# Knife on windows

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [September 15, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034 "2011-09-15T20:26:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/1 "2011-09-15T20:26:23Z")

</div>

Hi all -

I’m struggling to understand what is needed to manipulate the  
recipes/cookbooks on the chef server.

I have the following configuration:

Ubuntu 11.X VM running chef master  
Ubuntu 11.X VM running chef client  
My local windows box running knife

From my local box, I should be able to trigger deployments correct?

I’m also getting this error:

ERROR: OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError: SSL\_connect SYSCALL returned=5 errno=0  
state=SSLv2/v3 read server hello A

I’m guessing this has something to do with the client.pem file I pulled down  
from the master server.

Any suggestions to either of the two questions above?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/2 "2011-09-16T13:18:14Z")

</div>

Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do, but I  
pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it to my local  
.chef directory.

I'm a step further (I hit the tar problem that is listed on the windows/chef  
page [http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16089551](http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16089551)), but now  
I'm having an issue when trying to install the chef-client cookbook:

knife cookbook site install chef-client

Installing chef-client to D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks  
Checking out the master branch.  
Pristine copy branch (chef-vendor-chef-client) exists, switching to it.  
Downloading chef-client from the cookbooks site at version 1.0.2 to  
D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks/chef-client.tar.gz  
Cookbook saved: D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks/chef-client.tar.gz  
Removing pre-existing version.  
Uncompressing chef-client version D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks.  
removing downloaded tarball  
1 files updated, committing changes  
ERROR: Chef::Exceptions::ShellCommandFailed: Expected process to exit with  
[0], but received '1'  
---- Begin output of git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2' --  
chef-client ----  
STDOUT:  
STDERR: error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
---- End output of git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2' --  
chef-client ----  
Ran git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2' -- chef-client returned  
1

I can't tell if there's something really wrong with the version string being  
passed in. The error message has a two single quotes at the end of the  
version string:

error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
^^^

Is there a configuration file broken/borked somewhere that I'm missing?

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:26 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> Hi all -
> 
> I'm struggling to understand what is needed to manipulate the  
> recipes/cookbooks on the chef server.
> 
> I have the following configuration:
> 
> Ubuntu 11.X VM running chef master  
> Ubuntu 11.X VM running chef client  
> My local windows box running knife
> 
> From my local box, I should be able to trigger deployments correct?
> 
> I'm also getting this error:
> 
> ERROR: OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError: SSL\_connect SYSCALL returned=5 errno=0  
> state=SSLv2/v3 read server hello A
> 
> I'm guessing this has something to do with the client.pem file I pulled  
> down from the master server.
> 
> Any suggestions to either of the two questions above?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/3 "2011-09-16T13:25:47Z")

</div>

So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single quotes:

D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client version  
1.0.2'  
error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.

D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client version  
1.0.2"  
[chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md  
create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
create mode 100644  
chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
create mode 100644  
chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
create mode 100644  
chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
create mode 100644  
chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
create mode 100644  
chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb

Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like this?

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do, but I  
> pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it to my local  
> .chef directory.
> 
> I'm a step further (I hit the tar problem that is listed on the  
> windows/chef page  
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16089551](http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16089551)), but now  
> I'm having an issue when trying to install the chef-client cookbook:
> 
> knife cookbook site install chef-client
> 
> Installing chef-client to D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks  
> Checking out the master branch.  
> Pristine copy branch (chef-vendor-chef-client) exists, switching to it.  
> Downloading chef-client from the cookbooks site at version 1.0.2 to  
> D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks/chef-client.tar.gz  
> Cookbook saved: D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks/chef-client.tar.gz  
> Removing pre-existing version.  
> Uncompressing chef-client version D:/buildtools/chef/cookbooks.  
> removing downloaded tarball  
> 1 files updated, committing changes  
> ERROR: Chef::Exceptions::ShellCommandFailed: Expected process to exit with  
> [0], but received '1'  
> ---- Begin output of git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2' --  
> chef-client ----  
> STDOUT:  
> STDERR: error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> ---- End output of git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2' --  
> chef-client ----  
> Ran git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2' -- chef-client  
> returned 1
> 
> I can't tell if there's something really wrong with the version string  
> being passed in. The error message has a two single quotes at the end of  
> the version string:
> 
> error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> ^^^
> 
> Is there a configuration file broken/borked somewhere that I'm missing?
> 
> On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:26 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > Hi all -
> > 
> > I'm struggling to understand what is needed to manipulate the  
> > recipes/cookbooks on the chef server.
> > 
> > I have the following configuration:
> > 
> > Ubuntu 11.X VM running chef master  
> > Ubuntu 11.X VM running chef client  
> > My local windows box running knife
> > 
> > From my local box, I should be able to trigger deployments correct?
> > 
> > I'm also getting this error:
> > 
> > ERROR: OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError: SSL\_connect SYSCALL returned=5 errno=0  
> > state=SSLv2/v3 read server hello A
> > 
> > I'm guessing this has something to do with the client.pem file I pulled  
> > down from the master server.
> > 
> > Any suggestions to either of the two questions above?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kallistec](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/kallistec/32/23_2.png) [@kallistec](https://discourse.chef.io/u/kallistec)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/4 "2011-09-16T15:50:02Z")

</div>

On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:

> So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single quotes:
> 
> D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client version 1.0.2'  
> error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> 
> D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client version 1.0.2"  
> [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> 
> Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like this?

The code is here: [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)

Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com) for the CHEF project, knife component.

> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<[maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) ([mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> 
> > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do, but I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it to my local .chef directory.  
> > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you create the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first user. Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After that you can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new admin users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to create a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.

--  
Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/5 "2011-09-16T17:18:50Z")

</div>

So here's a question that isn't clear to me by looking over the  
documentation.

If you wanted to trigger deployments, could you just have ONLY knife  
installed?

It seems like if you want knife, you also have to have chef-client  
installed.

