Import-Module WebAdministration wont load from script but does from command line

Klee picture Klee · Jun 29, 2016 · Viewed 32.4k times · Source

I'm coming onto a project that uses PowerShell to script the build. The build makes use of the WebAdministration module to manage the local IIS instance. When I run the build script the following error is thrown when trying to import WebAdministration.

Error: 06/29/2016 17:28:35: At C:\dev\src\nib-ravendb\build\ConfigureIis.ps1:10 char:1 + Import-Module WebAdministration + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ [<<==>>] Exception: The specified module 'WebAdministration' was not loaded because no valid module file was fo und in any module directory. ERROR: 1

How ever when I run Import-Module WebAdministration at the PowerShell command line the module is imported and I can use features from it. Subsequently running the build script still fails.

I have IIS 7.5 and PowerShell 4

Does anyone have an idea why this import would be failing in the script but not at the command line, and how to fix it?

Answer

Richard picture Richard · Jun 29, 2016

For servers you need to install the role Management Tools under Web Server (IIS) to use the WebAdministration module. To see if you have the module available use Get-Module -ListAvailable.

For Windows 7 to 10 you will need to install the feature IIS Management Scripts and tools under Internet Information Services >> Web Management Tools.

You could try manually locating the WebAdministration .psd1 file and then import it. Use $env:psmodulepath to help locate where your modules are stored then run:

Import-Module -Name 'C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\WebAdministration\WebAdministration.psd1' 

If Server 2008 you could try the following but this may not work on 2012 and upwards:

Add-PSSnapin WebAdministration

Note You will need to run the script with administrator rights to be able to load the WebAdministration module with Import-Module or Add-PSSnapin.

Also check that you have PowerShell's execution Policy set to Unrestricted:

Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted

You might want to see this Question.