Making NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1 more useful on a daily basis
I’ve been playing around with Nano Server these couple of days, but grew a bit tired of needing to import the NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1 Windows PowerShell Module at the beginning of every Windows PowerShell session.
Now, you might say I’m a bit too tidy, because I properly close any session I don’t need for the next two minutes. Additionally, the fact that Windows PowerShell Cmdlets from the built-in Windows PowerShell Modules automatically load, doesn’t help me in using the Windows PowerShell Cmdlets from the NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1 Windows PowerShell Module. Yes, I’m that spoiled. 😉
So, I decided to copy the PowerShell Module to the PowerShell Modules folder to get access to its function without even importing it on the session, effectively adding it to the collection of built-in Windows PowerShell Modules. Using your Windows Server 2016 Installation Media, copy it with these three example PowerShell one-liners in an elevated PowerShell window:
New-Item “C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\NanoServerImageGenerator” -Type Directory
Copy-Item “X:\NanoServer\NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1″ -Destination “C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\NanoServerImageGenerator\NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1” -Force
New-ModuleManifest -Path “C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\NanoServerImageGenerator\NanoServerImageGenerator.psd1” -RootModule NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1
Now, on this system, I can build the Nano Server images I’d want, without running into the otherwise inevitable is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program errors for the Windows PowerShell Cmdlets in the NanoServerImageGenerator Windows PowerShell Module.