Load the SMO Assemblies in Windows PowerShell

This topic describes how to load the SQL Server Management Object (SMO) assemblies in Windows PowerShell scripts that do not use the SQL Server PowerShell provider.

Before You Begin

The preferred mechanism for loading the SMO assemblies is to load the sqlps module. The SQL Server provider included in the module automatically loads the SMO assemblies, and also implements features that extend the usefulness of the SMO objects in PowerShell scripts.

There are two cases where you may need to load the SMO assemblies directly:

• If your script references a SMO object before the first command that references the provider or cmdlets from the SQL Server snap-ins.

• You want to port SMO code from another language, such as C# or Visual Basic, which does not use the provider or cmdlets.

Example: Loading the SQL Server Management Objects

The following code loads the SMO assemblies:

# Loads the SQL Server Management Objects (SMO)

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

$sqlpsreg="HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.PowerShell.sqlps"

if (Get-ChildItem $sqlpsreg -ErrorAction "SilentlyContinue")
{
    throw "SQL Server Provider for Windows PowerShell is not installed."
}
else
{
    $item = Get-ItemProperty $sqlpsreg
    $sqlpsPath = [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($item.Path)
}


$assemblylist = 
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Dmf ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Instapi ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlWmiManagement ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoExtended ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlTDiagM ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.SString ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.RegisteredServers ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Sdk.Sfc ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.RegSvrEnum ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.WmiEnum ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.ServiceBrokerEnum ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfoExtended ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Collector ",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.CollectorEnum",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Dac",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.DacEnum",
"Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Utility"


foreach ($asm in $assemblylist)
{
    $asm = [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($asm)
}

Push-Location
cd $sqlpsPath
update-FormatData -prependpath SQLProvider.Format.ps1xml 
Pop-Location

See Also

Concepts

SQL Server PowerShell