Richard Siddaway's Blog

I’ve just had an article on PowerShell classes published on the UK TechNet bog - https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/uktechnet/2016/09/29/powershell-classes/

One the latest build of Windows 10 – 14296 I’m getting errors when updating help. Three modules don’t seem to have help available

Update-Help : Failed to update Help for the module(s) 'Microsoft.PowerShell.Operation.Validation'
with UI culture(s) {en-GB} : The value of the HelpInfoUri key in the module manifest must resolve to
a container or root URL on a website where the help files are stored. The HelpInfoUri
'https://www.msn.com/en-gb/?ocid=NEFLS000' does not resolve to a container.
At line:1 char:1
+ Update-Help -Force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Update-Help], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidHelpInfoUri,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand

Update-Help : Failed to update Help for the module(s) 'PSScriptAnalyzer' with UI culture(s) {en-US}
: The Help content at the specified location is not valid. Specify a location that contains valid
Help Content.
At line:1 char:1
+ Update-Help -Force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Update-Help], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : HelpContentXmlValidationFailure,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHe
   lpCommand

Update-Help : Failed to update Help for the module(s) 'SecureBoot' with UI culture(s) {en-GB} :
Unable to retrieve the HelpInfo XML file for UI culture en-GB. Make sure the HelpInfoUri property in
the module manifest is valid or check your network connection and then try the command again.
At line:1 char:1
+ Update-Help -Force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [Update-Help], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnableToRetrieveHelpInfoXml,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCo
   mmand

I’ve checked and the help isn’t available for en-US culture.

In this post - https://richardspowershellblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/17/powershell-repositories/ – I stated that you could unregister the default PowerShell repository.

I also said that the statement in the documentation for Unregister-PSrepository that you couldn’t unregister PSGallery was incorrect.

A couple of readers have left comments stating that they tried it and got an error message stating that PSGallery can’t be unregistered.

I did my first test on Windows 10 latest preview build – build 14926

PS> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.14926.1000
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.14926.1000
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

I’ve just test on Windows Server 2016 TP5

PS C:\Windows\system32> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.14300.1000
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
BuildVersion                   10.0.14300.1000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

The version of PowerShell 5.1 on Server 2016 TP5 doesn’t have the –Default parameter on Register-PSrepositiry but this works

Register-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -SourceLocation https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/

It appears that the ability to unregister the default repository and then re-register it is an evolving feature in PowerShell 5.1

A reader on my blog asked if you can unregister the default PowerShell repository so you just use an internal repository.

First off – PSGallery is the default repository

PS> Get-PSRepository | Format-List

Name                      : PSGallery
SourceLocation            : https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/
Trusted                   : False
Registered                : True
InstallationPolicy        : Untrusted
PackageManagementProvider : NuGet
PublishLocation           : https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/
ScriptSourceLocation      : https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/items/psscript/
ScriptPublishLocation     : https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/
ProviderOptions           : {}

According to the documentation for Unregister-PSRepository you CAN’T unregister the default repository. In fact you can – the documentation appears to be incorrect

You can unregister PSGallery  with

Get-PSRepository -Name PSGallery | Unregister-PSRepository

NOTE You have to do this on a user by user basis

If you decide you need the default repository again then you can register it like this:

Register-PSRepository –Default