Q: What version of PowerShell should I use?
A: Try to use the latest version. Here’s what is shipped with the OS.
Operating SystemShipped VersionWindows XP SP2PowerShell 1.0Windows Server 2003PowerShell 1.0Windows VistaPowerShell 1.0Windows 7PowerShell 2.0Windows Server 2008 R2PowerShell 2.0Windows 8PowerShell 3.0Windows Server 2012PowerShell 3.0Windows 8.1PowerShell 4.0Windows Server 2012 R2PowerShell 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