PowerShell: Import-Module, but no "ExportedCommands" available

powershell cmdlet import-module
H. Seeger picture H. Seeger · Oct 12, 2015 · Viewed 8.1k times · Source

When I use

Import-Module -Name <path_to_local_dll> -Verbose

the cmdlets contained in the DLL file are not exported.

Thus, when I type Get-Module my imported module is listed, but without any ExportedCommands. Why?

ModuleType Name                      ExportedCommands
---------- ----                      ----------------
Binary     MyModule

On a second PC with the same software (PowerShell, .NET Framework, ...), the same imported DLL file works fine. There I get ExportedCommands.

On what can this behaviour depend?

Unfortunately, the Import-Module cmdlet gives no indication that it failed to import the cmdlets. Is there a way to get an indication why it fails?

Answer

Jason Shave picture Jason Shave · Jan 25, 2018

Two things:

  1. Make sure you're using a module manifest file (.psd1 file). More information can be found in How to Write a Module Manifest

  2. Most importantly, edit your manifest file and make sure it references your root module as follows:

    RootModule = 'name of your module'

I just finished fighting with this for a few hours and I couldn't figure out what I was missing from my other modules. This did the trick for sure!

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