ansible.builtin.user module – Manage user accounts

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name user even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.user for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.

Synopsis

• Manage user accounts and user attributes.

• For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_user module instead.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
append boolean	If true, add the user to the groups specified in groups. If false, user will only be added to the groups specified in groups, removing them from all other groups. Choices: false ← (default) true
authorization string added in Ansible 2.8	Sets the authorization of the user. Can set multiple authorizations using comma separation. To delete all authorizations, use authorization=''. Currently supported on Illumos/Solaris. Does nothing when used with other platforms.
comment string	Optionally sets the description (aka GECOS) of user account. On macOS, this defaults to the name option.
create_home aliases: createhome boolean	Unless set to false, a home directory will be made for the user when the account is created or if the home directory does not exist. Changed from createhome to create_home in Ansible 2.5. Choices: false true ← (default)
expires float	An expiry time for the user in epoch, it will be ignored on platforms that do not support this. Currently supported on GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, and DragonFlyBSD. Since Ansible 2.6 you can remove the expiry time by specifying a negative value. Currently supported on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD.
force boolean	This only affects state=absent, it forces removal of the user and associated directories on supported platforms. The behavior is the same as userdel --force, check the man page for userdel on your system for details and support. When used with generate_ssh_key=yes this forces an existing key to be overwritten. Choices: false ← (default) true
generate_ssh_key boolean	Whether to generate a SSH key for the user in question. This will not overwrite an existing SSH key unless used with force=yes. Choices: false ← (default) true
group string	Optionally sets the user’s primary group (takes a group name). On macOS, this defaults to staff.
groups list / elements=string	A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. By default, the user is removed from all other groups. Configure append to modify this. When set to an empty string '', the user is removed from all groups except the primary group. Before Ansible 2.3, the only input format allowed was a comma separated string.
hidden boolean	macOS only, optionally hide the user from the login window and system preferences. The default will be true if the system option is used. Choices: false true
home path	Optionally set the user’s home directory.
local boolean	Forces the use of “local” command alternatives on platforms that implement it. This is useful in environments that use centralized authentication when you want to manipulate the local users (in other words, it uses luseradd instead of useradd). This will check /etc/passwd for an existing account before invoking commands. If the local account database exists somewhere other than /etc/passwd, this setting will not work properly. This requires that the above commands as well as /etc/passwd must exist on the target host, otherwise it will be a fatal error. Choices: false ← (default) true
login_class string	Optionally sets the user’s login class, a feature of most BSD OSs.
move_home boolean	If set to true when used with home, attempt to move the user’s old home directory to the specified directory if it isn’t there already and the old home exists. Choices: false ← (default) true
name aliases: user string / required	Name of the user to create, remove or modify.
non_unique boolean	Optionally when used with the -u option, this option allows to change the user ID to a non-unique value. Choices: false ← (default) true
password string	If provided, set the user’s password to the provided encrypted hash (Linux) or plain text password (macOS). Linux/Unix/POSIX: Enter the hashed password as the value. See FAQ entry for details on various ways to generate the hash of a password. To create an account with a locked/disabled password on Linux systems, set this to '!' or '*'. To create an account with a locked/disabled password on OpenBSD, set this to '*************'. OS X/macOS: Enter the cleartext password as the value. Be sure to take relevant security precautions. On macOS, the password specified in the password option will always be set, regardless of whether the user account already exists or not. When the password is passed as an argument, the ansible.builtin.user module will always return changed to true for macOS systems. Since macOS no longer provides access to the hashed passwords directly.
