Error: pexpect not installed, try: pip install pexpect

[chipmasonz]

Rundeck 3.3.11 with py-winrm on Windows Server 2016 Server. Getting an error connecting to remote host running a Command job.

Error: pexpect not installed, try: pip install pexpect

Python3.9.6
verified pexpect 4.8.0 installed using pip list

I've tried;
uninstalled/reinstalled pexpect and Python and restarted Windows after Python reinstall and Rundeck Service after each change.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

[juniorosilva]

Same problem here, did you manage to solve?

[juniorosilva]

Rundeck 3.3.11 with py-winrm on Windows Server 2016 Server. Getting an error connecting to remote host running a Command job.

Error: pexpect not installed, try: pip install pexpect

Python3.9.6 verified pexpect 4.8.0 installed using pip list

I've tried; uninstalled/reinstalled pexpect and Python and restarted Windows after Python reinstall and Rundeck Service after each change.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Same problem here, did you manage to solve?

[Abs0luteMatt]

Same issue here. Cant get rundeck on Windows to recognise pexpect. Other libs are fine.

[juniorosilva]

Same issue here. Cant get rundeck on Windows to recognise pexpect. Other libs are fine.

I solved changing the authentication method to NTLM

[mezamoe]

same here. rundeck 4.8, python 3.9, latest pywinrm and libs. Windows 2019. No other python setups present on server. Also pip confirms (during the install) that modules are installed in the current and only python setup. I do confirm that ntlm works, but definitely I'd rather stick to kerberos.

[Abs0luteMatt]

I did the same as juniorosilva (thanks for the tip @juniorosilva!), and switched to NTLM which worked.

It helped solve my immediate problem but probably not helpful if you need Kerberos.

[mezamoe]

as I suspected upgrading to Python 3.11 didn't help. I see in the Content folder on Github the winrm-check.py which contains a Try statement that matches exactly the behaviour we are experiencing. But I can't find it in the plugin installed.

try:
    import pexpect

    if hasattr(pexpect, 'spawn'):
        argspec = getargspec(pexpect.spawn.__init__)
        if 'echo' in argspec.args:
            HAS_PEXPECT = True
except ImportError as e:
    HAS_PEXPECT = False

It seems the argspec is not being initiated with the expected value. This stopper is preventing kerberos to work on any Windows systems with this pywinrm version. It would great to just know where that statement is located in the plugin.

[mezamoe]

found where the Try statement is in pywinrm plugin and tried to bypass it with a simple:

if(pexpect.__version__):
        HAS_PEXPECT = True

but it didn't help as the whole program uses pexpect.spawn everywhere. pexpect.spawn is not available in windows but only in *nix systems. source: https://pexpect.readthedocs.io/en/stable/install.html

Any chance to have this fixed? Rundeck on Windows does not allow Kerberos authentication at present.

[mezamoe]

does anybody know if this has been fixed in later Windows releases ?

[mezamoe]

I've just upgraded to the rundeck version 4.17 and now it works. I don't know when and in which earlier version this was fixed, but it was. Confirmed also by a wireshark capture.

[Amol-Avere]

Still facing the same issue in 5.11.1 with latest python installed.

[testor321]

Hi
Latest Rundeck (5.12.0) + latest stable python (3.13.5)
Windows Server 2022
the issue is on place
"[ERROR ] pexpect not installed, try: pip install pexpect (winrm-exec.py:290)[root]"