Q: What version of PowerShell should I use?
A: Try to use the latest version. Here’s what is shipped with the OS.
| Operating System | Shipped Version |
|---|---|
| Windows XP SP2 | PowerShell 1.0 |
| Windows Server 2003 | PowerShell 1.0 |
| Windows Vista | PowerShell 1.0 |
| Windows 7 | PowerShell 2.0 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | PowerShell 2.0 |
| Windows 8 | PowerShell 3.0 |
| Windows Server 2012 | PowerShell 3.0 |
| Windows 8.1 | PowerShell 4.0 |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | PowerShell 4.0 |
| — not shipped with OS yet — | PowerShell 5.0 |
Powershell 5.0 is available via the Windows Management Framework for Windows 7 and above
Q: What version am I running?
A: Start powershell and use the $PSVersionTable command:
Z:\> $PSVersionTable
Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 4.0
WSManStackVersion 3.0
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
BuildVersion 6.3.9600.17400
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.2
Q: How do I relax security, so that PowerShell is at least usable.
Run this. You only need to do this once.
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Q: How do I install post-git, so I get those fancy prompts that tell me what git branch I am working in?
Run the following 2 commands:
(new-object Net.WebClient).DownloadString("http://psget.net/GetPsGet.ps1") | iex
install-module posh-git
Resources
This article was inspired by the article Better Git with PowerShell from by @haacked