如何找到 PowerShell cmdlet 的模块？

Question

I'm trying to setup a VM with Hyper-V. I need to run get-vmserver and some related comdlets, but I can't find what module they are in. When I run:

(get-command -name start-transcript).modulename

I get a response

Microsoft.Powershell.Host

But when I run

(get-command -name get-vm).modulename

I get the response that get-vm is not recognized.

I believe this means I must run import-module with some module name, but I can't find a list of "standard" cmdlets and their modules.

Answer 1

That means that PowerShell is not aware of any command called Get-VM .

For a command to be recognized, it must either:

• Be defined in the session.
• Be defined in a loaded module.
• Be defined in a module that meets the criteria for auto-loading

Microsoft's modules tend to be well-formed and support auto-loading, so if it were installed, it would be working.

Therefore I strongly suspect you did not install the Hyper-V module (which is where Get-VM is from).

To see modules that are installed but not necessarily imported, use Get-Module -ListAvailable .

But note that if the module is listed there, and is well-formed, the commands would be available in Get-Command as well.

Demo

Look at a module listed in Get-Module -ListAvailable but not listed if you explicitly call Get-Command -Name . On my system, I'll use VpnClient .

From the output of Get-Module -ListAvailable I can see it has a command Add-VpnConnection .

If I call Get-Command -Name Add-VpnConnection , the call works, and it shows the source of the command as VpnClient .

Also, if I now call Get-Module -Name VpnClient , it will show up whereas before it didn't.

This is because the module was implicitly loaded when Get-Command referenced it.

Answer 2

You are correct in that you must run Import-Module and select the Hyper-V module. Make sure that you have installed the Hyper-V feature on your Windows Server. This can be performed in server manager.

Answer 3

Try:

Find-Module -Command YourCmdletName

Find-Module can find modules that you may not yet have installed, whilst Get-Command only checks modules that you have already installed.

Find-Module checks all registered repositories, by default, only PSGallery. You see the list of repositories that Find-Module searches with:

Get-PSRepository

You can register additional PowerShell repositories with

Register-PSRepository

Once the desired module is identified, you can install it with the Install-Module command:

Install-Module ModuleName