In this small blog post, I would like to highlight the Support Lifecycle of PowerShell. It’s good to know if you’re using an older version, perhaps for a good reason, which you might need to plan for in advance.
Support Lifecycle?
“PowerShell follows the Microsoft Modern Lifecycle Policy. Support dates follow the .NET Support Policy. In this servicing approach, customers can choose Long Term Support (LTS) releases or current releases.
An LTS release of PowerShell is built on an LTS release of .NET. Updates to an LTS release only contain critical security updates and servicing fixes that are designed to minimize impact on existing workloads.
A current release is a release that occurs between LTS releases. Current releases can contain critical fixes, innovations, and new features. Microsoft supports a current release for six months after the next LTS release.
Both LTS and current versions of PowerShell receive security updates and bug fixes. Microsoft only supports the latest update version of a release.”
What does it mean?
Well, if you’re using a version from the table below, then you need to think about testing your code on newer versions (Or upgrade your installed version because you haven’t gotten around to do it yet 😉 )
| Version | Release Date | End-of-support | .NET Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| PowerShell 7.3 | 09-Nov-2022 | 08-May-2024 | Built on .NET 7.0 |
| PowerShell 7.2 (LTS) | 08-Nov-2021 | 08-Nov-2024 | Built on .NET 6.0 |
| PowerShell 7.1 | 11-Nov-2020 | 08-May-2022 | Built on .NET 5.0 |
| PowerShell 7.0 (LTS) | 04-Mar-2020 | 03-Dec-2022 | Built on .NET Core 3.1 |
| PowerShell 6.2 | 29-Mar-2019 | 04-Sep-2020 | Built on .NET Core 2.1 |
| PowerShell 6.1 | 13-Sep-2018 | 28-Sep-2019 | Built on .NET Core 2.1 |
| PowerShell 6.0 | 20-Jan-2018 | 13-Feb-2019 | Built on .NET Core 2.0 |
If you’re running one of the versions listed below, then you’re good to go until Q2 or Q4 of 2026:
| Version | Release Date | End-of-support | .NET Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| PowerShell 7.6 (preview) | Future date | Future date | Built on .NET 9.0.0 |
| PowerShell 7.5 | 23-Jan-2025 | 12-May-2026 | Built on .NET 9.0.0 |
| PowerShell 7.4 (LTS) | 16-Nov-2023 | 10-Nov-2026 | Built on .NET 8.0.0 |
And for a good overview of historical versions:
| Version | Release Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Windows PowerShell 5.1 | Aug-2016 | Released in Windows 10 Anniversary Update and Windows Server 2016, WMF 5.1 |
| Windows PowerShell 5.0 | Feb-2016 | Released in Windows Management Framework (WMF) 5.0 |
| Windows PowerShell 4.0 | Oct-2013 | Released in Windows 8.1 and with Windows Server 2012 R2, WMF 4.0 |
| Windows PowerShell 3.0 | Oct-2012 | Released in Windows 8 and with Windows Server 2012 WMF 3.0 |
| Windows PowerShell 2.0 | Jul-2009 | Released in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, WMF 2.0 |
| Windows PowerShell 1.0 | Nov-2006 | Released as optional component of Windows Server 2008 |
I started with the preview version of v1.0 (Monad) somewhere in 2004, I think 🙂
How do I upgrade?
You can download and install newer versions from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/install/installing-powershell-on-windows?view=powershell-7.5
Wrapping up
I wrote this to remind you to check if you’re still running a supported version and to show some release data information starting from v1.0. PowerShell has been around for a while and has dramatically improved my admin life. Have a lovely weekend, and for the people going to PSConfEU, see you there!
There are some major performance improvements as well to factor in in PS Core.
Also, what I’ve found when orchestrating PowerShell and having to use it in various RMMs (RMMs System environment is quite bare bones version of Windows PowerShell) is even stuff like ConvertTo/FromJSON have failures that no longer occur in new versions.
Appreciate you bringing this up as many just straight do not want to consider anything but ISE til retirement. Ironically Windows PowerShell is the only way that binary deserialization can still be as it is completely depreciated in modern dotnet. I have a poc on my gist
Thanks, and yes 👌 Performance is also better on newer versions and bugs will be fixed there but not in older versions.