Change Windows User Passwords with Ansible

How to change user passwords on Windows-like systems with Ansible?

Password change is a mundane task that every System Administrator needs to perform regularly for your user base. Using Ansible you could simplify your workflow and maintain consistent your IT infrastructure fleet. I’m going to show you a live Playbook with some simple Ansible code. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot,

Ansible changes local user password

ansible.windows.win_user Manages local Windows user accounts

Today we’re talking about the Ansible module win_user. The full name is ansible.windows.win_user, which means that is part of the collection of modules specialized to interact with Windows target host. It’s a module pretty stable and out for years. It works in Windows and Windows Server operating systems. It manages local Windows user accounts. For Linux target use the user module instead.

Parameters

• name string - user name
• state string - present/absent
• password string - clear text password
• update_password string - always / on_create

The only required is “name”, which is the user name. The “state” parameter allows us to create or delete a user, in our use case the default it’s already set to “present” to create a user. The “password” set the password in clear text. So easily specify what password assign to the user, no hash function is needed. The “update_password” parameter specifies when the module will update the user password. “always” option will update passwords if they differ, “on_create” will only set the password for newly created users.

Links

• ansible.windows.win_user
• Lastpass password generator

Playbook

Change user password on Windows-like systems with Ansible Playbook. I’m going to show you how to automate the password of local user “example” with an autogenerated one and verify on the Windows side with a successful login.

code

---
- name: windows change password
  hosts: all
  vars:
    usr_name: 'example'
    usr_password: 'SMJAo$%8AzU6'
  tasks:
    - name: change password
      ansible.windows.win_user:
        name: "{{ usr_name }}"
        password: "{{ usr_password }}"

execution

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/win/inventory windows/user_changepassword.yml
PLAY [windows change password] ********************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
TASK [change password] ****************************************************************************
changed: [WindowsServer]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
WindowsServer              : ok=2    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

idempotency

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/win/inventory windows/user_changepassword.yml
PLAY [windows change password] ********************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
TASK [change password] ****************************************************************************
ok: [WindowsServer]
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
WindowsServer              : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
ansible-pilot $

before execution

after execution

code with ❤️ in GitHub

Conclusion

Now you know how to change local user passwords on Windows-like systems with Ansible. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, and Website, X (formerly Twitter) to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.

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