Error when adding SharePoint Powershell snapin

Question

When I run Add-PSSnapin microsoft.sharepoint.powershell I get

Add-PSSnapin : No snap-ins have been registered for Windows PowerShell version 3. At line:1 char:1 + Add-PSSnapin microsoft.sharepoint.powershell + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (microsoft.sharepoint.powershell:String) [Add-PSSnapin], PSArgumentException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AddPSSnapInRead,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddPSSnapinCommand

I know this sounds dumb but I have searched Google for about 12 hours trying to just add this snapin. Im writting my first shell script and just need help getting off the start

Solution

What is your SharePoint version, 2010 or 2013?
What is your Powershell version? ($PSVersionTable.PSVersion)

SharePoint 2010 expects PowerShell version 2, which you can get to by running powershell -version 2

NB. (To the commenter above)
If you dont have SharePoint installed on the PC you get this message.

Add-PSSnapin : The Windows PowerShell snap-in 'Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell' is not installed on this machine.
At line:1 char:13
+ Add-PSSnapin <<<<  Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell:String) [Add-PSSnapin], PSArgumentException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AddPSSnapInRead,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddPSSnapinCommand

Comments

[user3753693]

I was running powershell version 3 with sharepoint 2010. can i install sharepoint somehow on a cliet?

[riv_rec]

SharePoint 2010 is only compatible with PowerShell v2, which you can access and use as in the screen shot above. To use SharePoint 2010 and the powershell commands together you need to have SharePoint installed on that machine.

[Traderhut Games]

PS > Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell Add-PSSnapin : The Windows PowerShell snap-in 'Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell' is not installed on this computer. At line:1 char:1 + Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell + ~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell:String) [Add-PSSnapin], PSArgumentException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AddPSSnapInRead,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddPSSnapinCom‌​mand PS> $PSVersionTable.PSVersion Major Minor Build Revision ----- ----- ----- -------- 5 1 18362 752