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:

> On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:
> 
> > So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single quotes:
> > 
> > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client version  
> > 1.0.2'  
> > error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> > error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> > 
> > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client version  
> > 1.0.2"  
> > [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> > 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> > create mode 100644  
> > chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> > create mode 100644  
> > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > create mode 100644  
> > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > create mode 100644  
> > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > create mode 100644  
> > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> > create mode 100644  
> > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> > 
> > Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like this?
> 
> The code is here:  
> [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)
> 
> Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com) for the  
> CHEF project, knife component.
> 
> > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<[maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)(mailto:  
> > [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > 
> > > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do, but  
> > > I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it to my local  
> > > .chef directory.  
> > > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you create  
> > > the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first user.  
> > > Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After that you  
> > > can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new admin  
> > > users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to create  
> > > a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.
> 
> --  
> Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/6 "2011-09-16T17:23:49Z")

</div>

Done -

[http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623](http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623)

I'm going to go look at the source now...

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> So here's a question that isn't clear to me by looking over the  
> documentation.
> 
> If you wanted to trigger deployments, could you just have ONLY knife  
> installed?
> 
> It seems like if you want knife, you also have to have chef-client  
> installed.
> 
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:
> 
> > On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > 
> > > So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single quotes:
> > > 
> > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client version  
> > > 1.0.2'  
> > > error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> > > error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> > > 
> > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client version  
> > > 1.0.2"  
> > > [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> > > 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> > > create mode 100644  
> > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> > > 
> > > Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like  
> > > this?
> > 
> > The code is here:  
> > [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)
> > 
> > Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com) for  
> > the CHEF project, knife component.
> > 
> > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<[maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)(mailto:  
> > > [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do, but  
> > > > I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it to my local  
> > > > .chef directory.  
> > > > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you create  
> > > > the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first user.  
> > > > Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After that you  
> > > > can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new admin  
> > > > users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to create  
> > > > a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.
> > 
> > --  
> > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Adam\_Jacob](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/adam_jacob/32/292_2.png) [@Adam\_Jacob](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Adam_Jacob)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/7 "2011-09-16T17:34:14Z")

</div>

Knife uses chef as a library, so not really feasible to separate them  
without quite a bit more work.

Adam

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> Done -
> 
> [http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623](http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623)
> 
> I'm going to go look at the source now...
> 
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > So here's a question that isn't clear to me by looking over the  
> > documentation.
> > 
> > If you wanted to trigger deployments, could you just have ONLY knife  
> > installed?
> > 
> > It seems like if you want knife, you also have to have chef-client  
> > installed.
> > 
> > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > 
> > > > So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single  
> > > > quotes:
> > > > 
> > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client version  
> > > > 1.0.2'  
> > > > error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> > > > error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> > > > 
> > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client version  
> > > > 1.0.2"  
> > > > [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> > > > 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> > > > 
> > > > Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like  
> > > > this?
> > > 
> > > The code is here:  
> > > [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)
> > > 
> > > Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com) for  
> > > the CHEF project, knife component.
> > > 
> > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<[maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > > ([mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do,  
> > > > > but I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it to my  
> > > > > local .chef directory.  
> > > > > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you create  
> > > > > the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first user.  
> > > > > Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After that you  
> > > > > can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new admin  
> > > > > users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to create  
> > > > > a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.
> > > 
> > > --  
> > > Dan DeLeo

--  
Opscode, Inc.  
Adam Jacob, Chief Product Officer  
T: (206) 619-7151 E: [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/8 "2011-09-16T18:07:09Z")

</div>

Excellent - ok, so that clears up a few other things.

If I want to use knife, I need to install chef-client.

But now I have several clients created that I can't delete from the server  
(I'm going through the webui).

Any other suggestions?

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Adam Jacob [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com) wrote:

> Knife uses chef as a library, so not really feasible to separate them  
> without quite a bit more work.
> 
> Adam
> 
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> wrote:
> 
> > Done -
> > 
> > [http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623](http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623)
> > 
> > I'm going to go look at the source now...
> > 
> > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > So here's a question that isn't clear to me by looking over the  
> > > documentation.
> > > 
> > > If you wanted to trigger deployments, could you just have ONLY knife  
> > > installed?
> > > 
> > > It seems like if you want knife, you also have to have chef-client  
> > > installed.
> > > 
> > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single  
> > > > > quotes:
> > > > > 
> > > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client  
> > > > > version  
> > > > > 1.0.2'  
> > > > > error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> > > > > error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> > > > > 
> > > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client  
> > > > > version  
> > > > > 1.0.2"  
> > > > > [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> > > > > 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> > > > > 
> > > > > Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like  
> > > > > this?
> > > > 
> > > > The code is here:
> 
> [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)
> 
> > > > Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at [tickets.opscode.com](http://tickets.opscode.com) for  
> > > > the CHEF project, knife component.
> > > > 
> > > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<[maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > > > ([mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do,  
> > > > > > but I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added it  
> > > > > > to my  
> > > > > > local .chef directory.  
> > > > > > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you  
> > > > > > create  
> > > > > > the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first  
> > > > > > user.  
> > > > > > Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After that  
> > > > > > you  
> > > > > > can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new  
> > > > > > admin  
> > > > > > users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to  
> > > > > > create  
> > > > > > a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.
> > > > 
> > > > --  
> > > > Dan DeLeo
> 
> --  
> Opscode, Inc.  
> Adam Jacob, Chief Product Officer  
> T: (206) 619-7151 E: [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/9 "2011-09-19T16:26:12Z")

</div>

I'm just leaving them behind for now...

There are steps in setting up a new chef node for editing  
cookbooks/receipies/etc:

- If you're using hosted chef, copy over your  
YOUR\_ORGANIZATION\_NAME-validator.pem to  
c:\chef\YOUR\_ORGANIZATION\_NAME-validator.pem
- Copy your validation.pem provided by your server or the platform to  
c:\chef\validation.pem

If I'm not using hosted chef, what should this validator file be named?

