Appendix C. PowerShell versions

There have been four versions of PowerShell since the original release in November 2006 that was announced at TechEd Europe in Barcelona. You’re likely to meet, at least, versions 2 through 4 in your work. In this appendix, we’ll provide information on the various PowerShell versions so that you are aware of the capabilities of each. You can use this information to determine how you’ll administer your environment and possibly modify your approach to manage the differences between versions.

The four PowerShell releases are outlined in table C.1. The table includes release date, required .NET version, and where you can find the download, as of this writing.

Starting with Windows Server 2008, PowerShell became part of the operating system. The details of which versions of Windows support which versions of PowerShell are supplied later in this appendix.