SharePoint 2010 Management Shell: Add-PSSnapin already added error

Question

I have a number of servers across several farms, and I've never experienced this annoyance (low priority in the grand scheme of things) - when I open the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell, I get the error (or warning):

Add-PSSnapin : Cannot add Windows PowerShell snap-in Microsoft.SharePoint.Power

Shell because it is already added. Verify the name of the snap-in and try again
.
At C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\CONF
IG\POWERSHELL\Registration\SharePoint.ps1:3 char:13
+ Add-PsSnapin <<<<  Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShel
   l:String) [Add-PSSnapin], PSArgumentException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AddPSSnapInRead,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.Ad
   dPSSnapinCommand

SharePoint.ps1 is an out-of-the-box file and is not the issue.  The issue is, it's trying to load a snap-in that has already been loaded.  But how is the snap-in already loaded?  I don't see any profile file under C:\Users\_username_\Documents\WindowsPowerShell either (where I used to load the snap-in in MOSS).

Any ideas what's going on?

Answer 1

Can you try to check whether the snap-in is loaded prior to loading it again?

if ((Get-PSSnapin "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null) {
    Add-PSSnapin "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell"
}

Answer 2

Hi,

Try this:

Add-PSSnapin -Name <snapin> -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

I hope this will help you out

---

Thanks, Rahul Rashu

Answer 3

I could do those things, but I'm talking about a file that ships with SP2010 and doesn't throw this error on any other server in my environment.  I shouldn't have to modify this file.

Answer 4

It sounds like the snap in might be loaded as part of your profile. The $PROFILE variable contains the path to your profile, running:

notepad $PROFILE

should load the profile up in Notepad. If the snapin is here, you can remove it.

---

Jason Warren

Infrastructure Architect

Habanero Consulting Group

habaneroconsulting.com/blog

Answer 5

Ya that was my first thought, but no profile exists.  I.e. the path in $profile doesn't exist.