Where does one retrieve the validation.pem file from the server? So far  
I've scp'd it around, is that the right way to do this if I have chef-server  
up and running?

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 2:07 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> Excellent - ok, so that clears up a few other things.
> 
> If I want to use knife, I need to install chef-client.
> 
> But now I have several clients created that I can't delete from the server  
> (I'm going through the webui).
> 
> Any other suggestions?
> 
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Adam Jacob [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com) wrote:
> 
> > Knife uses chef as a library, so not really feasible to separate them  
> > without quite a bit more work.
> > 
> > Adam
> > 
> > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Done -
> > > 
> > > [http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623](http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623)
> > > 
> > > I'm going to go look at the source now...
> > > 
> > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > So here's a question that isn't clear to me by looking over the  
> > > > documentation.
> > > > 
> > > > If you wanted to trigger deployments, could you just have ONLY knife  
> > > > installed?
> > > > 
> > > > It seems like if you want knife, you also have to have chef-client  
> > > > installed.
> > > > 
> > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single  
> > > > > > quotes:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client  
> > > > > > version  
> > > > > > 1.0.2'  
> > > > > > error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> > > > > > error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client  
> > > > > > version  
> > > > > > 1.0.2"  
> > > > > > [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> > > > > > 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like  
> > > > > > this?
> > > > > 
> > > > > The code is here:
> > 
> > [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)
> > 
> > > > > Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at tickets.opscode.comfor  
> > > > > the CHEF project, knife component.
> > > > > 
> > > > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<[maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > > > > ([mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to do,  
> > > > > > > but I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added  
> > > > > > > it to my  
> > > > > > > local .chef directory.  
> > > > > > > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you  
> > > > > > > create  
> > > > > > > the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first  
> > > > > > > user.  
> > > > > > > Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After  
> > > > > > > that you  
> > > > > > > can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new  
> > > > > > > admin  
> > > > > > > users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to  
> > > > > > > create  
> > > > > > > a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.
> > > > > 
> > > > > --  
> > > > > Dan DeLeo
> > 
> > --  
> > Opscode, Inc.  
> > Adam Jacob, Chief Product Officer  
> > T: (206) 619-7151 E: [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/10 "2011-09-19T17:37:43Z")

</div>

Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation for  
knife usage on windows is really confusing.

It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.

I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide talks  
about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
windows).

Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make a  
mistake?

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 12:26 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> I'm just leaving them behind for now...
> 
> There are steps in setting up a new chef node for editing  
> cookbooks/receipies/etc:
> 
> - If you're using hosted chef, copy over your  
> YOUR\_ORGANIZATION\_NAME-validator.pem to  
> c:\chef\YOUR\_ORGANIZATION\_NAME-validator.pem
> - Copy your validation.pem provided by your server or the platform to  
> c:\chef\validation.pem
> 
> If I'm not using hosted chef, what should this validator file be named?
> 
> Where does one retrieve the validation.pem file from the server? So far  
> I've scp'd it around, is that the right way to do this if I have chef-server  
> up and running?
> 
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 2:07 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > Excellent - ok, so that clears up a few other things.
> > 
> > If I want to use knife, I need to install chef-client.
> > 
> > But now I have several clients created that I can't delete from the server  
> > (I'm going through the webui).
> > 
> > Any other suggestions?
> > 
> > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Adam Jacob [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > Knife uses chef as a library, so not really feasible to separate them  
> > > without quite a bit more work.
> > > 
> > > Adam
> > > 
> > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Done -
> > > > 
> > > > [http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623](http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-2623)
> > > > 
> > > > I'm going to go look at the source now...
> > > > 
> > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > So here's a question that isn't clear to me by looking over the  
> > > > > documentation.
> > > > > 
> > > > > If you wanted to trigger deployments, could you just have ONLY knife  
> > > > > installed?
> > > > > 
> > > > > It seems like if you want knife, you also have to have chef-client  
> > > > > installed.
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 11:50 AM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)  
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > On Friday, September 16, 2011 at 6:25 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > So I ran the git commit command by hand with " instead of single  
> > > > > > > quotes:
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m 'Import chef-client  
> > > > > > > version  
> > > > > > > 1.0.2'  
> > > > > > > error: pathspec 'version' did not match any file(s) known to git.  
> > > > > > > error: pathspec '1.0.2'' did not match any file(s) known to git.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > D:\buildtools\chef\cookbooks\>git commit -m "Import chef-client  
> > > > > > > version  
> > > > > > > 1.0.2"  
> > > > > > > [chef-vendor-chef-client 0b23e8c] Import chef-client version 1.0.2  
> > > > > > > 19 files changed, 1112 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/README.md ([http://README.md](http://README.md))  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/attributes/default.rb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.json  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/metadata.rb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/config.rb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/default.rb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/delete\_validation.rb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/recipes/service.rb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/arch/conf.d/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/arch/rc.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/chef-client.pill.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644 chef-client/templates/default/client.rb.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/default/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/debian/init/chef-client.conf.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/init.d/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/redhat/sysconfig/chef-client.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-log-run.erb  
> > > > > > > create mode 100644  
> > > > > > > chef-client/templates/default/sv-chef-client-run.erb
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Any suggestions where this is controlled or why this is borked like  
> > > > > > > this?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > The code is here:
> > > 
> > > [https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook\_site\_install.rb](https://github.com/opscode/chef/blob/master/chef/lib/chef/knife/cookbook_site_install.rb)
> > > 
> > > > > > Sounds like a bug, you should file a ticket at tickets.opscode.comfor  
> > > > > > the CHEF project, knife component.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Maven User \<  
> > > > > > > [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)  
> > > > > > > ([mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com))\> wrote:
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Ok, made it by this - not sure if this was the right thing to  
> > > > > > > > do,  
> > > > > > > > but I pulled down the pem files from the master server and added  
> > > > > > > > it to my  
> > > > > > > > local .chef directory.  
> > > > > > > > Yeah, generally each user should be using his own key. How did you  
> > > > > > > > create  
> > > > > > > > the first one? `knife configure -i` is designed to create your first  
> > > > > > > > user.  
> > > > > > > > Then you'd copy the key that it creates to your workstation. After  
> > > > > > > > that you  
> > > > > > > > can use `knife client create -a -n -f KEYFILE USERNAME` to create new  
> > > > > > > > admin  
> > > > > > > > users. From where you're at now, I'd recommend using that command to  
> > > > > > > > create  
> > > > > > > > a new user for yourself instead of using the webui user.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > --  
> > > > > > Dan DeLeo
> > > 
> > > --  
> > > Opscode, Inc.  
> > > Adam Jacob, Chief Product Officer  
> > > T: (206) 619-7151 E: [adam@opscode.com](mailto:adam@opscode.com)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kallistec](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/kallistec/32/23_2.png) [@kallistec](https://discourse.chef.io/u/kallistec)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/11 "2011-09-20T16:28:50Z")

