Register DLL in GAC (CMD or PowerShell)

Question

I'm trying to register a .DLL in the GAC. Currently I'm having trouble to prove it has been added to the assembly.

Using the command

C:\Windows\System32>%programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\gacutil.exe -i "path\to\my\file.dll"

The prompt tells me that the assembly has been added to the cache.

When checking with

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin>gacutil.exe -l file.dll

It says that there are 0 elements in the assembly.

Via Powershell commands, I'm trying to add the DLL like this:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Add-Type -AssemblyName "System.EnterpriseServices"

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> $publish = New-Object System.EnterpriseServices.Internal.Publish

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> $publish.GacInstall("file.dll")

What did I do wrong? How can I add the .DLL to the GAC? The best way (for me) would be doing that with Powershell.

Answer 1

Remember to run PowerShell as administrator or this won't work.

$dllpath = c:\path\yourdll.dll
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load("System.EnterpriseServices, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a")            
$publish = New-Object System.EnterpriseServices.Internal.Publish            
$publish.GacInstall($dllpath)

You will likely need to restart whatever related service or program after this, for example:

if (Get-Service "YourService" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
    {
        Stop-Service -Name 'YourService' 
        Start-Service -Name 'YourService' 

    }

Or just restart your computer.