Installing PowerShell

PowerShell is not installed in any version of Windows by default. For earlier versions of Windows (Windows XP, Windows Server 2003), you needed to download software from Microsoft's web site. However, as PowerShell is included in the installation binaries, installing it on Windows Server 2008 is really very simple.

PowerShell has only one key dependency, the .NET Framework version 2.0, which needs to be installed before you can install PowerShell. In Windows Server 2008, the .NET Framework is installed by default. In Windows Server 2008, PowerShell is an optional feature that you can install either using Server Manager, or as part of an unattended installation.

Use the Server Manager to add the PowerShell feature as follows:

  1. Run Server Manager, and select the option to add a feature.

  2. Select the PowerShell feature and click Next.

  3. Sit back and watch the installation run.

As PowerShell is an OS feature, the installer places PowerShell's core components into the %systemroot%\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0 folder. The installer adds copy help files, formatting XML, some "getting started" documents, and a sample profile file to this location.

PowerShell is a managed application, based on the .NET Framework. To speed up load times, the PowerShell installer also installs PowerShell's core binaries into the .NET Global Assembly Cache.

Installing PowerShell also updates the Registry as follows:

  • Three new file types are added to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. They are .ps1 (PowerShell script ...

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