Applies to

  • Windows 7, 
  • Windows 8,
  • Windows Server 2008 R2,
  • Windows Server 2012

Table of Contents

Introduction

By default PowerShell version 2 is available in 2008 R2 & Windows 7.

There is an document available for upgrading the PowerShell version on TechNet: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847837.aspx.

There are so many reasons for upgrading the PowerShell version; we will discuss that later into this space. For Windows 2008 R2 almost the same steps can be taken for Windows 7 but Windows management framework is different for Win7. See the below link for supported OS.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40855

WMF4 is now available, see the below link for that.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/archive/2013/10/25/windows-management-framework-4-0-is-now-available.aspx

Prerequisites:

  1. SP1-Windows 2008 R2
  2. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40779 (Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 (Offline Installer))
  3. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40855 ( Windows Management Framework 4.0 )

Here .NET framework is an important component for PowerShell version 4. Here is the link for getting to know for .NET framework version.

How to Determine Which .NET Framework Versions Are Installed

Below components are .NET 4.5.1 & WMF 4.

Installing the .NET Framework

Installing the WMF 4

Now reboot that box.

 

Checking the PowerShell version

Need to run  powershell -version 4.0 for working with PS version 4. Check the PS version $psversiontable . You can see 4 is compatible with 3, 2 & 1

Install ISE

We now need to install the ISE for installing the version WMF 4.

If we have installed WMF 4, ISE will be installed in background.

Manual installation of ISE is not required. 

What's New in Windows PowerShell 4

Windows Management Framework V5 Preview