ansible.windows.win_command module – Executes a command on a remote Windows node

Note

This module is part of the ansible.windows collection (version 2.5.0).

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_command.

Synopsis

• The win_command module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments.

• The given command will be executed on all selected nodes. It will not be processed through the shell, so variables like $env:HOME and operations like "<", ">", "|", and ";" will not work (use the ansible.windows.win_shell module if you need these features).

• For non-Windows targets, use the ansible.builtin.command module instead.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
_raw_params string	The win_command module takes a free form command to run. This is mutually exclusive with the cmd and argv options. There is no parameter actually named ‘_raw_params’. See the examples!
argv list / elements=string added in ansible.windows 1.11.0	A list that contains the executable and arguments to run. The module will attempt to quote the arguments specified based on the Win32 C command-line argument rules. Not all applications use the same quoting rules so the escaping may not work, for those scenarios use cmd instead.
chdir path	Set the specified path as the current working directory before executing a command.
cmd string added in ansible.windows 1.11.0	The command and arguments to run. This is mutually exclusive with the _raw_params and argv options.
creates path	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path exists on the target host, the task will be skipped.
output_encoding_override string	This option overrides the encoding of stdout/stderr output. You can use this option when you need to run a command which ignore the console’s codepage. You should only need to use this option in very rare circumstances. This value can be any valid encoding Name based on the output of [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncodings(). See https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/api/system.text.encoding.getencodings.
removes path	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path does not exist on the target host, the task will be skipped.
stdin string	Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.

Notes

Note

• If you want to run a command through a shell (say you are using <, >, |, etc), you actually want the ansible.windows.win_shell module instead. The ansible.windows.win_command module is much more secure as it’s not affected by the user’s environment.

• creates, removes, and chdir can be specified after the command. For instance, if you only want to run a command if a certain file does not exist, use this.

• Do not try to use the older style free form format and the newer style cmd/argv format. See the examples for how both of these formats are defined.

See Also

See also

ansible.builtin.command

Execute commands on targets.

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.

community.windows.win_psexec

Runs commands (remotely) as another (privileged) user.

ansible.windows.win_shell

Execute shell commands on target hosts.

Examples

# Older style using the free-form and args format. The command is on the same
# line as the module and 'args' is used to define the options for win_command.
- name: Save the result of 'whoami' in 'whoami_out'
  ansible.windows.win_command: whoami
  register: whoami_out

- name: Run command that only runs if folder exists and runs from a specific folder
  ansible.windows.win_command: wbadmin -backupTarget:C:\backup\
  args:
    chdir: C:\somedir\
    creates: C:\backup\

- name: Run an executable and send data to the stdin for the executable
  ansible.windows.win_command: powershell.exe -
  args:
    stdin: Write-Host test

# Newer style using module options. The command and other arguments are
# defined as module options and are indended like another other module.
- name: Run the 'whoami' executable with the '/all' argument
  ansible.windows.win_command:
    cmd: whoami.exe /all

- name: Run executable in 'C:\Program Files' with a custom chdir
  ansible.windows.win_command:
    # When using cmd, the arguments need to be quoted manually
    cmd: '"C:\Program Files\My Application\run.exe" "argument 1" -force'
    chdir: C:\Windows\TEMP

- name: Run executable using argv and have win_command escape the spaces as needed
  ansible.windows.win_command:
    # When using argv, each entry is quoted in the module
    argv:
      - C:\Program Files\My Application\run.exe
      - argument 1
      - -force

Return Values

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

Key	Description
cmd string	The command executed by the task Returned: always Sample: "rabbitmqctl join_cluster rabbit@main"
delta string	The command execution delta time Returned: always Sample: "0:00:00.325771"
end string	The command execution end time Returned: always Sample: "2016-02-25 09:18:26.755339"
msg boolean	changed Returned: always Sample: true
rc integer	The command return code (0 means success) Returned: always Sample: 0
start string	The command execution start time Returned: always Sample: "2016-02-25 09:18:26.429568"
stderr string	The command standard error Returned: always Sample: "ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory"
stderr_lines list / elements=string	The command standard error split in lines Returned: always Sample: ["['ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory']"]
stdout string	The command standard output Returned: always Sample: "Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@main ..."
stdout_lines list / elements=string	The command standard output split in lines Returned: always Sample: ["Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@main ..."]

Authors

• Matt Davis (@nitzmahone)

Collection links

• Issue Tracker
• Repository (Sources)
• Communication