win_copy – Copies files to remote locations on windows hosts

Synopsis

  • The win_copy module copies a file on the local box to remote windows locations.
  • For non-Windows targets, use the copy module instead.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
backup
boolean
added in 2.8
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Determine whether a backup should be created.
When set to yes, create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.
No backup is taken when remote_src=False and multiple files are being copied.
content
string
When used instead of src, sets the contents of a file directly to the specified value.
This is for simple values, for anything complex or with formatting please switch to the template module.
decrypt
boolean
added in 2.5
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
This option controls the autodecryption of source files using vault.
dest
path / required
Remote absolute path where the file should be copied to.
If src is a directory, this must be a directory too.
Use \ for path separators or \\ when in "double quotes".
If dest ends with \ then source or the contents of source will be copied to the directory without renaming.
If dest is a nonexistent path, it will only be created if dest ends with "/" or "\", or src is a directory.
If src and dest are files and if the parent directory of dest doesn't exist, then the task will fail.
force
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
If set to yes, the file will only be transferred if the content is different than destination.
If set to no, the file will only be transferred if the destination does not exist.
If set to no, no checksuming of the content is performed which can help improve performance on larger files.
local_follow
boolean
added in 2.4
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
This flag indicates that filesystem links in the source tree, if they exist, should be followed.
remote_src
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
If no, it will search for src at originating/master machine.
If yes, it will go to the remote/target machine for the src.
src
path
Local path to a file to copy to the remote server; can be absolute or relative.
If path is a directory, it is copied (including the source folder name) recursively to dest.
If path is a directory and ends with "/", only the inside contents of that directory are copied to the destination. Otherwise, if it does not end with "/", the directory itself with all contents is copied.
If path is a file and dest ends with "\", the file is copied to the folder with the same filename.
Required unless using content.

Notes

Note

  • Currently win_copy does not support copying symbolic links from both local to remote and remote to remote.
  • It is recommended that backslashes \ are used instead of / when dealing with remote paths.
  • Because win_copy runs over WinRM, it is not a very efficient transfer mechanism. If sending large files consider hosting them on a web service and using win_get_url instead.

See Also

See also

assemble – Assemble configuration files from fragments
The official documentation on the assemble module.
copy – Copy files to remote locations
The official documentation on the copy module.
win_get_url – Downloads file from HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP to node
The official documentation on the win_get_url module.
win_robocopy – Synchronizes the contents of two directories using Robocopy
The official documentation on the win_robocopy module.

Examples

- name: Copy a single file
  win_copy:
    src: /srv/myfiles/foo.conf
    dest: C:\Temp\renamed-foo.conf

- name: Copy a single file, but keep a backup
  win_copy:
    src: /srv/myfiles/foo.conf
    dest: C:\Temp\renamed-foo.conf
    backup: yes

- name: Copy a single file keeping the filename
  win_copy:
    src: /src/myfiles/foo.conf
    dest: C:\Temp\

- name: Copy folder to C:\Temp (results in C:\Temp\temp_files)
  win_copy:
    src: files/temp_files
    dest: C:\Temp

- name: Copy folder contents recursively
  win_copy:
    src: files/temp_files/
    dest: C:\Temp

- name: Copy a single file where the source is on the remote host
  win_copy:
    src: C:\Temp\foo.txt
    dest: C:\ansible\foo.txt
    remote_src: yes

- name: Copy a folder recursively where the source is on the remote host
  win_copy:
    src: C:\Temp
    dest: C:\ansible
    remote_src: yes

- name: Set the contents of a file
  win_copy:
    content: abc123
    dest: C:\Temp\foo.txt

- name: Copy a single file as another user
  win_copy:
    src: NuGet.config
    dest: '%AppData%\NuGet\NuGet.config'
  vars:
    ansible_become_user: user
    ansible_become_password: pass
    # The tmp dir must be set when using win_copy as another user
    # This ensures the become user will have permissions for the operation
    # Make sure to specify a folder both the ansible_user and the become_user have access to (i.e not %TEMP% which is user specific and requires Admin)
    ansible_remote_tmp: 'c:\tmp'

Return Values

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

Key Returned Description
backup_file
string
if backup=yes
Name of the backup file that was created.

Sample:
C:\Path\To\File.txt.11540.20150212-220915.bak
checksum
string
success, src is a file
SHA1 checksum of the file after running copy.

Sample:
6e642bb8dd5c2e027bf21dd923337cbb4214f827
dest
string
changed
Destination file/path.

Sample:
C:\Temp\
operation
string
success
Whether a single file copy took place or a folder copy.

Sample:
file_copy
original_basename
string
changed, src is a file
Basename of the copied file.

Sample:
foo.txt
size
integer
changed, src is a file
Size of the target, after execution.

Sample:
1220
src
string
changed
Source file used for the copy on the target machine.

Sample:
/home/httpd/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1423796390.97-147729857856000/source


Status

Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

Authors

  • Jon Hawkesworth (@jhawkesworth)
  • Jordan Borean (@jborean93)

Hint

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