vmware_guest_sendkey – Send USB HID codes to the Virtual Machine’s keyboard

vmware_guest_sendkey – Send USB HID codes to the Virtual Machine’s keyboard

New in version 2.9.

• Synopsis
• Requirements
• Parameters
• Notes
• Examples
• Return Values
• Status

Synopsis

• This module is used to send keystrokes to given virtual machine.
• All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

• python >= 2.6
• PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
cluster string		The name of cluster where the virtual machine is running. This is a required parameter, if esxi_hostname is not set. esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
datacenter string		The datacenter name to which virtual machine belongs to.
esxi_hostname string		The ESXi hostname where the virtual machine is running. This is a required parameter, if cluster is not set. esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
folder string		Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest. This is a required parameter, only if multiple VMs are found with same name. The folder should include the datacenter. ESXi server's datacenter is ha-datacenter. Examples: folder: /ha-datacenter/vm folder: ha-datacenter/vm folder: /datacenter1/vm folder: datacenter1/vm folder: /datacenter1/vm/folder1 folder: datacenter1/vm/folder1 folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm folder: folder1/datacenter1/vm folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm/folder2
hostname string		The hostname or IP address of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_HOST will be used instead. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
keys_send list		The list of the keys will be sent to the virtual machine. Valid values are ENTER, ESC, BACKSPACE, TAB, SPACE, CAPSLOCK, DELETE, CTRL_ALT_DEL, CTRL_C and F1 to F12, RIGHTARROW, LEFTARROW, DOWNARROW, UPARROW. If both keys_send and string_send are specified, keys in keys_send list will be sent in front of the string_send.
moid string		Managed Object ID of the instance to manage if known, this is a unique identifier only within a single vCenter instance. This is required if name or uuid is not supplied.
name string		Name of the virtual machine. This is a required parameter, if parameter uuid or moid is not supplied.
password string		The password of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PASSWORD will be used instead. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. aliases: pass, pwd
port integer added in 2.5	Default: 443	The port number of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PORT will be used instead. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
proxy_host string added in 2.9		Address of a proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them. The format is a hostname or a IP. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PROXY_HOST will be used instead. This feature depends on a version of pyvmomi greater than v6.7.1.2018.12
proxy_port integer added in 2.9		Port of the HTTP proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PROXY_PORT will be used instead.
string_send string		The string will be sent to the virtual machine. This string can contain valid special character, alphabet and digit on the keyboard.
username string		The username of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_USER will be used instead. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. aliases: admin, user
uuid string		UUID of the instance to gather facts if known, this is VMware's unique identifier. This is a required parameter, if parameter name or moid is not supplied.
validate_certs boolean	no yes ←	Allows connection when SSL certificates are not valid. Set to false when certificates are not trusted. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_VALIDATE_CERTS will be used instead. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. If set to yes, please make sure Python >= 2.7.9 is installed on the given machine.

Notes

Note

• Tested on vSphere 6.5 and 6.7

Examples

- name: Send list of keys to virtual machine
  vmware_guest_sendkey:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    keys_send:
      - TAB
      - TAB
      - ENTER
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: keys_num_sent

- name: Send list of keys to virtual machine using MoID
  vmware_guest_sendkey:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    moid: vm-42
    keys_send:
      - CTRL_ALT_DEL
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: ctrl_alt_del_sent

- name: Send a string to virtual machine
  vmware_guest_sendkey:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    string_send: "user_logon"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: keys_num_sent

Return Values

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

Key	Returned	Description
sendkey_info dictionary	always	display the keys and the number of keys sent to the virtual machine Sample: {'virtual_machine': 'test_vm', 'keys_send': ['SPACE', 'DOWNARROW', 'DOWNARROW', 'ENTER'], 'string_send': None, 'keys_send_number': 4, 'returned_keys_send_number': 4}

Status

• This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
• This module is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

Authors

• Diane Wang (@Tomorrow9) <[email protected]>

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation, you can edit this document to improve it.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.9/modules/vmware_guest_sendkey_module.html