The Issue

I was hitting issues when trying to use the Salt Win-Repo to install software. Below is a copy of my state file.

ensure_malwarebytes_installed:
  pkg.installed:
    - pkgs:
      - malwarebytes

It would fail with the below helpful error messages. But most importantly, I’d check the minion, to find the software was actually installed.

  {
    "return": {
      "pkg_|-ensure_malwarebytes_installed_|-ensure_malwarebytes_installed_|-installed": {
        "name": "ensure_malwarebytes_installed",
        "__id__": "ensure_malwarebytes_installed",
        "result": false,
        "__sls__": "Windows.software-install.malwarebytes",
        "changes": {
          "malwarebytes": "Unable to locate package malwarebytes"
        },
        "comment": "The following packages failed to install/update: malwarebytes",
        "duration": 343.731,
        "start_time": "13:07:43.183808",
        "__run_num__": 0
      }

If I instead ran the command from my salt master, it would be successful with no error outputs:

salt {minion_name} pkg.install malwarebytes -l debug

The Debugging Effort

Because the software is installed on the minion, I run the “pkg.list_pkgs” command, so I can detail exactly what the system returns.

C:\Users\Administrator>salt-call pkg.list_pkgs
local:
    ----------
...
    Malwarebytes version 4.5.12.204:
        4.5.12.204
...

Next, I want to remove the package, before I continue to debug, however I hit another issue. Continue reading A debugging example of Salt Win-Repo issues →