How to export a SharePoint Farm Solutions from a Solution Store using PowerShell

Ah, my first blogpost on this community. 🙂

I use PowerShell a lot… with a development background, I found it not that hard to get used to it and once you get the hang of it, it gives you a lot of power and possibilities.

The script below gives you an easy way of extracting all farm solutions from a SharePoint solution store. I use it a lot when doing migration projects or assessments at customers. This ensures me that I have a copy of the WSP’s which are actually deployed.

.SYNOPSIS
Exports all farm solutions from a solutions store.
.DESCRIPTION
Exports all farm solutions from a solutions store.
.NOTES
File Name: Export-Solution.ps1
Version : 1.0
.PARAMETER OutputPath
Specifies the location where the exported solutions are saved.
.EXAMPLE
PS > .\Export-Solution.ps1 -OutputPath "c:\install\WSPExport"

Description
-----------
This script exports all existing solutions in the local solutions store
to c:\install\WSPExport.
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
param(
[parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$true,ValueFromPipeline=$false)]
[string]$OutputPath
)
if ((Get-PSSnapin -Name Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -EA SilentlyContinue) -eq $null)
{
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell
}
# Create the provided path if it doesn't exist
if (!(Test-Path -Path $OutputPath))
{
New-Item $OutputPath -ItemType directory >> $null
}

# Append a trailing backslash if needed
if (!$OutputPath.EndsWith("\",$false,$null))
{
$OutputPath += "\"
}

# Iterate over the solutions and save them to the provided output path
Write-Host "Exporting farm solutions to $OutputPath"
foreach ($solution in Get-SPSolution)
{
$id = $solution.SolutionId
$title = $solution.Name
$filename = $solution.SolutionFile.Name
Write-Host -NoNewline "Exporting '$title' to ...\$filename"
try
{
$solution.SolutionFile.SaveAs("$folder\$filename")
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green " - OK"
}
catch
{
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red " - error : $_"
}
}