</div>

On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:

> Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> 
> It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> 
> I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in windows).
> 
> Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make a mistake?

What documentation are you using?

--  
Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/12 "2011-09-20T17:19:36Z")

</div>

[http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)

??

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:

> On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> 
> > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation for  
> > knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > 
> > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
> > commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > 
> > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide  
> > talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
> > windows).
> > 
> > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make a  
> > mistake?
> 
> What documentation are you using?
> 
> --  
> Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/13 "2011-09-20T18:18:29Z")

</div>

It gets even more confusing.

So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely  
necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation,  
there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are  
those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on  
windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and  
don't want to just run off and start installing gems.

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> 
> ??
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:
> 
> > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > 
> > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation  
> > > for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > 
> > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
> > > commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > 
> > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide  
> > > talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
> > > windows).
> > > 
> > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make a  
> > > mistake?
> > 
> > What documentation are you using?
> > 
> > --  
> > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jessica\_Bourne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/jessica_bourne/32/684_2.png) [@Jessica\_Bourne](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jessica_Bourne)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/14 "2011-09-20T22:35:28Z")

</div>

Hi Maven,

We've actually been working on updating our installation instructions,  
including the documentation on Windows. They won't be completed for a few  
more weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once they are in draft so  
we can be sure your concerns are addressed.

The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some of them are what enable  
you to ssh from that node. If you're still getting errors after installing  
the gems on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread with the  
command you are using and the error you are getting, as well as the Windows  
version. Without specific errors it can be difficult to figure out why knife  
ssh is failing on that node.

Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes, more information on it  
can be found on this wiki page:  
[http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)

Thanks,  
Jessica

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> It gets even more confusing.
> 
> So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely  
> necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation,  
> there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are  
> those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on  
> windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and  
> don't want to just run off and start installing gems.
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > 
> > ??
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation  
> > > > for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > > 
> > > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
> > > > commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > > 
> > > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide  
> > > > talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
> > > > windows).
> > > > 
> > > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make a  
> > > > mistake?
> > > 
> > > What documentation are you using?
> > > 
> > > --  
> > > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/15 "2011-09-21T13:44:32Z")

</div>

Cool - I'd love to help out in any way to document this process (it's been  
pretty painful).

FWIW - it'd be HUGELY helpful if all instructions for each platform were  
organized by platform.

Right now, there are "how to setup chef on windows", a "knife-windows" and  
then finally a generalized "knife" pages. All of which have little bits  
needed to get things working successfully on windows (something I _still_  
haven't managed).

Just so I'm clear - I can jump right to the link below to set up knife on  
windows? Then I have to go to the generalized Knife page and also install  
those gems?

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com) wrote:

> Hi Maven,
> 
> We've actually been working on updating our installation instructions,  
> including the documentation on Windows. They won't be completed for a few  
> more weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once they are in draft so  
> we can be sure your concerns are addressed.
> 
> The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some of them are what  
> enable you to ssh from that node. If you're still getting errors after  
> installing the gems on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread  
> with the command you are using and the error you are getting, as well as the  
> Windows version. Without specific errors it can be difficult to figure out  
> why knife ssh is failing on that node.
> 
> Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes, more information on  
> it can be found on this wiki page:  
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> 
> Thanks,  
> Jessica
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > It gets even more confusing.
> > 
> > So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely  
> > necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation,  
> > there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are  
> > those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on  
> > windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and  
> > don't want to just run off and start installing gems.
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > 
> > > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > > 
> > > ??
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)wrote:
> > > 
> > > > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation  
> > > > > for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > > > 
> > > > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
> > > > > commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide  
> > > > > talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
> > > > > windows).
> > > > > 
> > > > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make  
> > > > > a mistake?
> > > > 
> > > > What documentation are you using?
> > > > 
> > > > --  
> > > > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/16 "2011-09-21T17:15:34Z")

</div>

By the way - this page:

[http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)

Suggests ruby 1.8.7, but then this one:

[http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)

Requires 1.9.X+

:-/

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> Cool - I'd love to help out in any way to document this process (it's been  
> pretty painful).
> 
> FWIW - it'd be HUGELY helpful if all instructions for each platform were  
> organized by platform.
> 
> Right now, there are "how to setup chef on windows", a "knife-windows" and  
> then finally a generalized "knife" pages. All of which have little bits  
> needed to get things working successfully on windows (something I _still_  
> haven't managed).
> 
> Just so I'm clear - I can jump right to the link below to set up knife on  
> windows? Then I have to go to the generalized Knife page and also install  
> those gems?
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com)wrote:
> 
> > Hi Maven,
> > 
> > We've actually been working on updating our installation instructions,  
> > including the documentation on Windows. They won't be completed for a few  
> > more weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once they are in draft so  
> > we can be sure your concerns are addressed.
> > 
> > The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some of them are what  
> > enable you to ssh from that node. If you're still getting errors after  
> > installing the gems on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread  
> > with the command you are using and the error you are getting, as well as the  
> > Windows version. Without specific errors it can be difficult to figure out  
> > why knife ssh is failing on that node.
> > 
> > Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes, more information on  
> > it can be found on this wiki page:  
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> > 
> > Thanks,  
> > Jessica
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > 
> > > It gets even more confusing.
> > > 
> > > So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely  
> > > necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation,  
> > > there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are  
> > > those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on  
> > > windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and  
> > > don't want to just run off and start installing gems.
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > > 
> > > > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > > > 
> > > > ??
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation  
> > > > > > for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
> > > > > > commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide  
> > > > > > talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
> > > > > > windows).
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make  
> > > > > > a mistake?
> > > > > 
> > > > > What documentation are you using?
> > > > > 
> > > > > --  
> > > > > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jessica\_Bourne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/jessica_bourne/32/684_2.png) [@Jessica\_Bourne](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Jessica_Bourne)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/17 "2011-09-21T20:41:23Z")

