Why is Get-ChildItem not working

Question

I am trying to write a script to loop through child items using the Get-ChildItem cmdlet but it does not seem to be recognised.

$path = "master:/sitecore/content"
$x = Get-ChildItem $path
Write-Host $x.Name

Gives me the error:

Get-ChildItem : Method not found: 'Void System.Management.Automation.Provider.ContainerCmdletProvider.GetChildItems(System.String, Boolean, UInt32)'.
At line:2 char:6
+ $x = Get-ChildItem $path
+      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-ChildItem], MissingMethodException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.MissingMethodException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

I am using Sitecore 8.2 rev 161115, SXA 1.2 rev 161216, SPE 4.4

Answer 1

This is related to the following bug in SPE 4.4. There are 2 courses of action you can take:

1. Upgrade your Windows PowerShell to 5. (Windows Management Framework 5.x)
2. Upgrade SPE to 4.5

Actually taking the approach #2 is preferable as we've fixed quite a few other issues there and Upgrading Windows PowerShell can have consequences on your whole environment and is not always allowed by the systems administrators.