windows_uac resource¶

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The windows_uac resource configures UAC on Windows hosts by setting registry keys at ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem’

New in Chef Infra Client 15.0.

Syntax¶

The windows_uac resource has the following syntax:

windows_uac 'name' do
  consent_behavior_admins       Symbol # default value: :prompt_for_consent_non_windows_binaries
  consent_behavior_users        Symbol # default value: :prompt_for_creds
  detect_installers             true, false
  enable_uac                    true, false # default value: true
  prompt_on_secure_desktop      true, false # default value: true
  require_signed_binaries       true, false # default value: false
  action                        Symbol # defaults to :configure if not specified
end

where:

windows_uac is the resource.
name is the name given to the resource block.
action identifies which steps Chef Infra Client will take to bring the node into the desired state.
consent_behavior_admins, consent_behavior_users, detect_installers, enable_uac, prompt_on_secure_desktop, and require_signed_binaries are the properties available to this resource.

Actions¶

The windows_uac resource has the following actions:

:configure: Configures UAC by setting registry keys at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem.
:nothing: This resource block does not act unless notified by another resource to take action. Once notified, this resource block either runs immediately or is queued up to run at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.

Properties¶

The windows_uac resource has the following properties:

consent_behavior_admins

Ruby Type: Symbol | Default Value: :prompt_for_consent_non_windows_binaries

Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode. Sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemEnableLUAConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin.

consent_behavior_users

Ruby Type: Symbol | Default Value: :prompt_for_creds

Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users. Sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemEnableLUAConsentPromptBehaviorUser.

detect_installers

Ruby Type: true, false

Detect application installations and prompt for elevation. Sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemEnableLUAEnableInstallerDetection.

enable_uac

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Enable or disable UAC Admin Approval Mode. If this is changed a system restart is required. Sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemEnableLUA.

prompt_on_secure_desktop

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: true

Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation. Sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemEnableLUAPromptOnSecureDesktop.

require_signed_binaries

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Only elevate executables that are signed and validated. Sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystemEnableLUAValidateAdminCodeSignatures.

Common Resource Functionality¶

Chef resources include common properties, notifications, and resource guards.

Common Properties¶

The following properties are common to every resource:

ignore_failure

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 0

The number of attempts to catch exceptions and retry the resource.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer | Default Value: 2

The retry delay (in seconds).

sensitive

Ruby Type: true, false | Default Value: false

Ensure that sensitive resource data is not logged by Chef Infra Client.

Notifications¶

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notify more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

subscribes: Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

Note that subscribes does not apply the specified action to the resource that it listens to - for example:

file '/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt' do
  mode '0600'
  owner 'root'
end

service 'nginx' do
  subscribes :reload, 'file[/etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt]', :immediately
end

In this case the subscribes property reloads the nginx service whenever its certificate file, located under /etc/nginx/ssl/example.crt, is updated. subscribes does not make any changes to the certificate file itself, it merely listens for a change to the file, and executes the :reload action for its resource (in this example nginx) when a change is detected.

A timer specifies the point during a Chef Infra Client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before: Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.
:delayed: Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the end of a Chef Infra Client run.
:immediate, :immediately: Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes :action, 'resource[name]', :timer

Guards¶

A guard property can be used to evaluate the state of a node during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run. Based on the results of this evaluation, a guard property is then used to tell Chef Infra Client if it should continue executing a resource. A guard property accepts either a string value or a Ruby block value:

A string is executed as a shell command. If the command returns 0, the guard is applied. If the command returns any other value, then the guard property is not applied. String guards in a powershell_script run Windows PowerShell commands and may return true in addition to 0.
A block is executed as Ruby code that must return either true or false. If the block returns true, the guard property is applied. If the block returns false, the guard property is not applied.

A guard property is useful for ensuring that a resource is idempotent by allowing that resource to test for the desired state as it is being executed, and then if the desired state is present, for Chef Infra Client to do nothing.

Properties

The following properties can be used to define a guard that is evaluated during the execution phase of a Chef Infra Client run:

not_if: Prevent a resource from executing when the condition returns true.
only_if: Allow a resource to execute only if the condition returns true.

Examples¶

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes:

Disable UAC prompts for the admin

windows_uac 'Disable UAC prompts for the admin' do
  enable_uac true
  prompt_on_secure_desktop false
  consent_behavior_admins :no_prompt
end

Disable UAC entirely

windows_uac 'Disable UAC entirely' do
  enable_uac false
end