If you work with Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse, sooner or later you’ll need the Plugin Registration Tool (PRT). This tool is essential for registering, updating, and managing plugins in your Dynamics environment.
In this article, we’ll see how to download it using PowerShell and highlight some important risks and best practices every developer should be aware of.
Why the Plugin Registration Tool Is Important
Dynamics 365 does not provide a built-in UI for managing plugins. The Plugin Registration Tool allows you to:
Register plugin assemblies
Add and configure plugin steps
Define execution pipelines and filtering attributes
Debug and update existing plugin logic
Without this tool, managing plugins becomes nearly impossible in real-world projects.
Downloading the Plugin Registration Tool Using PowerShell
Instead of downloading executables from random sources, the safest approach is to get the tool directly from Microsoft’s official NuGet packages.
Open PowerShell as Administrator
Make sure PowerShell is running with administrator privileges, otherwise some commands may fail.
Download the NuGet executable
Run the following script to download nuget.exe locally:
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
$sourceNugetExe = "https://dist.nuget.org/win-x86-commandline/latest/nuget.exe"
$targetNugetExe = ".\nuget.exe"
Remove-Item .\Tools -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction Ignore
Invoke-WebRequest $sourceNugetExe -OutFile $targetNugetExe
Set-Alias nuget $targetNugetExe -Scope Global -Verbose
This ensures you are using the latest and secure NuGet client.
Install the Plugin Registration Tool
Now download the Plugin Registration Tool package and extract it into a dedicated folder:
./nuget install Microsoft.CrmSdk.XrmTooling.PluginRegistrationTool -O .\Tools
md .\Tools\PluginRegistration
$prtFolder = Get-ChildItem ./Tools | Where-Object {$_.Name -match 'Microsoft.CrmSdk.XrmTooling.PluginRegistrationTool.'}
move .\Tools\$prtFolder\tools\*.* .\Tools\PluginRegistration
Remove-Item .\Tools\$prtFolder -Force -Recurse
Tool Ready to Use
You’ll now find the executable inside the .\Tools\PluginRegistration folder. From there, you can launch the Plugin Registration Tool and connect to your Dynamics 365 environment.
Risks, Warnings, and Best Practices
Avoid Unofficial Downloads
Downloading the Plugin Registration Tool from unofficial websites or shared ZIP files can be risky. These files may contain outdated binaries, modified or malicious code, or incompatible versions that break your environment.
Always prefer PowerShell with NuGet or other Microsoft-supported methods.
Version Compatibility Issues
Using an outdated or incompatible version of the Plugin Registration Tool can lead to connection and authentication errors, failed plugin registrations, unexpected behavior when updating assemblies, or missing and corrupted plugin steps.
This is especially critical when working across different Dynamics 365 or Dataverse versions.
Recommended Best Practices
Always test plugin changes in a development or sandbox environment
Use source control systems such as Git or Azure DevOps
Version your plugin assemblies properly
Back up existing plugin registrations before making changes
Consider modern tooling like Power Platform CLI (
pac tool) for better ALM integration