One of the things that we have become used to in PowerShell v1 and v2 is the help files. They are installed with PowerShell, available on line and a graphical version is available for download. The online help files are updated over time but the local files aren’t. This changes with PowerShell v3.
When you install PowerShell v3 (or install Windows 8/Windows Server 8) help files are not installed. Thats right you don’t get help files available. If you try using help you get this
PS> get-help get-process
NAME
Get-Process
SYNTAX
Get-Process [[-Name] <string[]>] [-ComputerName <string[]>] [-Module] [-FileVersionInfo] [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process -Id <int[]> [-ComputerName <string[]>] [-Module] [-FileVersionInfo] [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process -InputObject <Process[]> [-ComputerName <string[]>] [-Module] [-FileVersionInfo] [<CommonParameters>]
ALIASES
gps
ps
REMARKS
Get-Help cannot find the Help files for this cmdlet on this computer. It is displaying only partial help.
— To download and install Help files for the module that includes this cmdlet, use Update-Help.
— To view the Help topic for this cmdlet online, type: “Get-Help Get-Process -Online” or
go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113324.
Using –full doesn’t bring more information and –examples doesn’t help either.
This may seem like a huge step backwards – how are we going to work without the local help files. I use them on a regular basis. Help. I want my help files back.
OK – what we get in PowerShell v3 is updateable help. This means that you can pull the help files from the web and get them installed. Notice the Remarks section above about using Update-Help. The PowerShell core module has 3 cmdlets related to help
Get-Help
Save-Help – downloads help files for later use via update-help
Update-Help – downloads and immediately updates help files
To use Save-help or Update-help you need to start PowerShell with elevated privileges (Run as administrator)
NAME
Save-Help
SYNTAX
Save-Help [-DestinationPath] <string[]> [[-Module] <string[]>] [[-UICulture] <string[]>] [-UseDefaultCredentials]
[-Force] [<CommonParameters>]
Save-Help [[-Module] <string[]>] [[-UICulture] <string[]>] -LiteralPath <string[]> [-UseDefaultCredentials]
[-Force] [<CommonParameters>]
PS> get-help Update-Help
NAME
Update-Help
SYNTAX
Update-Help [[-Module] <string[]>] [[-SourcePath] <string[]>] [[-UICulture] <string[]>] [-Recurse]
[-UseDefaultCredentials] [-Force] [<CommonParameters>]
Update-Help [[-Module] <string[]>] [[-UICulture] <string[]>] [-LiteralPath <string[]>] [-Recurse]
[-UseDefaultCredentials] [-Force] [<CommonParameters>]
Notice that we can update the help for individual modules
Lets pull down the help files first
Save-Help -DestinationPath c:\source\helpfiles -UICulture en-US -Force –Verbose
You will see a progress bar and messages like
VERBOSE: Your connection has been redirected to the following URI:
“http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/4/C/34C6B4B6-63FC-46BE-9073-FC75EAD5A136/”
VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Management: Saved
C:\source\helpfiles\Microsoft.PowerShell.Management_eefcb906-b326-4e99-9f54-8b4bb6ef3c6d_en-US_HelpContent.cab. Culture
en-US Version 3.0.0.0
for each help file that is downloaded.
the –Force parameter is interesting as it allows you to run a Save-Help or Update-Help command for the same module more than once each day.
I have found it is sometimes necessary to run save-help or update-help a couple of times to get all of the files downloaded
The help files can then be updated like this
Update-Help -SourcePath c:\source\helpfiles -UICulture en-US -Force –Verbose
You will get messages like this
VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Management: Updated
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-US\Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Management.dll-help.xml. Culture en-US
Version 3.0.0.0
VERBOSE: Microsoft.PowerShell.Core: Updated
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-US\about_WMI_Cmdlets.help.txt. Culture en-US Version 3.0.0.0
Now
get-help Get-Process –full
will give you the help files you know and love
That is a two stage process but ahs the advantage that the help files can be pulled once and put on a network share for access by all systems. This is especially important for my servers where I don’t normally allow access to the Internet
The above tests were performed on PowerShell v3 on Windows 7 SP 1
The alternative is to update the help files directly
Update-Help -UICulture en-US -Force –Verbose
Notice that in all cases I’ve given the UICulture – the help files come as a pair e.g.
Microsoft.PowerShell.Host_56d66100-99a0-4ffc-a12d-eee9a6718aef_en-US_HelpContent.cab
Microsoft.PowerShell.Host_56d66100-99a0-4ffc-a12d-eee9a6718aef_HelpInfo.xml
You need to get the culture right to pull down the correct help files. I use English culture but I’m not sure what other localised versions are available at this stage in the development cycle.
If you are running a 64 bit OS it looks like the help for 64 and 32 bit versions of PowerShell are updated simultaneously.
The help files may not be complete at this stage of Powershell v3 development so don’t be surprised if you don’t get help updates for all modules – especially on Windows 8 server
