Using the Save-Help function

The useful help cmdlet, Get-Help, can provide useful information and examples. By default, PowerShell retrieves the help files from the internet if they are not available locally.

In PowerShell version 4 of Windows Management Framework (WMF), the function was introduced that made it possible to save the help files and import them into another server or client, which is great when a server or client is prohibited for having internet access.

This can be done with a few commands that will be described in the section How it works....

How to do it...

Let's take a look at the following example for updating the help files for the modules that have anything to do with Microsoft.PowerShell:

    Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell*
    
    Save-Help -Module Microsoft.PowerShell* -DestinationPath ` "C:\HelpFiles"
    
    Update-Help-SourcePath "C:\Help" -Force
    
    Update-Help -SourcePath "\\fileserver\HelpFilesShare" -Force  

How it works...

Once the help files are downloaded, each module contains an XML and CAB file. These can be updated per module or all of them at one time. This is a basic task to perform.

In the preceding example, we are first retrieving the modules that are available that have a name of Microsoft.PowerShell followed by something. Then the help files are downloaded for these modules and saved into a local folder called Help.

If not specifying any modules, all help files for PowerShell will be downloaded into the specified folder.

Finally, these help files are then imported on another server or client, simply where they are needed by using the Update-Help cmdlet.

As shown in the preceding example, the Update-Help can either be pointing at a local folder or a UNC path or share.

Be aware that when running the Update-Help cmdlet, you may require using the Run as Admin or else it might not have the access needed for importing the files into the system.

Note that -DestinationPath and -SourcePath should be pointed to a folder and not to a file. The help files contain a pair of XML and CAB files per module.

A good idea would be to always keep these help files up to date and update them in the PowerShell profile to make sure that it's the current version.

See also

• The Using the help system recipe in this chapter
• The Using debugger functions recipe in this chapter
• The Creating custom objects recipe in this chapter