How to install VMware PowerCLI offline

Download the PowerCLI package from and save the ZIP file on your PC https://developer.vmware.com/web/tool/vmware-powercli

The URL is redirected to this one after VMware's acquisition by Broadcom https://developer.broadcom.com/tools/vmware-powercli/latest

Extract the content of the ZIP file to a directory on your PC.

To install PowerCLI you have to determine the PowerShell Module Paths

$env:PSModulePath

Result:

C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;
C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules;
...

Change into the Powershell Modules directory C: cd\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules

Copy the extracted content of the ZIP file to one of these directories, e.g. C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules

Make sure that the copied files and folders are not read-only. Run the following command to set them to read-write:

Get-Childitem * -recurse -Force | Foreach {$_.IsReadOnly=$False}

Unblock the new files in Powershell with the following command:

Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules' -Recurse | Unblock-File

Check if PowerCLI is active

Get-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI* -ListAvailable

You will get an output like this:

     Directory: C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules


ModuleType Version    Name                                ExportedCommands                                                                                                                                                                                       
---------- -------    ----                                ----------------                                                                                                                                                                                       
Manifest   13.0.0.... VMware.PowerCLI                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Script     12.6.0.... VMware.PowerCLI.Sdk                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Script     12.6.0.... VMware.PowerCLI.Sdk.Types                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
Script     12.6.0.... VMware.PowerCLI.VCenter             {Get-VIMachineCertificate, Get-VITrustedCertificate, Remove-VITrustedCertificate, New-VIMachineCertificateSigningRequest...}                                                                           
Script     12.6.0.... VMware.PowerCLI.VCenter.Types.Ap...                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Script     12.6.0.... VMware.PowerCLI.VCenter.Types.Ce...