Windows 10 offers Powershell 5.0 by default, but it gets updated automatically. It is always recommended to update Windows, and so, if you update Windows regularly, the latest Powershell builds will also be installed. However, if you are using an older version of Windows other than Windows 10, then also, you might want to find out what version of Powershell is installed at any instance.
How To Check Powershell Version On Windows 7, 8 & 10
So, today we will be talking about the various methods using which you can find out the Powershell version that is installed on your PC. Before we move on, here’s a table that provides the list of versions that are installed by default.
OS |
Powershell Version |
Auto Update |
Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 |
PowerShell version 5.0 |
Yes |
Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 |
PowerShell version 4.0 |
No |
Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 |
PowerShell version 3.0 |
No |
Windows7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
PowerShell version 2.0 |
No |
So, if you aren’t updating Windows, then you should have these versions of Powershell by default. Other than that, there are quite a few ways to find out the Powershell version.
Method 1: Via Powershell itself
- Press
Windows key + R
to open up a Run command.
- Type
powershell
and press Enter.
- A new PowerShell prompt will be open.
- In the newly opened window, type
$PSversionTable
and hit enter.
- A list of details related to PowerShell will be displayed.
- Check the first entry against
PSVersion
.
- That value is the version of Powershell installed on your PC.
Method 2: Using Registry Editor
- On Windows 10, you can just search for
regedit
in the search bar and click on Registry Editor to open it. On older versions of Windows, however, you need to press Windows Key+R
and then type regedit
and hit enter to open it up.
- Once it is open, navigate to
HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine
- There will be a key called
PowerShellVersion
, and it will have a value that denotes the Powershell version that is installed on your PC.
Method 3: Via (Get-Host).Version
PowerShell has a concept known as <span style="font-weight: 400;">hosts</span>
. A host is a program that is hosting the PowerShell engine. The PowerShell console or any code editor with an integrated terminal is PowerShell <span style="font-weight: 400;">host</span>
. You can just run (Get-Host).Version
and it will return a version number, but it may not always be the PowerShell engine version. Here are the steps to try this one.
- Press
Windows key + R
to open up a Run command.
- Type ‘powershell’ and press Enter.
- A new PowerShell prompt will be open.
- In the newly opened window, type
<span style="font-weight: 400;">(Get-Host).Version</span>
and hit enter.
- There will be some texts which mention
Major
, Minor
, Build
& Revision
along with the values. So, adding a decimal point between the values will give you the version details.
Method 4: For Remote PCs
If you want to get the Powershell version details of a remote computer, you can try the something similar to Method 2, but with a little change.
- There will be some texts which mention
Major
, Minor
, Build
& Revision
along with the values. So, adding a decimal point between the values will give you the version details.
NOTE: The IP values may be different based on your own configuration, so if you know what you are doing, there shouldn’t be any issues.
Method 5: Via $host
This method is similar to Method 1, with one minor change. Here’s what you need to do.
- Press
Windows key + R
to open up a Run command.
- Type
powershell
and press Enter.
- A new PowerShell prompt will be open.
- In the newly opened window, type
$host
and hit enter.
- A list of details related to PowerShell will be displayed.
- Check the second entry, against Version.
- That value is the version of Powershell installed on your PC.
Method 6: Via $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
This one is similar to Method 3, with one minor change.
- Press
Windows key + R
to open up a Run command.
- Type
powershell
and press Enter.
- A new PowerShell prompt will be open.
- In the newly opened window, type
<span style="font-weight: 400;">$PSVersionTable.PSVersion</span>
and hit enter.
- There will be some texts which mention
Major
, Minor
, Build
& Revision
along with the values. So, adding a decimal point between the values will give you the version details.
NOTE: This method is better that will always show the values related to the PowerShell engine itself.
Method 7: Same as Method 6, for Remote PCs
This one is similar to what we did for Method 4, but it is more accurate. Here’s how to try looking for the version details using this method.
Method 8: Using CMD
When in doubt, rely on something that has been on Windows for a decade now- CMD. Here is how you can use CMD to check the Powershell version.
These are the various ways you can use to check the version of Powershell installed on your PC. However, we recommend using the preferred methods for more accurate results.