How to Get PowerShell Version

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If you need to get the version of PowerShell installed on your computer, use one of the methods in this guide. Additionally, we included how to use PowerShell to get files, modules, and MS Office versions.

Option 1: Get PowerShell Version with $PSVersionTable

To use this method, run the command below in PowerShell…

$PSVersionTable

Here is the result…

As you can see the result is displayed in a PowerShell Hashtable style. If you need to extract the PSVersion, follow the steps below:

1. Extract the Values in the Hashtable with the command below

$PSVersionTable.Values

The command breaks the Values into 4 columns – Major, Minor, Build, and Revision. The result in the first row represents the version of PowerShell.

2. The next step is to extract the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision values and save each in a variable. To complete this step, run the commands below…

$Major = ($PSVersionTable.Values).Major[0]
$Minor = ($PSVersionTable.Values).Minor[0]
$Build = ($PSVersionTable.Values).Build[0]
$Revision = ($PSVersionTable.Values).Revision[0]

In each of the commands, I extracted the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision lists. However, because there are multiple values in the array, I included [0] to extract the first object in the array.

3. Combine the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision, and insert a period with PowerShell Join.

($Major,$Minor,$Build,$Revision) -Join "."

The command displays the actual version number as shown in the screenshot below…

Option 2: Get PowerShell Version with Get-Variable

You can also get your PS version using the command below:

(Get-Variable PSVersionTable -ValueOnly).PSVersion

Like in the last section, the command displays the result in Major, Minor, Build, and Revision format.

Once again, to combine the version number, extract the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision numbers. Then combine them in the second command below…

$Major = ((Get-Variable PSVersionTable -ValueOnly).PSVersion).Major
$Minor = ((Get-Variable PSVersionTable -ValueOnly).PSVersion).Minor
$Build = ((Get-Variable PSVersionTable -ValueOnly).PSVersion).Build
$Revision = ((Get-Variable PSVersionTable -ValueOnly).PSVersion).Revision

($Major,$Minor,$Build,$Revision) -Join "."

The last command combines Major, Minor, Build, and Revision numbers into a single version number. See the screenshot below…

Option 3: Get PowerShell Version with Get-Host

Another method to get the PS version on your Windows 10 PC is to run the command below…

(Get-Host).Version

Like the first two commands in this section, this command returns the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision numbers.

Once again, like the last two sub-sections, to display the full version number, first separate the individual values. Then, combine then.

Here are the commands…

$Major = ((Get-Host).Version).Major
$Minor = ((Get-Host).Version).Minor
$Build = ((Get-Host).Version).Build
$Revision = ((Get-Host).Version).Revision

($Major,$Minor,$Build,$Revision) -Join "."

And here is the final version number…

Option 4: Get PowerShell Version with $Host Automatic Variable

The $Host automatic variable also displays the version of PowerShell installed on your computer. To display this value, run the commands below.

$Host.Version

To display the version as a single value, run the commands below…

$Major = ($Host.Version).Major
$Minor = ($Host.Version).Minor
$Build = ($Host.Version).Build
$Revision = ($Host.Version).Revision
($Major,$Minor,$Build,$Revision) -Join "."

Option 5: Get PowerShell Version From Windows Registry

You can also get the PowerShell version on your Windows 10 PC from the Windows registry. The information about PowerShell is available in this registry key:

HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine

To display all information available in that registry key, run the command below:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine

Here is the result of the command in PowerShell…

The registry key has a property called PowerShellVersion. To dipslay this value (PowerShellVersion), update the previous command as shown below:

(Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine).PowerShellVersion

Fortunately, unlike the previous 4 commands, this command displays the whole version number. However, as you can see from the screenshot below, the Revision number returned by this command is different from the rest.

PowerShell Version History By Windows OS/.NET Core

The table below is a list of PowerShell version history, the year they were released and the Operating System they were released with…

PowerShell Version	Release Date	Operating System/.NET Core
1.0	November 2006	Installed on Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows Vista. Optional on Windows Server 2008.
2.0	July 2009	Integrated into Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Installable on Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2, and Windows Vista SP1.
3.0	October 2012	Integrated into Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Installable on Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
4.0	October 2013	Integrated into Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Installable on Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and Windows Server 2012.
5.0	February 2016	Released in Windows Management Framework (WMF) 5.0.
5.1	August 2016	Available In Windows 10 Anniversary Update and Windows Server 2016
6.0	January 2018	First PowerShell version built on .NET Core 2.0. Available in Windows, macOS, and Linux
6.1	September 2018	Built on .NET Core 2.1. Can be installed on Windows, Linux, and macOS
6.2	March 2019	Built on .NET Core (version not available). Also can be installed on macOS, Windows, and Linux
7.0 (LTS)	March 2020	Built on .NET Core 3.1 (LTS). Installed on Linux, macOS, and Windows
PowerShell 7.1	November 2020	Built on .NET 5.0. Can be installed on Linux, macOS, and Windows

As at the time of updating this guide, (June 2021), PowerShell 7.1 was the latest version.

