PowerShell versions

PowerShell has matured since its inception and has undergone several version upgrades. At the time of writing of this book, the most recent version is PowerShell V4.

The following table shows the different PowerShell versions that Microsoft released, operating systems that support them, required .NET Framework version, and some of the notable features:

PowerShell version	OS support	.NET version	Notable features/additions
Version 1, which is a separate download	Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista	.NET Framework 2.0	Over 130 cmdlets
Version 2, which is part of WMF 2.0	Integrated with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Available for XP and Windows Server 2003 Can be downloaded separately as part of WMF 2.0	.NET Framework 2.0 or .NET Framework 3.5 SP1	Over 240 cmdlets, which includes PowerShell ISE, remoting, eventing, background jobs, script debugging, and modules
Version 3, which is part of WMF 3.0	Integrated with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Available for 7 and Windows Server 2008 and later	.NET Framework 4.0 full	Over 400 cmdlets Workflows, improved sessions, scheduled jobs, and the Update-Help cmdlet PowerShell ISE improvements, which include IntelliSense, command pane, and collapsible regions
Version 4, which is part of WMF 4.0	Integrated with Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Available for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 and later	.NET Framework 4.5 full	Over 520 cmdlets Desired state configuration Shell and scripting improvements
Version 5, which is part of WMF 5.0	At the time of writing this, a CTP version is available with Windows Management Framework 5.0	NA	NA

PowerShell matures with every release and the requirements and features will change with different operating systems.

Note

Please visit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847769.aspx for official PowerShell requirements required for your Windows OS.

To determine which PowerShell version you are using, you can type in $PSVersionTable in your console or ISE:

If you have PowerShell v3 or v4, you can also downgrade your PowerShell session. You can do this by supplying the -Version parameter when you start your session:

Powershell.exe -Version 2