Can't update-help. Hear me out, though

PowerShell Help
1

I have a video available, but I think the video link on YouTube is getting my post in this forum auto-removed.

I’m in Powershell 7 in admin mode on Windows 11. I have been spending literal hours trying to solve this problem. I’m at my wit’s end. Please rescue me Powershell.org

  1. I run Get-Help Get-Process -Full and at the bottom of the help page it tells me:

“REMARKS
Get-Help cannot find the Help files for this cmdlet on this computer. It is displaying only partial help.
– To download and install Help files for the module that includes this cmdlet, use Update-Help.
– To view the Help topic for this cmdlet online, type: “Get-Help Get-Process -Online” or
go to (won’t let me post links but here is a microsoft link).”

  1. Okay fine. So I run Update-Help or Update-Help -Force

Multiple file folders start appearing in my Documents folder. Named things like Powershell E15-2 (there are about 20 of these folders that appear Powershell E15 through Powershell E15-20)

  1. Go back to running Get-Help Get-Process -Full

Same message appears at the bottom

“REMARKS
Get-Help cannot find the Help files for this cmdlet on this computer. It is displaying only partial help.
– To download and install Help files for the module that includes this cmdlet, use Update-Help.
– To view the Help topic for this cmdlet online, type: “Get-Help Get-Process -Online” or
go to (links not allowed in this forum for new users I guess).”

Video of the problem I’m having:

I’ve been beating my head against the wall all morning trying to solve this. Literal hours of reading documentation, help files, searching Google, posting on Reddit, etc. Please rescue me, Powershell.org

I’m on Windows 11, using PS ver 7 in admin mode. And every time I run update-help it puts help files into my Documents folder but never updates help in the shell.

Literally any help would be massively appreciated.

2

found_dead_in_hotel,
Welcome to the forum. :wave:t4:

I doubt that such an issue can be solved in forum like this. In an enterprise environment I’d recommend to re-provision the computer you’re having this issue with and start from scratch. That’s usually faster than wasting hours and hours on unsuccessful trouble shooting. :wink:

Anyway … I’ve never seen such a behaviour before. I’d say that’s not a common or well known failure. And the fact that you couldn’t find a solution online supports this assumption I think. :man_shrugging:t4:

So what have you tried so far to solve the issue except of hurting yourself on the wall? :wink:

Usually the help files end up in a subfolder Help in the folder PowerShell in your Documents folder (..\Documents\PowerShell\Help). In the video it seems like you’re using OneDrive or something similar to get your files and folders synchronized. Did you try to deactivate this synchronization temporarily?

I’d try to create at least the PowerShell folder in your Documents folder manually before running Update-Help.

What happens when you install a module in your users scope before running Update-Help?

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