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Windows PowerShell System Requirements

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This article lists the system requirements for Windows PowerShell 3.0, Windows PowerShell 4.0, Windows PowerShell 5.0, and Windows PowerShell 5.1. And, special features, such as Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), Common Information Model (CIM) commands, and workflows.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 include all required programs. This article is designed for users of earlier releases of Windows.

Operating system requirements

Windows PowerShell 5.1

Windows PowerShell 5.1 runs on the following versions of Windows. To run Windows PowerShell 5.1, install Windows Management Framework 5.1. For more information, see Install and Configure WMF 5.1.

Windows version System requirement
Windows Server 2022 Installed by default
Windows Server 2019 Installed by default
Windows Server 2016 Installed by default
Windows Server 2012 R2 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows Server 2012 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows 11 Installed by default
Windows 10 version 1607 and up Installed by default
Windows 10 version 1507, 1511 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows 8.1 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1

Windows PowerShell 5.0

Windows Management Framework 5.1 supersedes Windows Management Framework 5.0. For more information, see Install and Configure WMF 5.1.

Windows version System requirement
Windows Server 2022 Higher version installed by default
Windows Server 2019 Higher version installed by default
Windows Server 2016 Higher version installed by default
Windows Server 2012 R2 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows Server 2012 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows 11 Higher version installed by default
Windows 10 version 1607 and up Higher version installed by default
Windows 10 version 1507, 1511 Installed by default
Windows 8.1 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1
Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 Install Windows Management Framework 5.1

Windows PowerShell 4.0

Windows PowerShell 4.0 runs on the following versions of Windows.

Windows version System requirement
Windows 8.1 Installed by default
Windows Server 2012 R2 Installed by default

Windows PowerShell 3.0

Windows PowerShell 3.0 runs on the following versions of Windows.

Windows version System requirement
Windows 8 Installed by default
Windows Server 2012 Installed by default

Microsoft .NET Framework requirements

Windows PowerShell 5.1 requires the full installation of Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 or higher.

Windows Management Framework 4.0

Windows PowerShell 5.0 requires Windows Management Framework 4.0 to be preinstalled on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1.

WS-Management 3.0

Windows PowerShell 3.0 and Windows PowerShell 4.0 require WS-Management 3.0, which supports the WinRM service and WSMan protocol. This program is included in Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Management Framework 4.0, and Windows Management Framework 3.0.

Windows Management Instrumentation 3.0

Windows PowerShell 3.0 and Windows PowerShell 4.0 require Windows Management Instrumentation 3.0 (WMI). This program is included in Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Management Framework 4.0, and Windows Management Framework 3.0. If this program isn't installed on the computer, features that require WMI, such as CIM commands, don't run.

Common Language Runtime 4.0

Windows PowerShell 3.0, Windows PowerShell 4.0, and Windows PowerShell 5.0 are compiled against Common Language Runtime (CLR) 4.0.

Graphical user interface requirements

Windows PowerShell is a console-based application that doesn't require a graphical user interface. It's well suited to computers that don't have screens or monitors, or a user interface, such as the Server Core installation options of Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2012.

Some items require a graphical user interface. For details, see the help article for each item.

Windows PowerShell engine requirements

Windows PowerShell 4.0 is designed to be backwards compatible with Windows PowerShell 3.0 and Windows PowerShell 2.0. Cmdlets, providers, snap-ins, modules, and scripts written for Windows PowerShell 2.0 and Windows PowerShell 3.0 run unchanged in Windows PowerShell 4.0.

However, due to a change in the runtime activation policy in Microsoft .NET Framework 4, Windows PowerShell host programs that were written for Windows PowerShell 2.0 and compiled with Common Language Runtime (CLR) 2.0 can't run without modification in Windows PowerShell 3.0, which is compiled with CLR 4.0.

The Windows PowerShell 2.0 engine's minimum requirement is Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.50727. This requirement is fulfilled by Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1. This requirement isn't fulfilled by Microsoft .NET Framework 4 and later releases of Microsoft .NET Framework.

For information about adding or installing the Windows PowerShell 2.0 engine, and adding or installing the required versions of the Microsoft .NET Framework, see Installing the Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine. For information about starting the Windows PowerShell 2.0 engine, see Starting the Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine.

Windows Preinstallation Environment

Windows PowerShell 2.0, Windows PowerShell 3.0, and Windows PowerShell 4.0 run in the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). However, the following cmdlets aren't supported.

The WinRM service isn't present on Windows PE.

For information on installing Windows PowerShell 5.1 on Windows PE, see Adding Windows PowerShell support to Windows PE.

See also