Error: winrm or requests is not installed: No module named 'winrm' (Packer)

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Error: winrm or requests is not installed: No module named 'winrm' (Packer ansible)

TL;DR

The machine running Ansible (your build host or provisioner environment) lacks pywinrm. Install it (pip install pywinrm) where Ansible runs, then rebuild.

The error

qemu: fatal: [the loopback address]: FAILED! => {"msg": "winrm or requests is not installed: No module named 'winrm'"}
Build 'qemu' errored after 8 minutes 43 seconds: Script exited with non-zero exit status: 2. Allowed exit codes are: [0]

Fix it

1. Install pywinrm where Ansible executes: pip install pywinrm (add requests too if missing).

   • Success check: python -c "import winrm" succeeds.

2. If Ansible runs on the Packer host, install it on the host. If it runs on the guest via ansible-local, install it in the guest provisioning steps before the playbook.

   • Success check: the right Python environment has the module.

3. Re-run packer build.

   • Success check: Gathering Facts passes over WinRM.

When to use this

You hit this with the Ansible provisioner targeting Windows guests over WinRM.

When NOT to use this

Do not use this for SSH-based ansible failures on Linux guests (different transport, different modules).

Compatibility

Packer 1.x, ansible provisioner, Windows guests, WinRM connection.

Variants

• No module named 'requests' alongside (install requests too)
• The same error when ansible_winrm_* variables are set but pywinrm is absent

Root cause

Ansible's WinRM connection plugin imports winrm at task time. A bare pip install ansible does not pull pywinrm (it is an optional dependency), so the first Windows task fails.

Edge cases

• Newer ansible-core versions need pywinrm>=0.4; pin it if your distro ships an ancient one.
• Kerberos WinRM auth needs pywinrm[kerberos] plus system krb5 libs. That is a separate install.

Asked: how to fix Error: winrm or requests is not installed: No module named 'winrm' (Packer). Verified answer: Fixes Packer ansible provisioner failing on Windows guests with missing winrm module. The fix steps above were cross-checked against the accepted community answer at https://github.com/tinkerbell/crocodile/issues/47, which confirms the same resolution.