</div>

Hi Maven,

I completely agree, we've been working on separating instructions based on  
OS as well as type of install (client vs workstation). This should make it  
clearer what is needed to run both. Client has chef-client configured so  
they can run recipes, and workstations have knife configured so they can  
manage the nodes. It isn't necessary to run both on a node unless you want  
to run recipes on it and manage other nodes from it. The directions  
currently explain how to set the node up with both, but it may not be needed  
depending on what you want to do with your install.

The instructions on the Installation on Windows page will guide you through  
almost everything you need for a workstation, except for SSH  
and bootstrapping new nodes from it. I'd recommend installing the gems on  
the knife page, you will definitely need at least the net-ssh packages to  
use SSH. Afterwards you can confirm you can SSH, and then follow the knife  
windows bootstrap guide to bootstrap new nodes with knife if needed. The  
gems really should be included on the Installation on Windows page to make  
this clearer.

The knife windows bootstrap page is separate because not everyone who  
installs Windows will need to bootstrap new Windows nodes. This page can be  
used on Mac or Linux as well, to bootstrap new Windows nodes from that  
workstation instead. If you do decide to bootstrap new nodes from this  
machine you will need 1.9.X, but otherwise you can use Ruby 1.8.7 without  
issues. It really just depends on how you'd like to have your nodes  
managed.

If you have a Mac or Linux machine available, you could always just try  
setting it up as the workstation instead and then using the knife-windows  
bootstrap plugin to bootstrap new nodes as clients from it as there is a bit  
more documentation on those OSes right now. If you did it this way no  
configuration should be needed on the Windows machine except for SSH or  
WinRM access, and the bootstrap plugin would install ruby, gems, and  
chef-client. It would not configure knife though, so you'd need to manage  
the nodes from the Linux/Mac workstation in this type of setup.

If you're still getting errors after installing those gems on Windows, feel  
free to update this thread with some more information on the errors you are  
getting.

Thanks,  
Jessica

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:

> By the way - this page:
> 
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> 
> Suggests ruby 1.8.7, but then this one:
> 
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> 
> Requires 1.9.X+
> 
> :-/
> 
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > Cool - I'd love to help out in any way to document this process (it's been  
> > pretty painful).
> > 
> > FWIW - it'd be HUGELY helpful if all instructions for each platform were  
> > organized by platform.
> > 
> > Right now, there are "how to setup chef on windows", a "knife-windows" and  
> > then finally a generalized "knife" pages. All of which have little bits  
> > needed to get things working successfully on windows (something I _still_  
> > haven't managed).
> > 
> > Just so I'm clear - I can jump right to the link below to set up knife on  
> > windows? Then I have to go to the generalized Knife page and also install  
> > those gems?
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com)wrote:
> > 
> > > Hi Maven,
> > > 
> > > We've actually been working on updating our installation instructions,  
> > > including the documentation on Windows. They won't be completed for a few  
> > > more weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once they are in draft so  
> > > we can be sure your concerns are addressed.
> > > 
> > > The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some of them are what  
> > > enable you to ssh from that node. If you're still getting errors after  
> > > installing the gems on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread  
> > > with the command you are using and the error you are getting, as well as the  
> > > Windows version. Without specific errors it can be difficult to figure out  
> > > why knife ssh is failing on that node.
> > > 
> > > Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes, more information on  
> > > it can be found on this wiki page:  
> > > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> > > 
> > > Thanks,  
> > > Jessica
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > > 
> > > > It gets even more confusing.
> > > > 
> > > > So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely  
> > > > necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation,  
> > > > there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are  
> > > > those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on  
> > > > windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and  
> > > > don't want to just run off and start installing gems.
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > > > > 
> > > > > ??
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the  
> > > > > > > documentation for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife  
> > > > > > > commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide  
> > > > > > > talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in  
> > > > > > > windows).
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I  
> > > > > > > make a mistake?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > What documentation are you using?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > --  
> > > > > > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Maven\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Maven\_User](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Maven_User)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/18 "2011-09-22T14:26:37Z")

</div>

Jessica - thank you so much!

The learning curve has felt very steep, these types of exchanges have helped  
me out a ton.

The final thread/step in this process is getting around having to specify my  
password when running knife.

So when I do something like:

C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo  
chef-client"  
WARNING: Failed to connect to node[] --  
Net::SSH::AuthenticationFailed: @

But when I do this:

C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo  
chef-client" -P   
 knife sudo password:  
Enter your password:  
  
 [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:14 -0400] INFO: \*\*\* Chef 0.10.4 \*\*\*  
 [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] INFO: HTTP Request Returned  
401 Unauthorized: Failed to authenticate. Ensure that your client key is  
valid.  
 [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to  
/var/cache/chef/chef-stacktrace.out  
 [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL:  
Net::HTTPServerException: 401 "Unauthorized"

Isn't the authorization handled via the pem files or do I need to set up ssh  
keys as well?

