Check if Chocolatey is installed in Ansible

Question

I've recently started using Ansible and trying to apply it in an environment that doesn't have access to the Internet.

I've managed to create a playbook that installs Chocolatey using files and templates but at the moment it installs Chocolatey every time I run the playbook. The tasks that I'm currently using are:

---
- name: Create C:\temp
  win_file:
    path: C:\temp
    state: directory

- name: Save InstallChocolatey.ps1 file
  template:
    src: InstallChocolatey.ps1.j2
    dest: c:\temp\InstallChocolatey.ps1

- name: Run InstallChocolatey.ps1
  win_shell: C:\temp\InstallChocolatey.ps1

Is there a way to check if Chocolatey is already installed? Using this, I will be able to use a block and when to avoid performing the actions repeatedly.

Thanks for any recommendations people may have :)

There is a `creates` parameter for [win_shell module](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/windows/win_shell_module.html). You can specify the path which will be present when Chocolatey is installed. — seshadri_c, Jan 16 '21 at 16:59
[the fine manual for `win_chocolatey:`](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.10/collections/chocolatey/chocolatey/win_chocolatey_module.html) says it will install chocolatey if is missing, so presuming the _next_ thing you're going to do with ansible is install some chocolety packages, then this question becomes moot — mdaniel, Jan 17 '21 at 01:56
@mdaniel, As mentioned in the original question, this is an environment without Internet access. The next thing is to install some chocolatey packages from an **offline repository** (I'm using Nexus in this case). — Sam Jenkins, Jan 17 '21 at 08:25

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 17 '21 at 09:05

You can add a task to check choco command is ready. And execute script InstallChocolatey.ps1 when choco is not available.

---
- name: Check if Chocolatey is already installed
  win_shell: (Get-Command choco).Path
  register: get_command_choco

- name: Create C:\temp
  win_file:
    path: C:\temp
    state: directory

- name: Save InstallChocolatey.ps1 file
  template:
    src: InstallChocolatey.ps1.j2
    dest: c:\temp\InstallChocolatey.ps1

- name: Run InstallChocolatey.ps1
  win_shell: C:\temp\InstallChocolatey.ps1
  when: not get_command_choco.stderr == ""

That's perfect, thanks. I had started doing a check for the default Choco install location but your approach would be more robust. I've also put all the other steps inside of a block so I don't create the dir or put the files there unless necessary. — Sam Jenkins, Jan 17 '21 at 11:06

Check if Chocolatey is installed in Ansible

1 Answers1