In Linux , Import-Module VMware.PowerCLI into current session is throwing exception.

[doskiran]

Hi Everyone,
In Ubuntu-20.04.3 VM, Import PowerCLI module is failing with the below exception hence Get-Module command is not listing VMware.PowerCLI module. 

PS /> Import-Module VMware.PowerCLI
Exception: The VMware.ImageBuilder module is not currently supported on the Core edition of PowerShell.

When I check in the VMware.ImageBuilder.psm1 code, could see this exception is throwing in the condition if PSEdition is not ‘Desktop’

VMware.ImageBuilder.psm1 -https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/VMware.ImageBuilder/7.0.3.19195798/Content/VMware.ImageBu...

But my Ubuntu VM PSEdition is Core and so the above exception is throwing.

Due to this , I am unable to run the 3rd party inspec scripts(which use powercli) which is throwing the below error.
Error- Unable to determine PowerCLI Module version, is it installed?         

Do we have any other solution/workaround to import PowerCLI module into the current session in linux? If so please advise/ provide your comments.

Setup details:          

PS /> Get-PowerCLIVersion
    VMware.PowerCLI 12.5.0 build 19195797

PS /> $PSVersionTable

Name                Value
----                      -----
PSVersion          7.2.1
PSEdition           Core
GitCommitId      7.2.1
OS                     Linux 4.15.0-163-generic #171-Ubuntu SMP Fri Nov 5 11:55:11 UTC 2021
Platform            Unix
PSCompatible   Versions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemoting      ProtocolVersion 2.3
Serialization      Version 1.1.0.1
WSManStack    Version 3.0

[LucD]

The ImageBuilder module has not yet been ported to PS Core.
There is, besides using PSv5.1 on a supported platform, no bypass for this I'm afraid.

[mpeneva]

The same is valid for DeployAutomation module as well.

[CraigRJET]

My script is pretty simple (by comparison) and I only really need the core functionality.  I got around this by *not* importing all Vmware.powercli, instead I just ran VMware.VimAutomation.Core.  First time I've had to use that trick, and it worked well.  Module loads much faster!!

#Requires -Version 7
#Requires -Modules VMware.VimAutomation.Core

import-module VMware.VimAutomation.Core -Verbose

[mpeneva]

Hi, here is the information of the module's manifest file:

# Assemblies that must be loaded prior to importing this module

RequiredAssemblies = @(
'VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Interop.dll',
'VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.dll',
'VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.dll',
'VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.dll',
'VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Util10.dll',
'VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Util10Ps.dll'
)

However, I've downloaded all of the PowerCLI modules and just Import the Core one. And the operation was successful

Maya

[LucD]

Why, o why, all this explicit module importing?
Let module auto-loading do its work 😂