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 4:41 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com) wrote:

> Hi Maven,
> 
> I completely agree, we've been working on separating instructions based on  
> OS as well as type of install (client vs workstation). This should make it  
> clearer what is needed to run both. Client has chef-client configured so  
> they can run recipes, and workstations have knife configured so they can  
> manage the nodes. It isn't necessary to run both on a node unless you want  
> to run recipes on it and manage other nodes from it. The directions  
> currently explain how to set the node up with both, but it may not be needed  
> depending on what you want to do with your install.
> 
> The instructions on the Installation on Windows page will guide you through  
> almost everything you need for a workstation, except for SSH  
> and bootstrapping new nodes from it. I'd recommend installing the gems on  
> the knife page, you will definitely need at least the net-ssh packages to  
> use SSH. Afterwards you can confirm you can SSH, and then follow the knife  
> windows bootstrap guide to bootstrap new nodes with knife if needed. The  
> gems really should be included on the Installation on Windows page to make  
> this clearer.
> 
> The knife windows bootstrap page is separate because not everyone who  
> installs Windows will need to bootstrap new Windows nodes. This page can be  
> used on Mac or Linux as well, to bootstrap new Windows nodes from that  
> workstation instead. If you do decide to bootstrap new nodes from this  
> machine you will need 1.9.X, but otherwise you can use Ruby 1.8.7 without  
> issues. It really just depends on how you'd like to have your nodes  
> managed.
> 
> If you have a Mac or Linux machine available, you could always just try  
> setting it up as the workstation instead and then using the knife-windows  
> bootstrap plugin to bootstrap new nodes as clients from it as there is a bit  
> more documentation on those OSes right now. If you did it this way no  
> configuration should be needed on the Windows machine except for SSH or  
> WinRM access, and the bootstrap plugin would install ruby, gems, and  
> chef-client. It would not configure knife though, so you'd need to manage  
> the nodes from the Linux/Mac workstation in this type of setup.
> 
> If you're still getting errors after installing those gems on Windows, feel  
> free to update this thread with some more information on the errors you are  
> getting.
> 
> Thanks,  
> Jessica
> 
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> 
> > By the way - this page:
> > 
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > 
> > Suggests ruby 1.8.7, but then this one:
> > 
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> > 
> > Requires 1.9.X+
> > 
> > :-/
> > 
> > On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > 
> > > Cool - I'd love to help out in any way to document this process (it's  
> > > been pretty painful).
> > > 
> > > FWIW - it'd be HUGELY helpful if all instructions for each platform were  
> > > organized by platform.
> > > 
> > > Right now, there are "how to setup chef on windows", a "knife-windows"  
> > > and then finally a generalized "knife" pages. All of which have little bits  
> > > needed to get things working successfully on windows (something I _still_  
> > > haven't managed).
> > > 
> > > Just so I'm clear - I can jump right to the link below to set up knife on  
> > > windows? Then I have to go to the generalized Knife page and also install  
> > > those gems?
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com)wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Hi Maven,
> > > > 
> > > > We've actually been working on updating our installation instructions,  
> > > > including the documentation on Windows. They won't be completed for a few  
> > > > more weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once they are in draft so  
> > > > we can be sure your concerns are addressed.
> > > > 
> > > > The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some of them are what  
> > > > enable you to ssh from that node. If you're still getting errors after  
> > > > installing the gems on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread  
> > > > with the command you are using and the error you are getting, as well as the  
> > > > Windows version. Without specific errors it can be difficult to figure out  
> > > > why knife ssh is failing on that node.
> > > > 
> > > > Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes, more information  
> > > > on it can be found on this wiki page:  
> > > > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks,  
> > > > Jessica
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > It gets even more confusing.
> > > > > 
> > > > > So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely  
> > > > > necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation,  
> > > > > there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are  
> > > > > those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on  
> > > > > windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and  
> > > > > don't want to just run off and start installing gems.
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com)wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > ??
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com)wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the  
> > > > > > > > documentation for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running  
> > > > > > > > knife commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows  
> > > > > > > > guide talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef  
> > > > > > > > (in windows).
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I  
> > > > > > > > make a mistake?
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > What documentation are you using?
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > --  
> > > > > > > Dan DeLeo

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dennybaa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/dennybaa/32/286_2.png) [@dennybaa](https://discourse.chef.io/u/dennybaa)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/19 "2011-09-22T15:02:32Z")

</div>

Hello Maven,

On 09/22/2011 06:26 PM, Maven User wrote:

> Jessica - thank you so much!
> 
> The learning curve has felt very steep, these types of exchanges have  
> helped me out a ton.
> 
> The final thread/step in this process is getting around having to  
> specify my password when running knife.
> 
> So when I do something like:
> 
> C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo  
> chef-client"  
> WARNING: Failed to connect to node[] --  
> Net::SSH::AuthenticationFailed: @
> 
> But when I do this:
> 
> C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo  
> chef-client" -P   
> knife sudo password:  
> Enter your password:  
>   
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:14 -0400] INFO: \*\*\* Chef 0.10.4 \*\*\*  
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] INFO: HTTP Request  
> Returned 401 Unauthorized: Failed to authenticate. Ensure that your  
> client key is valid.  
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL: Stacktrace  
> dumped to /var/cache/chef/chef-stacktrace.out  
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL:  
> Net::HTTPServerException: 401 "Unauthorized"
> 
> Isn't the authorization handled via the pem files or do I need to set  
> up ssh keys as well?

As I can see you have successfully run a knife ssh command by suppling  
the right password. You mus provide knife ssh with either a password or  
pem key path (-i option). Here you can see that knife ssh has sshed into  
the node and tried to run chef-client there but it failed. The reason is  
probably that you haven't configured chef-client there. Make sure you  
have the right chef configuration directory with client.rb and  
validation/client key on the remote machine.

