MajorWiki/05-troubleshooting/ansible-vault-password-file-missing.md

Ansible: Vault Password File Not Found

Error

[WARNING]: Error getting vault password file (default): The vault password file /Users/majorlinux/.ansible/vault_pass was not found
[ERROR]: The vault password file /Users/majorlinux/.ansible/vault_pass was not found

Cause

Ansible is configured to look for a vault password file at ~/.ansible/vault_pass, but the file does not exist. This is typically set in ansible.cfg via the vault_password_file directive.

Solutions

Option 1: Remove the vault config (if you're not using Vault)

Check your ansible.cfg for this line and remove it if Vault is not needed:

[defaults]
vault_password_file = ~/.ansible/vault_pass

Option 2: Create the vault password file

echo 'your_vault_password' > ~/.ansible/vault_pass
chmod 600 ~/.ansible/vault_pass

Security note: Keep permissions tight (600) so only your user can read the file. The actual vault password is stored in Bitwarden under the "Ansible Vault Password" entry.

Option 3: Pass the password at runtime (no file needed)

ansible-playbook test.yml --ask-vault-pass

Diagnosing the Source of the Config

To find which config file is setting vault_password_file, run:

ansible-config dump --only-changed

This shows all non-default config values and their source files. Config is loaded in this order of precedence:

1. ANSIBLE_CONFIG environment variable
2. ./ansible.cfg (current directory)
3. ~/.ansible.cfg
4. /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

Related

• Ansible Getting Started
• Vault password is stored in Bitwarden under "Ansible Vault Password"
• Ansible playbooks live at ~/MajorAnsible on MajorAir/MajorMac