about_PSSnapins
Short description
Describes Windows PowerShell snap-ins and shows how to use and manage them.
Long description
A Windows PowerShell snap-in is a Microsoft .NET Framework assembly that can contain Windows PowerShell providers and cmdlets. Windows PowerShell includes a set of basic snap-ins, but you can extend the power and value of Windows PowerShell by adding snap-ins that contain providers and cmdlets that you create or get from others.
When you add a snap-in, the cmdlets and providers that it contains are immediately available for use in the current session, but the change affects only the current session.
To add the snap-in to all future sessions, save it in your Windows PowerShell
profile. You can also use the Export-Console cmdlet to save the snap-in names
to a console file and then use that saved configuration in future sessions.
Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, the cmdlets that ship with PowerShell are packaged in modules. The exception is Microsoft.PowerShell.Core, which is the only remaining snap-in. The Microsoft.PowerShell.Core snap-in is loaded in every session by default. The remaining modules are loaded automatically on first-use. For more information, see about_Modules.
Find a snap-in
To get a list of the Windows PowerShell snap-ins on your computer, type:
Get-PSSnapin
To get the snap-in for each Windows PowerShell provider, type:
Get-PSProvider | Format-List name, pssnapin
To get all the registered snap-ins on your system or to verify that a snap-in is registered, type:
Get-PSSnapin -registered
To get a list of the cmdlets in a Windows PowerShell snap-in, type:
Get-Command -Module <snap-in_name>
Install a snap-in
The built-in snap-ins are registered in the system and added to the default session when you start Windows PowerShell. However, you have to register snap-ins that you create or obtain from others and then add the snap-ins to your session.
Add a snap-in to the current session
To add a registered snap-in to the current session, use the Add-PsSnapin
cmdlet. For example, to add the Microsoft SQL Server snap-in to the session,
type:
Add-PSSnapin sql
After the command is completed, the providers and cmdlets in the snap-in are available in the session. However, they're available only in the current session unless you save them.
Save a snap-ins
To use a snap-in in future Windows PowerShell sessions, add the Add-PsSnapin
command to your Windows PowerShell profile. Or, export the snap-in names to a
console file.
If you add the Add-PSSnapin command to your profile, it's available in all
future Windows PowerShell sessions. If you export the names of the snap-ins in
your session, you can use the export file only when you need the snap-ins.
To add the Add-PsSnapin command to your Windows PowerShell profile, open your
profile, paste or type the command, and then save the profile. For more
information, see about_Profiles.
To save the snap-ins from a session in console file (.psc1), use the
Export-Console cmdlet. For example, to save the snap-ins in the current
session configuration to the NewConsole.psc1 file in the current directory,
type:
Export-Console NewConsole
For more information, see Export-Console.
Open Windows PowerShell using a console file
To use a console file that includes the snap-in, start Windows PowerShell
(powershell.exe) from the command prompt in cmd.exe or in another Windows
PowerShell session. Use the PsConsoleFile parameter to specify the console
file that includes the snap-in. For example, the following command starts
Windows PowerShell with the NewConsole.psc1 console file:
PowerShell.exe -psconsolefile NewConsole.psc1
The providers and cmdlets in the snap-in are now available for use in the session.
Remove a snap-in
To remove a Windows PowerShell snap-in from the current session, use the
Remove-PsSnapin cmdlet. For example, to remove the SQL Server snap-in from the
current session, type:
Remove-PSSnapin sql
This cmdlet removes the snap-in from the session. The snap-in is still loaded, but the providers and cmdlets that it supports are no longer available.
Log snap-in events
Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, you can record execution events for the
cmdlets in Windows PowerShell modules and snap-ins by setting the
LogPipelineExecutionDetails property of modules and snap-ins to $true.
For more information, see about_EventLogs.