Denis

> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 4:41 PM, Jessica Bourne \<[jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com)  
> [mailto:jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com)\> wrote:
> 
> ```
> Hi Maven,
> 
> I completely agree, we've been working
> on separating instructions based on OS as well as type of install
> (client vs workstation). This should make it clearer what is
> needed to run both. Client has chef-client configured so they can
> run recipes, and workstations have knife configured so they can
> manage the nodes. It isn't necessary to run both on a node unless
> you want to run recipes on it and manage other nodes from it. The
> directions currently explain how to set the node up with both, but
> it may not be needed depending on what you want to do with your
> install.
> 
> The instructions on the Installation on Windows page will guide
> you through almost everything you need for a workstation, except
> for SSH and bootstrapping new nodes from it. I'd recommend
> installing the gems on the knife page, you will definitely need at
> least the net-ssh packages to use SSH. Afterwards you can confirm
> you can SSH, and then follow the knife windows bootstrap guide to
> bootstrap new nodes with knife if needed. The gems really should
> be included on the Installation on Windows page to make this clearer.
> 
> The knife windows bootstrap page is separate because not everyone
> who installs Windows will need to bootstrap new Windows nodes.
> This page can be used on Mac or Linux as well, to bootstrap new
> Windows nodes from that workstation instead. If you do decide to
> bootstrap new nodes from this machine you will need 1.9.X, but
> otherwise you can use Ruby 1.8.7 without issues. It really just
> depends on how you'd like to have your nodes managed.
> 
> If you have a Mac or Linux machine available, you could always
> just try setting it up as the workstation instead and then using
> the knife-windows bootstrap plugin to bootstrap new nodes as
> clients from it as there is a bit more documentation on those OSes
> right now. If you did it this way no configuration should be
> needed on the Windows machine except for SSH or WinRM access, and
> the bootstrap plugin would install ruby, gems, and chef-client. It
> would not configure knife though, so you'd need to manage the
> nodes from the Linux/Mac workstation in this type of setup.
> 
> If you're still getting errors after installing those gems on
> Windows, feel free to update this thread with some more
> information on the errors you are getting.
> 
> Thanks,
> Jessica
> 
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Maven User
> <maven.2.user@gmail.com <mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> By the way - this page:
> 
> http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows
> 
> Suggests ruby 1.8.7, but then this one:
> 
> http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap
> 
> Requires 1.9.X+
> 
> :-/
> 
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Maven User
> <maven.2.user@gmail.com <mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> Cool - I'd love to help out in any way to document this
> process (it's been pretty painful).
> 
> FWIW - it'd be HUGELY helpful if all instructions for each
> platform were organized by platform.
> 
> Right now, there are "how to setup chef on windows", a
> "knife-windows" and then finally a generalized "knife"
> pages. All of which have little bits needed to get things
> working successfully on windows (something I _still_
> haven't managed).
> 
> Just so I'm clear - I can jump right to the link below to
> set up knife on windows? Then I have to go to the
> generalized Knife page and also install those gems?
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Jessica Bourne
> <jessica@opscode.com <mailto:jessica@opscode.com>> wrote:
> 
> Hi Maven,
> 
> We've actually been working on updating our
> installation instructions, including the documentation
> on Windows. They won't be completed for a few more
> weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once
> they are in draft so we can be sure your concerns are
> addressed.
> 
> The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some
> of them are what enable you to ssh from that node. If
> you're still getting errors after installing the gems
> on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread
> with the command you are using and the error you are
> getting, as well as the Windows version. Without
> specific errors it can be difficult to figure out why
> knife ssh is failing on that node.
> 
> Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes,
> more information on it can be found on this wiki page:
> http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap
> 
> Thanks,
> Jessica
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User
> <maven.2.user@gmail.com
> <mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> It gets even more confusing.
> 
> So it starts there but talks about knife-windows
> (is that absolutely necessary?) then if you click
> into the standard "knife" documentation, there's a
> big blue box that states "Knife requires some
> extra gems!" - are those required if you don't
> plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on
> windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but
> I'm done flailing and don't want to just run off
> and start installing gems.
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User
> <maven.2.user@gmail.com
> <mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows
> 
> ??
> 
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo
> <dan@kallistec.com <mailto:dan@kallistec.com>>
> wrote:
> 
> On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM,
> Maven User wrote:
> > Thanks again for all the tips up until
> this point - the documentation for knife
> usage on windows is really confusing.
> >
> > It just skips from running the client
> install/setup to running knife commands -
> nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> >
> > I'm also not sure if this is expected
> behavior but the windows guide talks about
> C:\chef\.chef yet knife creates a lot of
> things in ~/.chef (in windows).
> >
> > Do things need to be replicated between
> these two areas or did I make a mistake?
> >
> What documentation are you using?
> 
> --
> Dan DeLeo
> 
> ```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aaron\_Abramson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@Aaron\_Abramson](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Aaron_Abramson)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/knife-on-windows/2034/20 "2011-09-22T15:28:56Z")

</div>

> C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo chef-client" -P   
> knife sudo password:  
> Enter your password:  
>   
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:14 -0400] INFO: \*\*\* Chef 0.10.4 \*\*\*  
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 401 Unauthorized: Failed to authenticate. Ensure that your client key is valid.  
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /var/cache/chef/chef-stacktrace.out  
> [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL: Net::HTTPServerException: 401 "Unauthorized"

knife ssh "role:" "sudo chef-client" -P

As Denis said, you're successfully connecting to the server with your users password. And you can see that it executed "sudo chef-client", and then was waiting for input for the "sudo password".

Update your sudoers file to grant passwordless sudo access for your user.

But, since you're not defining a username for knife ssh (ie -x ubuntu, or -x admin), knife is SSH'ing as root. So your command really should be:

knife ssh "role:" "chef-client" -P

Since you're already the root user on the remote machine, and have no need to "sudo" to gain superuser privileges again.

