Terraform CLI Config File Windows OS

Step-01: Introduction

• Terraform CLI Config File
• Understand about Terraform CLI Config File
• Windows: terraform.rc

Step-02: Create terraform.rc in User Home Directory

• On Windows, the file must be named terraform.rc and placed in the relevant user's %APPDATA% directory.
• The physical location of this directory depends on your Windows version and system configuration; use $env:APPDATA in PowerShell to find its location on your system.
• On Windows, beware of Windows Explorer's default behavior of hiding filename extensions.
• Terraform will not recognize a file named terraform.rc.txt as a CLI configuration file, even though Windows Explorer may display its name as just terraform.rc.
• Use dir from PowerShell or Command Prompt to confirm the filename.

# Find location where we need to put terraform.rc using Powershell
$env:APPDATA

# Create a Folder in C:\ Drive (C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\)
Folder Name: plugin_cache

Step-03: Update terraform.rc with Plugin Cache Folder

plugin_cache_dir = "C:/Users/Administrator/Documents/plugin_cache"
disable_checkpoint = true

Step-04: Execute Terraform Commands

# Change Directory 
cd 66-Terraform-CLI-Config-File-WindowsOS/terraform-manifests

# Terraform Initialize
terraform init

# Verify the contents in Plugin Cache Directory
C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\plugin_cache
C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\plugin_cache\registry.terraform.io\hashicorp

Step-05: Verify if plugins loaded from Cache

# Change Directory 
cd 66-Terraform-CLI-Config-File-WindowsOS/terraform-manifests

# Remove .terraform Folder which contains plugins
Delete folder .terraform

# Terraform Initialize
terraform init

# Sample Output for Reference
PS C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\hashicorp-certified-terraform-associate-on-azure-main\hashicorp-certified-terraform-associate-on-azure-main\66-Terraform-CLI-Config-File-WindowsOS\terraform-manifests> terraform init

Initializing the backend...

Initializing provider plugins...
- Finding hashicorp/external versions matching ">= 2.0.0"...
- Finding hashicorp/azurerm versions matching ">= 2.0.0"...
- Finding hashicorp/random versions matching ">= 3.0.0"...
- Using hashicorp/random v3.1.0 from the shared cache directory
- Using hashicorp/external v2.1.0 from the shared cache directory
- Using hashicorp/azurerm v2.65.0 from the shared cache directory

Step-07: Clean-Up

# Remove .terraform Folder which contains plugins
Delete folder .terraform and file: .terraform.lock.hcl