History of Windows PowerShell

By the year 2002, Microsoft started developing a new way of managing the command lines. It also included the development of a new Shell which was named Monad. A white paper published in the year of 2002, called Monad Manifesto. It contained the concept of this shell and the ideas to create a standardized platform which used the .NET framework through automation tasks.

The first display of Monad was made in Los Angeles at the Professional Developers Conference in 2003. Microsoft released the three beta versions of Monad on 17^th of June, 2005, 11th of September, 2005, and on 10^th of January 2006. Microsoft renamed Monad to a Windows PowerShell in April during the same year and made it as a core part of the Windows operating system.

Versions of Windows PowerShell

PowerShell 1.0:

In November 2006, PowerShell version 1.0 was released by the Microsoft for Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1. This version is an optional component of Windows Server 2008.

PowerShell 2.0:

PowerShell version 2.0 is integrated with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. It is released for Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2, and Windows XP with Service Pack 3.

This version includes changes to the hosting API and scripting languages.

Following are the new features of PowerShell 2.0:

• PowerShell remoting
• Background jobs
• Steppable pipeline.
• Script Debugging
• Windows PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment)
• Network file transfer

PowerShell 3.0:

PowerShell version 3.0 is integrated with Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.

Microsoft has also made it available for Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 1, for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, and for Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack1.

This version is an internal part of (WMF3) Windows Management Framework package, which contains the WinRM services to support remoting.

Following are the new features of PowerShell 3.0:

• Scheduled Jobs
• Session connectivity
• Delegation support
• Automatic Module Detection
• Improved code Writing
• Help update
• New commands

PowerShell 4.0:

PowerShell version 4.0 is integrated with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.

Microsoft has also made it available for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2012.

Following are the new features of PowerShell 4.0:

• Desired State Configuration (DSC)
• A new default execution policy
• Save-help
• Enhanced debugging
• Network diagnostics

PowerShell 5.0:

This version was released to the web on 24th February 2016, as an internal part of the Windows Management Framework (WMF 5.0).

This version is installed by default on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012.

Following are the new features of PowerShell 5.0:

• PowerShell .NET enumerations
• DSC partial configurations
• Debugging for PowerShell background jobs
• Debugging for PowerShell Runspaces in remote processes
• PowerShell class definitions (properties, methods)

PowerShell 5.1:

PowerShell 5.1 was released on 2^nd of August 2016, along with the Windows 10 Anniversary update. This version is finally released on 19 January 2017. Microsoft has made it available for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

This is the first version that came in two editions of "Core" and "Desktop".