On Sep 22, 2011, at 10:02 AM, Denis Barishev wrote:

> Hello Maven,
> 
> On 09/22/2011 06:26 PM, Maven User wrote:
> 
> > Jessica - thank you so much!
> > 
> > The learning curve has felt very steep, these types of exchanges have helped me out a ton.
> > 
> > The final thread/step in this process is getting around having to specify my password when running knife.
> > 
> > So when I do something like:
> > 
> > C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo chef-client"  
> > WARNING: Failed to connect to node[] -- Net::SSH::AuthenticationFailed: @
> > 
> > But when I do this:
> > 
> > C:\chef\>knife ssh "role:" "sudo chef-client" -P   
> > knife sudo password:  
> > Enter your password:  
> >   
> > [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:14 -0400] INFO: \*\*\* Chef 0.10.4 \*\*\*  
> > [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] INFO: HTTP Request Returned 401 Unauthorized: Failed to authenticate. Ensure that your client key is valid.  
> > [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /var/cache/chef/chef-stacktrace.out  
> > [Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:23:15 -0400] FATAL: Net::HTTPServerException: 401 "Unauthorized"
> > 
> > Isn't the authorization handled via the pem files or do I need to set up ssh keys as well?
> 
> As I can see you have successfully run a knife ssh command by suppling the right password. You mus provide knife ssh with either a password or pem key path (-i option). Here you can see that knife ssh has sshed into the node and tried to run chef-client there but it failed. The reason is probably that you haven't configured chef-client there. Make sure you have the right chef configuration directory with client.rb and validation/client key on the remote machine.
> 
> Denis
> 
> > On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 4:41 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com) wrote:  
> > Hi Maven,
> > 
> > I completely agree, we've been working on separating instructions based on OS as well as type of install (client vs workstation). This should make it clearer what is needed to run both. Client has chef-client configured so they can run recipes, and workstations have knife configured so they can manage the nodes. It isn't necessary to run both on a node unless you want to run recipes on it and manage other nodes from it. The directions currently explain how to set the node up with both, but it may not be needed depending on what you want to do with your install.
> > 
> > The instructions on the Installation on Windows page will guide you through almost everything you need for a workstation, except for SSH and bootstrapping new nodes from it. I'd recommend installing the gems on the knife page, you will definitely need at least the net-ssh packages to use SSH. Afterwards you can confirm you can SSH, and then follow the knife windows bootstrap guide to bootstrap new nodes with knife if needed. The gems really should be included on the Installation on Windows page to make this clearer.
> > 
> > The knife windows bootstrap page is separate because not everyone who installs Windows will need to bootstrap new Windows nodes. This page can be used on Mac or Linux as well, to bootstrap new Windows nodes from that workstation instead. If you do decide to bootstrap new nodes from this machine you will need 1.9.X, but otherwise you can use Ruby 1.8.7 without issues. It really just depends on how you'd like to have your nodes managed.
> > 
> > If you have a Mac or Linux machine available, you could always just try setting it up as the workstation instead and then using the knife-windows bootstrap plugin to bootstrap new nodes as clients from it as there is a bit more documentation on those OSes right now. If you did it this way no configuration should be needed on the Windows machine except for SSH or WinRM access, and the bootstrap plugin would install ruby, gems, and chef-client. It would not configure knife though, so you'd need to manage the nodes from the Linux/Mac workstation in this type of setup.
> > 
> > If you're still getting errors after installing those gems on Windows, feel free to update this thread with some more information on the errors you are getting.
> > 
> > Thanks,  
> > Jessica
> > 
> > On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:  
> > By the way - this page:
> > 
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > 
> > Suggests ruby 1.8.7, but then this one:
> > 
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> > 
> > Requires 1.9.X+
> > 
> > :-/
> > 
> > On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:  
> > Cool - I'd love to help out in any way to document this process (it's been pretty painful).
> > 
> > FWIW - it'd be HUGELY helpful if all instructions for each platform were organized by platform.
> > 
> > Right now, there are "how to setup chef on windows", a "knife-windows" and then finally a generalized "knife" pages. All of which have little bits needed to get things working successfully on windows (something I _still_ haven't managed).
> > 
> > Just so I'm clear - I can jump right to the link below to set up knife on windows? Then I have to go to the generalized Knife page and also install those gems?
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM, Jessica Bourne [jessica@opscode.com](mailto:jessica@opscode.com) wrote:  
> > Hi Maven,
> > 
> > We've actually been working on updating our installation instructions, including the documentation on Windows. They won't be completed for a few more weeks, but I'll be sure to review this thread once they are in draft so we can be sure your concerns are addressed.
> > 
> > The gems listed on the knife doc are necessary, some of them are what enable you to ssh from that node. If you're still getting errors after installing the gems on the knife page, feel free to respond to this thread with the command you are using and the error you are getting, as well as the Windows version. Without specific errors it can be difficult to figure out why knife ssh is failing on that node.
> > 
> > Knife-windows is used to bootstrap new windows nodes, more information on it can be found on this wiki page: [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Knife+Windows+Bootstrap)
> > 
> > Thanks,  
> > Jessica
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:  
> > It gets even more confusing.
> > 
> > So it starts there but talks about knife-windows (is that absolutely necessary?) then if you click into the standard "knife" documentation, there's a big blue box that states "Knife requires some extra gems!" - are those required if you don't plan on doing any cloud work? I've noticed on windows, I can't do "knife ssh" without errors but I'm done flailing and don't want to just run off and start installing gems.
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Maven User [maven.2.user@gmail.com](mailto:maven.2.user@gmail.com) wrote:  
> > [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installation+on+Windows)
> > 
> > ??
> > 
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Daniel DeLeo [dan@kallistec.com](mailto:dan@kallistec.com) wrote:  
> > On Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Maven User wrote:
> > 
> > > Thanks again for all the tips up until this point - the documentation for knife usage on windows is really confusing.
> > > 
> > > It just skips from running the client install/setup to running knife commands - nothing about the "knife configure -i" step.
> > > 
> > > I'm also not sure if this is expected behavior but the windows guide talks about C:\chef.chef yet knife creates a lot of things in ~/.chef (in windows).
> > > 
> > > Do things need to be replicated between these two areas or did I make a mistake?
> > 
> > What documentation are you using?
> > 
> > --  
> > Dan DeLeo

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