How to Install the Latest PowerShell Version on Windows

As I mentioned earlier, as of when this guide was updated, the latest PowerShell version was 7.1. This version is built on .NET 5.0.

This version is compatible with Windows Operating Systems (including Windows 10). Additionally, you can install PowerShell 7.1 on macOS and Linux.

There are so many methods to install the latest version of PowerShell. However, one of the faster method is to install it from the Microsoft Store.

Follow the steps below to install the latest version of PowerShell on Windows 10…

1. Search Microsoft Store using the Windows 10 search tool. Then, open it from the search results.
2. On the top right of the app, click the search icon.
3. Then, enter PowerShell into the displayed search box. From the displayed results, click PowerShell.
4. Finally, when the app page opens, click Get. Then, wait for the app to download and install.
5. When the latest PowerShell version finishes installing, on the top right, click Launch.

Alternatively, you can search PowerShell and open the new version….

Another way to launch the new PS version is to open the current PS version. Then, run pwsh.exe.

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How to Use PowerShell to Find Version Information

In this section you will learn how to use PowerShell to get the version of a file. The section also covers steps to get the version of an installed PS Module.

Additionally, you will get to learn how to use PS to find the version of Microsoft Office installed on your Windows 10 PC.

Finally, the last two subsections teach you how to use PS to get the version of installed .Net Framework, and Windows version Build.

1. Get The Version of a File

In this example, I want to get the version of the java.exe file on my computer. To help with my illustration, the screenshot below shows the version of the file.

Let’s start by using the Get-ItemProperty to return the file’s version information

(Get-ItemProperty "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-17\bin\java.exe").VersionInfo

This command returns 3 properties:

To return the file version property, run the command below:

(Get-ItemProperty "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-17\bin\java.exe").VersionInfo | Select-Object FileVersion

It now returns, the FileVersion property alone.

Finally, to display the file version with PowerShell, run the command below:

((Get-ItemProperty "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-17\bin\java.exe").VersionInfo | Select-Object FileVersion).FileVersion

2. Get The Version of a PowerShell Module

The Get-Module command lists all modules installed on your computer.

Get-Module

The module version is listed in the result.

However, if you want to list the version number of a specific PowerShell module – say, Microsoft.PowerShell.Management – proceed with the steps below:

Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.Management

The command displays information about the specific module, including the version number of the module.

To display the version number of the module, run the command below:

(Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.Management).Version

The command displays the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision number of the PowerShell module’s version.

To combine these values separated by periods (dots), follow the steps below:

1. Save the Major, Minor, Build, and Revision number values in separate variables:

$Major = ((Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.Management).Version).Major
 $Minor = ((Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.Management).Version).Minor
 $Build = ((Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.Management).Version).Build
 $Revision = ((Get-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerShell.Management).Version).Revision

2. Finally, combine the different elements of the module’s version number and separate them with a period (.)

($Major,$Minor,$Build,$Revision) -join "."

And here is the version of the module – 3.1.0.0.

3. Get the Version of Installed Microsoft Office

Information about all applications installed in Windows 10, including Microsoft Office is located in this Windows registry path…

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

I have highlighted the Office 365 sub-key in the path above.

To display installation information, including the version of my Office install, I will include the key, “O365BusinessRetail – en-us” in the previous path.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\O365BusinessRetail - en-us

Then, I will use the Get-ItemProperty command to display information on the path.

Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\O365BusinessRetail - en-us"

The command returns several properties, including DisplayVersion. The DisplayVersion is the version of the Microsoft Office installed on my computer.

To display the version information of the Microsoft Office installed on your computer, run the command below:

(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\O365BusinessRetail - en-us").DisplayVersion

And here you have it! The version of Microsoft Office installed on my computer is 16.0.17328.20184.

4. Get The Version of .Net Framework

Information about installed .NET Framework is available in this registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full

To return all available properties in the registry path, run the command below:

Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full"

The command returned a property called Version.

To use PowerShell to get the version number of .Net Framework, run the command below:

(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full").version

5. Check Windows Version Build with PowerShell

This command displays information about the installed Windows OS…

Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem

The result if the command has a property called BuildNumber. Additionally, it has a property called Version.

To display the build number of your OS, use the command below:

(Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem).BuildNumber

Additionally, to use PowerShell to check the Windows version, use the command below:

(Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem).Version

The version number includes the BuildNumber.

Conclusion

In this article, I demonstrated 5 methods to find the version of PowerShell on a Windows computer. In addition to that, I also discussed how to install the latest version of PoweShell in a Windows PC.

Not only that, but there I also had various examples of using PowerShell to find the version of a file, the installed Microsoft Office, and more.

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Finally, for more PowerShell tech Itechguides, visit our Windows PowerShell How-To guide page. You may also find our Work from Home page very helpful.

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