password_expire_account_disable integer added in ansible-core 2.18	Number of days after a password expires until the account is disabled. Currently supported on AIX, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD.
password_expire_max integer added in ansible-core 2.11	Maximum number of days between password change. Supported on Linux only.
password_expire_min integer added in ansible-core 2.11	Minimum number of days between password change. Supported on Linux only.
password_expire_warn integer added in ansible-core 2.16	Number of days of warning before password expires. Supported on Linux only.
password_lock boolean	Lock the password (usermod -L, usermod -U, pw lock). Implementation differs by platform. This option does not always mean the user cannot login using other methods. This option does not disable the user, only lock the password. This must be set to false in order to unlock a currently locked password. The absence of this parameter will not unlock a password. Currently supported on Linux, FreeBSD, DragonFlyBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD. Choices: false true
profile string added in Ansible 2.8	Sets the profile of the user. Can set multiple profiles using comma separation. To delete all the profiles, use profile=''. Currently supported on Illumos/Solaris. Does nothing when used with other platforms.
remove boolean	This only affects state=absent, it attempts to remove directories associated with the user. The behavior is the same as userdel --remove, check the man page for details and support. Choices: false ← (default) true
role string added in Ansible 2.8	Sets the role of the user. Can set multiple roles using comma separation. To delete all roles, use role=''. Currently supported on Illumos/Solaris. Does nothing when used with other platforms.
seuser string	Optionally sets the seuser type user_u on SELinux enabled systems.
shell path	Optionally set the user’s shell. On macOS, before Ansible 2.5, the default shell for non-system users was /usr/bin/false. Since Ansible 2.5, the default shell for non-system users on macOS is /bin/bash. On other operating systems, the default shell is determined by the underlying tool invoked by this module. See Notes for a per platform list of invoked tools. From Ansible 2.18, the type is changed to path from str.
skeleton string	Optionally set a home skeleton directory. Requires create_home option!
ssh_key_bits integer	Optionally specify number of bits in SSH key to create. The default value depends on ssh-keygen.
ssh_key_comment string	Optionally define the comment for the SSH key. Default: "ansible-generated on $HOSTNAME"
ssh_key_file path	Optionally specify the SSH key filename. If this is a relative filename then it will be relative to the user’s home directory. This parameter defaults to .ssh/id_rsa.
ssh_key_passphrase string	Set a passphrase for the SSH key. If no passphrase is provided, the SSH key will default to having no passphrase.
ssh_key_type string	Optionally specify the type of SSH key to generate. Available SSH key types will depend on implementation present on target host. Default: "rsa"
state string	Whether the account should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated. See this FAQ entry for additional requirements when removing users on macOS systems. Choices: "absent" "present" ← (default)
system boolean	When creating an account state=present, setting this to true makes the user a system account. This setting cannot be changed on existing users. Choices: false ← (default) true
uid integer	Optionally sets the UID of the user.
uid_max integer added in ansible-core 2.18	Sets the UID_MAX value for user creation. Overwrites /etc/login.defs default value. Currently supported on Linux. Does nothing when used with other platforms. Requires local is omitted or False.
uid_min integer added in ansible-core 2.18	Sets the UID_MIN value for user creation. Overwrites /etc/login.defs default value. Currently supported on Linux. Does nothing when used with other platforms. Requires local is omitted or False.
umask string added in ansible-core 2.12	Sets the umask of the user. Currently supported on Linux. Does nothing when used with other platforms. Requires local is omitted or false.
update_password string	always will update passwords if they differ. on_create will only set the password for newly created users. Choices: "always" ← (default) "on_create"

