ansible.windows.win_environment module – Modify environment variables on windows hosts

Note

This module is part of the ansible.windows collection (version 3.2.0).

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_environment.

Synopsis

  • Uses .net Environment to set or remove environment variables and can set at User, Machine or Process level.

  • User level environment variables will be set, but not available until the user has logged off and on again.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

level

string / required

The level at which to set the environment variable.

Use machine to set for all users.

Use user to set for the current user that ansible is connected as.

Use process to set for the current process. Probably not that useful.

Choices:

  • "machine"

  • "process"

  • "user"

name

string

The name of the environment variable. Required when state=absent.

state

string

Set to present to ensure environment variable is set.

Set to absent to ensure it is removed.

When using variables, do not set this option.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present"

value

string

The value to store in the environment variable.

Must be set when state=present and cannot be an empty string.

Should be omitted for state=absent and variables.

variables

dictionary

added in ansible.windows 1.3.0

A dictionary where multiple environment variables can be defined at once.

Not valid when state is set. Variables with a value will be set (present) and variables with an empty value will be unset (absent).

level applies to all vars defined this way.

Notes

Note

  • This module is best-suited for setting the entire value of an environment variable. For safe element-based management of path-like environment vars, use the ansible.windows.win_path module.

  • This module does not broadcast change events. This means that the minority of windows applications which can have their environment changed without restarting will not be notified and therefore will need restarting to pick up new environment settings. User level environment variables will require the user to log out and in again before they become available.

  • In the return, before_value and value will be set to the last values when using variables. It’s best to use values in that case if you need to find a specific variable’s before and after values.

See Also

See also

ansible.windows.win_path

Manage Windows path environment variables.

Examples

- name: Set an environment variable for all users
  ansible.windows.win_environment:
    state: present
    name: TestVariable
    value: Test value
    level: machine

- name: Remove an environment variable for the current user
  ansible.windows.win_environment:
    state: absent
    name: TestVariable
    level: user

- name: Set several variables at once
  ansible.windows.win_environment:
    level: machine
    variables:
      TestVariable: Test value
      CUSTOM_APP_VAR: 'Very important value'
      ANOTHER_VAR: '{{ my_ansible_var }}'

- name: Set and remove multiple variables at once
  ansible.windows.win_environment:
    level: user
    variables:
      TestVariable: Test value
      CUSTOM_APP_VAR: 'Very important value'
      ANOTHER_VAR: '{{ my_ansible_var }}'
      UNWANTED_VAR: ''  # < this will be removed

Return Values

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

Key

Description

before_value

string

the value of the environment key before a change, this is null if it didn’t exist

Returned: always

Sample: "C:\\Windows\\System32"

value

string

the value the environment key has been set to, this is null if removed

Returned: always

Sample: "C:\\Program Files\\jdk1.8"

values

dictionary

added in ansible.windows 1.3.0

dictionary of before and after values; each key is a variable name, each value is another dict with before, after, and changed keys

Returned: always

Authors

  • Jon Hawkesworth (@jhawkesworth)

  • Brian Scholer (@briantist)