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gad kimathi
gad kimathi

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How I Installed Ansible, Terraform & AWS CLI on Windows (Before EPL Matchday)

#devops #aws #terraform #tutorial

It’s Saturday morning, and while some people are arguing about who’s better between Mbappe and Yamal, I decided to do something productive before kickoff.

I finally set up Ansible, Terraform, and AWS CLI on my Windows machine.
And honestly? It wasn’t hard at all.
(Which is more than I can say for Chelsea trying to not to get a red card this season)

Step 1: Enabling WSL (Linux Inside Windows)

Let’s be honest, Windows and Linux don’t always get along. But WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) fixes that beautifully.

I opened PowerShell as Administrator and ran:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu
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Boom, Ubuntu installed right inside Windows.
No VM, no pain.

When I tried to run it the first time, I got this classic error:

Error: 0x800701bc WSL 2 requires an update to its kernel component.
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NB: I fixed that by going to https://aka.ms/wsl2kernel
, installing the update, and re-running the command.
After that, Ubuntu launched perfectly.

Step 2: Installing Ansible

Now inside Ubuntu, I ran:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository --yes --update ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt install -y ansible
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At first, I got this:

E: Unable to locate package ansible
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NB: That happens if you skip the repository setup. Once I added it properly, Ansible installed cleanly.

To confirm:

ansible --version
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Done.
No errors, no drama. Smoother than a Mbeumo's counterattack.

Step 3: Installing Terraform

This one was easy too. I just ran:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common curl
curl -fsSL https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-add-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install terraform -y
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Then:

terraform -version
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Terraform v1.x.x
At this point, my setup was coming together faster than Amad down the right wing.

Step 4: Installing AWS CLI

And now for AWS CLI — the final piece.

I ran:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y unzip curl
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install
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Then checked:

aws --version
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It worked.

No need to fight with PATH variables or random installer pop-ups like it’s an Arsenal defense.

Step 5: Configuring AWS

Then I connected it to my AWS account:

aws configure
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Entered my credentials, default region (us-east-1), and output (json).
Then tested:

aws sts get-caller-identity
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It printed my account details.
Clean. Just like Lammens’s last save (God really blessed us).

Step 6: Test Everything

Just to be sure:

ansible --version
terraform --version
aws --version
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All working. My laptop was now a fully armed DevOps machine and the match hadn’t even started yet.

Final Thoughts

I used to think setting up these tools would take forever. Turns out, with WSL, it’s actually fun.
No VMs, no dual-boot just clean Linux inside Windows.

If you’ve been putting this off, grab your coffee (or your matchday drink), run these commands, and get it done before kickoff.

It’s honestly easier than getting my team into the top 4.

So yeah, that’s my Saturday morning win.
DevOps setup ✅
Matchday ready ✅
Chelsea catching strays ✅

Now bring on the 3 PM kickoff.
Let’s hope the boys perform as smoothly as this install did.
PS: I’m a beginner, just starting my DevOps journey.
If you’re experienced in this space, I’d really appreciate a mentor or someone I can learn from.

devops #ansible #terraform #aws #wsl #beginners

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