win_environment - Modifies environment variables on windows hosts.

New in version 2.0.

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.

Options

parameter required default choices comments
level
 yes no default
  • machine
  • process
  • user
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.
name
 yes no default
The name of the environment variable
state
 no present
  • present
  • absent
present to ensure environment variable is set, or absent to ensure it is removed
value
 no no default
The value to store in the environment variable. Can be omitted for state=absent

Examples

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

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

Return Values

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

name description returned type sample
before_value
the value of the environment key before a change, this is null if it didn't exist
 always string C:\Windows\System32
level
the level set when calling the module
 always string machine
name
the name of the environment key the module checked
 always string JAVA_HOME
value
the value the environment key has been set to
 always string C:\Program Files\jdk1.8

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 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.

Status

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

For help in developing on modules, should you be so inclined, please read Community Information & Contributing, Testing Ansible and Developing Modules.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.4/win_environment_module.html