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: full	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
platform	Platform: posix	Target OS/families that can be operated against

Notes

Note

• There are specific requirements per platform on user management utilities. However they generally come pre-installed with the system and Ansible will require they are present at runtime. If they are not, a descriptive error message will be shown.

• On SunOS platforms, the shadow file is backed up automatically since this module edits it directly. On other platforms, the shadow file is backed up by the underlying tools used by this module.

• On macOS, this module uses dscl to create, modify, and delete accounts. dseditgroup is used to modify group membership. Accounts are hidden from the login window by modifying /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist.

• On FreeBSD, this module uses pw useradd and chpass to create, pw usermod and chpass to modify, pw userdel remove, pw lock to lock, and pw unlock to unlock accounts.

• On all other platforms, this module uses useradd to create, usermod to modify, and userdel to remove accounts.

See Also

See also

ansible.posix.authorized_key

The official documentation on the ansible.posix.authorized_key module.

ansible.builtin.group

Add or remove groups.

ansible.windows.win_user

The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_user module.

Examples

- name: Add the user 'johnd' with a specific uid and a primary group of 'admin'
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: johnd
    comment: John Doe
    uid: 1040
    group: admin

- name: Create a user 'johnd' with a home directory
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: johnd
    create_home: yes

- name: Add the user 'james' with a bash shell, appending the group 'admins' and 'developers' to the user's groups
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: james
    shell: /bin/bash
    groups: admins,developers
    append: yes

- name: Remove the user 'johnd'
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: johnd
    state: absent
    remove: yes

- name: Create a 2048-bit SSH key for user jsmith in ~jsmith/.ssh/id_rsa
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: jsmith
    generate_ssh_key: yes
    ssh_key_bits: 2048
    ssh_key_file: .ssh/id_rsa

- name: Added a consultant whose account you want to expire
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: james18
    shell: /bin/zsh
    groups: developers
    expires: 1422403387

- name: Starting at Ansible 2.6, modify user, remove expiry time
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: james18
    expires: -1

- name: Set maximum expiration date for password
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: ram19
    password_expire_max: 10

- name: Set minimum expiration date for password
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: pushkar15
    password_expire_min: 5

- name: Set number of warning days for password expiration
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: jane157
    password_expire_warn: 30

- name: Set number of days after password expires until account is disabled
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: jimholden2016
    password_expire_account_disable: 15

Return Values

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

Key	Description
append boolean	Whether or not to append the user to groups. Returned: When state is present and the user exists Sample: true
comment string	Comment section from passwd file, usually the user name. Returned: When user exists Sample: "Agent Smith"
create_home boolean	Whether or not to create the home directory. Returned: When user does not exist and not check mode Sample: true
force boolean	Whether or not a user account was forcibly deleted. Returned: When state is absent and user exists Sample: false
group integer	Primary user group ID Returned: When user exists Sample: 1001
groups string	List of groups of which the user is a member. Returned: When groups is not empty and state is present Sample: "chrony,apache"
home string	Path to user’s home directory. Returned: When state is present Sample: "/home/asmith"
move_home boolean	Whether or not to move an existing home directory. Returned: When state is present and user exists Sample: false
name string	User account name. Returned: always Sample: "asmith"
password string	Masked value of the password. Returned: When state is present and password is not empty Sample: "NOT_LOGGING_PASSWORD"
remove boolean	Whether or not to remove the user account. Returned: When state is absent and user exists Sample: true
shell string	User login shell. Returned: When state is present Sample: "/bin/bash"
ssh_fingerprint string	Fingerprint of generated SSH key. Returned: When generate_ssh_key is True Sample: "2048 SHA256:aYNHYcyVm87Igh0IMEDMbvW0QDlRQfE0aJugp684ko8 ansible-generated on host (RSA)"
ssh_key_file string	Path to generated SSH private key file. Returned: When generate_ssh_key is True Sample: "/home/asmith/.ssh/id_rsa"
ssh_public_key string	Generated SSH public key file. Returned: When generate_ssh_key is True Sample: "'ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC95opt4SPEC06tOYsJQJIuN23BbLMGmYo8ysVZQc4h2DZE9ugbjWWGS1/pweUGjVstgzMkBEeBCByaEf/RJKNecKRPeGd2Bw9DCj/bn5Z6rGfNENKBmo 618mUJBvdlEgea96QGjOwSB7/gmonduC7gsWDMNcOdSE3wJMTim4lddiBx4RgC9yXsJ6Tkz9BHD73MXPpT5ETnse+A3fw3IGVSjaueVnlUyUmOBf7fzmZbhlFVXf2Zi2rFTXqvbdGHKkzpw1U8eB8xFPP7y d5u1u0e6Acju/8aZ/l17IDFiLke5IzlqIMRTEbDwLNeO84YQKWTm9fODHzhYe0yvxqLiK07 ansible-generated on host'\n"
stderr string	Standard error from running commands. Returned: When stderr is returned by a command that is run Sample: "Group wheels does not exist"
stdout string	Standard output from running commands. Returned: When standard output is returned by the command that is run
system boolean	Whether or not the account is a system account. Returned: When system is passed to the module and the account does not exist Sample: true
uid integer	User ID of the user account. Returned: When uid is passed to the module Sample: 1044

Authors

• Stephen Fromm (@sfromm)

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