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PowerCLI Installation Guide

  • sicnarflatosa
  • Mar 31, 2022
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 22, 2022

What is PowerCLI?

vSphere PowerCLI is a powerful command line tool that lets you automate all aspects of vSphere management, including networking, storage, virtual machines, tasks, and more. vSphere PowerCLI is distributed as a Windows PowerShell snap-in.


Prerequisites

- Verify that Microsoft .NET 4.5 SP2 is installed, or install it from the Microsoft Web site following the instructions on that Web site.

- Verify that Windows PowerShell 3.0 is installed, or install it from the Microsoft Web site following the instructions on that Web site.



What is PowerShell?

PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation solution made up of a command-line shell, a scripting language, and a configuration management framework. PowerShell runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.


Get Started


- We will install the PowerCLI on the WIndows Base OS.

Note: PowerShell is installed by default with Windows OS or Windows Server.


Online Installation: You can install PowerCLI directly from the > https://www.powershellgallery.com/ ( Note: Server must have access to external network )


- Run Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -Confirm:$false -AllowClobber -Force

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- Verify if the PowerCLI module is successfully installed and available on your system - Run Get-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable

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- Now you successfully installed the PowerCLI module via Online in Windows OS


Offline Installation: Download the .zip file with the latest released PowerCLI version from > https://developer.vmware.com/web/tool/vmware-powercli

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- You can also do this Run Save-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -Path C:\Users\flatosa\Downloads


Note: The module will download and save to this path location C:\Users\flatosa\Downloads

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- To retrieve the folder(s) on your machine that contain PowerShell modules, execute the following command > $env:PSModulePath

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- Extract the downloaded .zip file to one of the listed path location or Copy and Paste


C:\Users\flatosa\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules

C:\ProgramFiles\WindowsPowerShell\Modules

C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules

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- Unblock the copied files - cd path_to_powershell_modules_folder and Run Get-ChildItem * -Recurse | Unblock-File

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- Verify if the PowerCLI module is available on your system - Get-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable

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- Now you successfully Setup the Offline PowerCLI module in Windows OS


Issues that I face:


Error: Connect-VIServer : The 'Connect-VIServer' command was found in the module 'VMware.VimAutomation.Core', but the module could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.Core'.

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- Resolution Run Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ( To set the policy to Unrestricted )

- Another issue come up


Error: Connect-VIServer : 4/22/2022 11:38:52 AM Connect-VIServer Error: Invalid server certificate. Use Set-PowerCLIConfiguration to set the value for the InvalidCertificateAction option to Prompt if you'd like to connect once or to

add a permanent exception for this server.

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- Resolution Run Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -Confirm:$false


Note: To configure PowerCLI to ignore an invalid certificate

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- Now PowerCLI setup is fully functional, I can connect to my ESXi

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Note: VMware PowerCLI consists of multiple modules that you can install and use according to your needs and environments. Usually modules correspond to a VMware product.


- Update PowerCLI, Execute the following command to update PowerCLI - Update-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI

Note: You cannot update the PowerCLI module online if you have installed it by the offline method. In this case, perform an offline installation of the latest PowerCLI version.


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