of information records created by the script. The information stream was only added in PowerShell v5, older versions will always have an empty list as a value. Returned: always
message_data complex	Message data associated with the record. The value here can be of any type. Returned: always Sample: `"information record"`
source string	The source of the record. Returned: always Sample: `"Write-Information"`
tags list / elements=string	A list of tags associated with the record. Returned: always Sample: `["Host"]`
time_generated string	The time the record was generated. This is the time in UTC as an ISO 8601 formatted string. Returned: always Sample: `"2021-02-11T04:46:00.4694240Z"`
output list / elements=string	A list containing all the objects outputted by the script. The list elements can be anything as it is based on what was ran. Returned: always Sample: `["output 1", 2, ["inner list"], {"key": "value"}, "None"]`
result complex	The values that were set by `$Ansible.Result` in the script. Defaults to an empty dict but can be set to anything by the script. Returned: always Sample: `{"key": "value", "other key": 1}`
verbose list / elements=string	A list of warning messages created by the script. Verbose messages only appear when `$VerbosePreference = 'Continue'`. Returned: always Sample: `["verbose record"]`
warning list / elements=string	A list of warning messages created by the script. Warning messages only appear when `$WarningPreference = 'Continue'`. Returned: always Sample: `["warning record"]`

Authors

Jordan Borean (@jborean93)

ansible.windows.win_powershell module – Run PowerShell scripts

Synopsis 

Parameters 

Notes 

See Also 

Examples 

Return Values 

Authors

Collection links

ansible.windows.win_powershell module – Run PowerShell scripts

Synopsis

Parameters

Notes

See Also

Examples

Return Values

Authors

Collection links

Synopsis 

Parameters 

Notes 

See Also 

Examples 

Return Values 