Ansible win_regedit: Manage Windows Registry Keys & Values (Examples)
By Luca Berton · Published 2024-01-01 · Category: installation
How to manage Windows Registry with Ansible win_regedit module. Create, modify, and remove registry keys and values with practical automation examples.
How to Remove Windows Registry key on Windows-like systems with Ansible? Changing registry values manually can be time-consuming and error-prone. Ansible includes built-in capabilities for managing individual key-value pairs in an idempotent way. I'm going to show you a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code. I'm Luca Berton and welcome to today's episode of Ansible Pilot.
Ansible remove Windows Registry on Windows-like systems • ansible.windows.win_regedit • Get information about Windows registry keys
Let's talk about the Ansible module win_regedit. The full name is ansible.windows.win_regedit , 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 and it works in Windows and Windows Server operating systems. It adds, changes, or removes registry keys and values.
Parameters • path string - The full registry key path including the hive to search for • name string - Name of the registry entry in the path parameters. • state string - present/absent
The only mandatory parameter is "path" which is the full registry key path including the hive to search for. You might like to specify a single "name" of the name of the registry entry. If you want to delete all the paths, basically all the Windows Registry tree but if you want only the single entry you need also to specify the "name" of it. Please be careful! The essential parameter for our use-case is "state" to specify if we would like to add or modify ("present" option) or remove ("absent" option).
Playbook
How to Remove Windows Registry key on Windows-like systems accessing the Windows Registry with Ansible Playbook. Specifically, I'm going to delete a Windows Registry key located in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Test".
code
execution
idempotency
before execution
after execution
Conclusion
Now you know how to remove the Windows Registry key on Windows-like systems with Ansible.
Remove Registry Key
Remove Registry Value
Create/Set Registry Values
Common Registry Tweaks
Disable Windows Update auto-restart
Set default browser
Disable remote desktop NLA
Backup Before Modifying
Registry Data Types
| Type | win_regedit type | Description | |------|-----------------|-------------| | REG_SZ | string | String | | REG_DWORD | dword | 32-bit integer | | REG_QWORD | qword | 64-bit integer | | REG_BINARY | binary | Binary data | | REG_MULTI_SZ | multistring | List of strings | | REG_EXPAND_SZ | expandstring | String with env vars |
Registry Hives
| Short | Full Path | |-------|-----------| | HKLM | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | | HKCU | HKEY_CURRENT_USER | | HKCR | HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT | | HKU | HKEY_USERS |
FAQ
How do I check if a registry key exists?
Can I import a .reg file?
Does win_regedit require a reboot?
The registry change is immediate, but some Windows features only read registry at boot/service start.
Related Articles • Ansible Inventory Guide • Ansible for Windows Guide
Category: installation
Watch the video: Ansible win_regedit: Manage Windows Registry Keys & Values (Examples) — Video Tutorial