I've been writing a bit about PowerShell 4.0 lately, especially on my Prof. PowerShell column. If you are running Windows 7 it isn't too difficult to go to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40855 and download the Windows Management Framework 4 package. Remember you will also need version 4.5 of the .NET Framework. This will also apply to Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Win7 and Server 2008 both need to be at Service Pack 1. Of course, be sure the read the install notes so you don't accidentally install yourself out of job by putting it on something like an Exchange server. That would be known as a bad thing.
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But what if you are running Windows 8? In your eagerness don't try and install the same update I've shown above. You will most likely get an error about an invalid certificate. It is a strange error that threw me the first time I saw it. A reader asked me about it which is why I dug back into this. What I neglected to remember at first is that the Windows Management Framework 4.0, which includes PowerShell 4.0, cannot be installed on Windows 8. If you want PowerShell 4.0, and frankly show doesn't, you will need to take the free upgrade to Windows 8.1. That is the only way Windows 8 users can get PowerShell 4.0. And don't forget while you are at it, to upgrade to the Windows 8.1 version of Remote Server Administration Tools.
I’m struggling with the infrastructure team on my company to upgrade from PS 3 to 4 to start scripting freely on all my PCs on the same version (:
What is the struggle or obstacle?
Basically my bosses not wanting to upgrade PS version on production because A) It would implicate a reboot B) We’ll need to test many PS V3 scripts to make sure they still work C) We are talking about hundreads of servers.
If your servers are already at v3 I don’t think there is a compelling reason to upgrade to v4. If you wanted to take advantage of DSC, you only need v4 on your desktop to create the configurations.
Wait…DSC doesn’t require the server to run PSv4? Huh…
Turns out I might have been mistaken. I have not done much with DSC yet and was under a false assumption. Yes, servers would need to be running PowerShell 4 in order to apply a DSC configuration. So if DSC is the driving factor you should be able to prioritize which servers really need it.