Active Directory Module - powershell

Question

I have written a PowerShell script, an application that allow PC Refresh to set Company, DepartmentNumber, etc. on an AD object. In development everthing works fine. Obviously I have AD installed on my machine. I have compiled my app to a .exe and placed it on a network share where the techs will execute it from there as they start up a new computer or refresh from Windows 7 to Windows 10 mostly.
The problem is the new PC will not have Active Directory installed at this point in time. I need to find a way to have my app intall, import and run Active Directory as on start up of new or refreshed computers. How do I accomplish this?
Below is some relevant code I use to import the module if it exist on the machine.
$RestoreForm_Load = {
# Load the ActiveDirectory module if it's available
# Check if the ActiveDirectory module is installed
if ((Get-Module -ListAvailable | where { $_.Name -eq 'ActiveDirectory' }) -eq $null) {
$labelDialogRedRestore.Text += "You need to install the ActiveDirectory module!`n"
} else {
# Check if the ActiveDirectory module is allready Imported
if ((Get-Module ActiveDirectory) -eq $null) {
Import-Module ActiveDirectory -ErrorAction 'SilentlyContinue'
$labelDialogGreenRestore.Text += "ActiveDirectory module imported`n"
} else {
$labelDialogGreenRestore.Text += "ActiveDirectory allready imported`n"
}
}

Answer 1

Only the Windows Server versions have the AD module, or any other part of the RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) for that matter, available for installation out of the box. You can use Add-WindowsFeature (or Install-WindowsFeature, which replaced the former in Windows 2012 and newer) to install the module on a server:
Import-Module ServerManager
$os = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption
switch -wildcard ($os) {
'Windwos Server 2008*' {
Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-PowerShell -IncludeAllSubFeatures
}
'Windows Server 2012*' {
Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-PowerShell -IncludeAllSubFeatures
}
}
Windows client versions don't come with the RSAT. You need to install the correct RSAT package first before you can install the AD PowerShell cmdlets. The link list in the KB article is a little outdated, though. The link for the Windows 10 Preview RSAT package doesn't work anymore. Here is the download link for the release version.
Once you have installed the update on the clients, you can install the module for instance via dism:
dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-Powershell
Note that (at least on the client versions) the feature name may differ between versions (the feature is named RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-Powershell in the Windows 7 RSAT, but RSATClient-Roles-AD-Powershell in the Windows 10 RSAT), so you may need to use a switch statement on the clients as well:
$os = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption
$name = switch -wildcard ($os) {
'Windows 7*' { 'RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-Powershell' }
'Windows 8*' { '???' }
'Windows 10*' { 'RSATClient-Roles-AD-Powershell' }
}
& dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:$name
Also, beware that regardless of which system you're installing the module on (server or client) you must have .NET framework 3.5.1 or 4.5 installed, otherwise the module won't work (if you can even install it in the first place).

Answer 2

You could install the module in your script with the following command:
Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-PowerShell
Note that this feature requires the .NET Framework 3.5.1 feature too which can be installed with the following command:
Add-WindowsFeature net-framework-core

Answer 3

While you can install Active Directory on these machines just to run your code, I'd suggest setting up a session to a computer that already has it installed instead. If the Techs are hands on and have credentials to access AD then this will work better.
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName DC -Credential (Get-Credential) -Name AD
Enter-PSSession -Session $Session
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
Doing-AD -Stuff
...
Disconnect-PSSession
With this approach, the Tech will be prompted for their credentials, the script will run your AD stuff, and the client machine won't have RSAT tools enabled or installed.