Configure a Windows Host for Ansible — ansible winrm
How to set up step by step on a fresh Windows 10 machine how to configure a “basic” authentication, use a Local Accounts for authentication, and successfully execute a simple “win_ping” Ansible Playbook.
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How to configure a Windows Host for Ansible?
I’ll show you step by step on a freshly installed machine how to configure a “basic” authentication, use a Local Accounts for authentication and successfully execute a simple “win_ping” Ansible Playbook.
This initial configuration sometimes is a roadblock for some Windows users to start using Ansible.
I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.
Configure a Windows Host for Ansible
- Windows 7, 8.1, 10, 11
- Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, 2022
- PowerShell 3.0+ and .NET 4.0+
- WinRM or OpenSSH (experimental)
The supported nodes include all the modern releases of Windows Desktop and Server.
The full list includes Windows 7, 8.1, 10, 11, and Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, 2022.
Ansible requires PowerShell 3.0 or newer and at least .NET 4.0 to be installed on the Windows host.
You need to upgrade only old Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 nodes.
The communication between Ansible Controller and the target node is executed via a WinRM listener that needs to be created and activated.
Ansible 2.8 has added an experimental SSH connection for Windows-managed nodes for Windows 10+ clients and Windows Server 2019+.
In this example, we’re going to cover the WinRM connection method with “basic” authentication.
Refer to manual for more WinRM wide range of configuration options.
