Looking for a User's Guide for Powershell v5.1

PowerShell Help
1

Powershell v2 had a chm help file.
Is there a User’s Guide for v5.1?
Or can update/save-help me made to work?
Please advise.
Thanks, Tracey
Windows 7; Powershell 5.1
I tried updating what I have but that does NOT seem to work (it initially started to work so it can access the internet):

PS C:\Windows\system32> update-help
update-help : Failed to update Help for the module(s) 'CimCmdlets, ISE, Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core, Microsoft.PowerShell.Diagnostics, Microsoft.PowerShell.Host,
Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts, Microsoft.PowerShell.Management, Microsoft.PowerShell.ODataUtils,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Security, Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility, Microsoft.WSMan.Management, PackageManagement,
PowerShellGet, PSDesiredStateConfiguration, PSScheduledJob, PSWorkflow, PSWorkflowUtility' with UI culture(s) {en-US}
: Unable to retrieve the HelpInfo XML file for UI culture en-US. 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
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [Update-Help], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnableToRetrieveHelpInfoXml,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand

PS C:\Windows\system32> save-help

cmdlet Save-Help at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
DestinationPath[0]: d:\temp
DestinationPath[1]:
save-help : Failed to save Help for the module(s) 'CimCmdlets, ISE, Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core, Microsoft.PowerShell.Diagnostics, Microsoft.PowerShell.Host,
Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts, Microsoft.PowerShell.Management, Microsoft.PowerShell.ODataUtils,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Security, Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility, Microsoft.WSMan.Management, PackageManagement,
PowerShellGet, PSDesiredStateConfiguration, PSScheduledJob, PSWorkflow, PSWorkflowUtility' with UI culture(s) {en-US}
: Unable to retrieve the HelpInfo XML file for UI culture en-US. 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
+ save-help
+ ~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [Save-Help], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnableToRetrieveHelpInfoXml,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SaveHelpCommand

PS C:\Windows\system32>
2

You’re going to continually run into issues on Windows 7 as it is antiquated. My guess is TLS 1.2 is not enabled. Try this

[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

Update-Help
1 Like
3

Not sure if you want an offline solution like the CHM, but I have always had good luck with the online version.

1 Like
4

The support ended more than 4 years ago and you’re risking yours and others security continuing using it. :point_up:t3: :point_up:t3:

… AND … as far as I know it is still free to update to Windows 10 or even Windows 11 if the hardware is compatible.

For most cmdlets I’d recommend using

Get-Help <cmdlet> -Online

This way you get the most current version of the help and it doesn’t clutter up your console window. :love_you_gesture:t3: :wink:

5

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