Exception has occurred: CLR/System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.PSSnapInException when running simple PowerShell command

Question

I'm trying to run an example C# program that's supposed to invoke a simple PowerShell command. Unfortunately, I'm getting the following error message:

Exception has occurred: CLR/System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.PSSnapInException
An unhandled exception of type 'System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.PSSnapInException' occurred in System.Management.Automation.dll: 'System error.'
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.PSSnapInHelpers.LoadPSSnapInAssembly(PSSnapInInfo psSnapInInfo)
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.InitialSessionState.ImportPSSnapIn(PSSnapInInfo psSnapInInfo, PSSnapInException& warning)
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.InitialSessionState.CreateDefault()
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(PSHost host)
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace()
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.Worker.CreateRunspaceIfNeededAndDoWork(Runspace rsToUse, Boolean isSync)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.CoreInvokeHelper[TInput,TOutput](PSDataCollection`1 input, PSDataCollection`1 output, PSInvocationSettings settings)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.CoreInvoke[TInput,TOutput](PSDataCollection`1 input, PSDataCollection`1 output, PSInvocationSettings settings)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.Invoke(IEnumerable input, PSInvocationSettings settings)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.Invoke()
   at ttps3.Program.Main(String[] args) in Z:\projects\easybell\ttps3\Program.cs:line 21

I'm running on C# SDK 5 and System.Management.Automation 7.1.3

Answer 1

System.Management.Automation is only usable in very limited scenarios . you can install the Microsoft.PowerShell.SDK nuget package instead.

Microsoft.PowerShell.SDK

Microsoft.PowerShell.SDK is a meta-package that pulls together all of the components of the PowerShell SDK into a single NuGet package. A self-contained .NET application can use Microsoft.PowerShell.SDK to run arbitrary PowerShell functionality without depending on any external PowerShell installations or libraries.

System.Management.Automation

The System.Management.Automation package is the heart of the PowerShell SDK and exists on NuGet chiefly as an asset for Microsoft.PowerShell.SDK to pull in. However, it can also be used directly as a package for smaller hosting scenarios and version-targeting modules.

Specifically, the System.Management.Automation package may be a preferable provider of PowerShell functionality when:

• You're only looking to use PowerShell language functionality (in the System.Management.Automation.Language namespace) like the PowerShell parser, AST and AST visitor APIs (for example for static analysis of PowerShell).
• You only wish to execute specific commands from the Microsoft.PowerShell.Core module and can execute them in a session state created with the CreateDefault2 factory method.

PowerShellStandard.Library and other PowerShell reference assemblies

These reference assemblies do not include a runtime and require a global powershell installation that matches the reference assembly version.