Running SharePoint PowerShell commands from C#

Question

I am trying to run PowerShell command from a c# application against SharePoint. To do this i need to include the SharePoint powershell snap-in. The code to do this is below.

    using (PowerShell psi = PowerShell.Create())
    {
        psi.Commands.AddCommand("Add-PSSnapin").AddParameter("Name", "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell");
        Collection<PSObject> PSOutput = psi.Invoke();
    }

When executed the error is:

The Windows PowerShell snap-in 'Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell' is not installed on this computer.

If i run the same command from PowerShell console it works fine. Can someone please explain why it wont load this from C# but will work from PowerShell console.

Answer 1

When using SharePoint PowerShell via C#, your VS project must be at .NET 4.0 or higher. In addition, the application must be built as an x64 application.