How to load assemblies in PowerShell?

Question

The following PowerShell code

#Get a server object which corresponds to the default instance
$srv = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Server
... rest of the script ...

Gives the following error message:

New-Object : Cannot find type [Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Server]: make sure 
the assembly containing this type is loaded.
At C:\Users\sortelyn\ ... \tools\sql_express_backup\backup.ps1:6  char:8
+ $srv = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Server
+        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidType: (:) [New-Object], PSArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : TypeNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand

Every answer on the Internet writes that I have to load the assembly - well sure I can read that from the error message :-) - the question is:

How do you load the assembly and make the script work?

Answer 1

LoadWithPartialName has been deprecated. The recommended solution for PowerShell V3 is to use the Add-Type cmdlet e.g.:

Add-Type -Path 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\SDK\Assemblies\Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo.dll'

There are multiple different versions and you may want to pick a particular version. :-)