PowerShell "Update-Help"

PowerShell
#1

Hello,

I am having an issue when updating the PowerShell help commands. I receive the following error when I type the Update-Help command in PowerShell ISE.

PS C:> update-help

update-help : Failed to update Help for the module(s) ‘ConfigDefender, ConfigDefenderPerformance, PSReadline’ 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

Any direction, or guidance, in resolving this error would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Terry

#2

It is not unusual to get errors when updating Powershell help files. Hopefully here is a fix for the Update help PSReadline error.

Try this for the ConfigDefender error
They fail because what is displayed and stored in your module path is actually folders with incorrect names, either the module author/owner/microsoft changed name completely or casing (PKI>pki)

PKI should be pki
Dism should be DISM
ConfigDefenderPerformance should be (even more strange) Defender
Kds should be KDS
And so on

A work-around is to rename them with their newer name as described here:

Hope this helps,
Thanks,
Robert

#3

Hi @tsmith

It seems there’s a network connection issue, are you using a virtual machine? If you are then check the adapter is on Bridge or NAT to get out to the Internet. Also make sure you run the command as an Administrator.

Ricardo

#4

Ok, maybe not an Internet issue as I got it on my Laptop as well, same exact error.

That might mean that its an issue on updating just these module(s) ‘ConfigDefender, ConfigDefenderPerformance, PSReadline’ and updating the rest sime the progress bar on PowerShell shown updating all of them. I believe just a few were having an error.

Check the following link:

It might be uninportant for training but if you want to get it fixed there might be many things to try.

Ricardo

#5

Robert & Ricardo,

Thank you for your help with this headache. Robert your 1st attachment (or link) helped me resolve my first “Update-Help” challenge. I was able to rename PSReadline to PSReadLine successfully.

I am now confronted with the ConfigDefender error when running the Update-Help command. I see you sent a 2nd attachment (link), but it seems to be a duplicate of the 1st one. Was it suppose to be different information that would instruct me on how to edit those folders, or did I miss something?

Can you please assist with resolving my Update-Help ConfigDefender error?

Thanks again!,
Terry

#6

It seems Robert referenced the same link twice so it might have been a duplicated link.

Let’s see what’s out there on the Internet to fix the ConfigDefender module.

Ricardo

#7

Hi @tsmith

I have searched for an answer and not able to find one since the only “valid” answer I see all over the place is to execute the following command:

Update-Help -Verbose -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

But that is not updting the modules, just bypassing the error messages.

I have installed the latest version of PowerShell from the following link, which is different than the one that comes with Windows, but I have the same issue.

Most posts on the Internet say are thrird party modules and have not been updated in a while.

This is the more comprenhensive thread I have seen on the issue:

What did work was to comment the HelpInfoURI with a # under C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\ConfigDefender\ConfigDefender.psd1 and also the ConfigDefenderPerformance\ConfigDefenderPerformance.psd1.

Updating again with Update-Help seems to finish with no error. I believe is the same as the first command Update-Help -Verbose -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue which bypasses the updating as well.

Ricardo