Ansible PowerShell & sudo Become Error: 'powershell is not compatible' Fix — Video Tutorial

Introduction Welcome back to Ansible Pilot! I'm Luca Berton, and today we're diving into Ansible troubleshooting, focusing on the error that states "the PowerShell shell family is incompatible with the sudo become plugin." Join me as we explore how to reproduce, troubleshoot, and fix this runtime error in Ansible. The Demo To better understand and solve the "the PowerShell shell family is incompatible with the sudo become plugin" error, let's jump into a live Playbook. Error Code ```yaml incompatiblesudo_error.yml --- - name: win_reboot module Playbook hosts: all become: true tasks: - name: reboot host(s) ansible.windows.win_reboot: ``` Error Execution ```bash $ ansible-playbook -i win/inventory troubleshooting/incompatiblesudo_error.yml PLAY [win_reboot module Playbook] ********************************************************************* TASK [Gathering Facts] **************************************************************************** fatal: [WindowsServer]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The PowerShell shell family is incompatible with the sudo become plugin"} PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************** WindowsServer : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` Fix Code ```yaml incompatiblesudo_fix.yml --- - name: win_reboot module Playbook hosts: all become: false tasks: - name: reboot host(s) ansible.windows.win_reboot: ``` Fix Execution ```bash $ ansible-playbook -i win/inventory troubleshooting/incompatiblesudo_fix.yml PLAY [win_reboot module Playbook] ********************************************************************* TASK [Gathering Facts] **************************************************************************** ok: [WindowsServer] TASK [reboot host(s)] ***************************************************************************** changed: [WindowsServer] PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************** WindowsServer : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` Conclusion In this troubleshooting guide, we successfully tackled the "PowerShell incompatible with the sudo become plugin" error in Ansible. By adjusting the playbook to disable the become plugin, we overcame the compatibility issue. I hope this Playbooknstration helps you effectively troubleshoot and resolve similar errors in your Ansible automation journey. If you found this information valuable, don't forget to subscribe for more Ansible insights. Why This Error Happens This error occurs when Ansible tries to use the **Linux `sudo` become plugin** with a **Windows target** running PowerShell. Windows doesn't have `sudo` — it uses different privilege escalation methods. The typical error message: ``` fatal: [windows_host]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The powershell shell family is incompatible with the sudo become