An open source version of Powershell called “Powershell Core 6.0” has been released by Microsoft, which not only runs on Windows, but also works on macOS and Linux. This particular version is the same one we have been using for ten years with the difference that from now on it will also receive security updates.
Powershell Core 6.0 has been available to the public for a few days now for Windows 7+, Ubuntu, Redhat, Centos, MacOS, Fedora, OpenSuse and Debian, etc. This allows system administrators to use common Powershell commands on all their servers regardless of their operating system.
Installation instructions have been created by Microsoft for macOS, Linux, and Windows versions. Installing it on Windows is simple, just download the installer from the site below.
Regarding macOS and Linux distributions you can find instructions on this site.
Once PowerShell Core is installed, you can launch it from a console using the “pwsh” command.
Unfortunately, in order for this version to work on different operating systems, Microsoft had to remove support for various technologies.
“As part of the transition to .NET Core and other operating systems, we were forced to leave behind some technologies used by this program. Some of these technologies may eventually return to PowerShell Core, but that will be discussed later,” Microsoft said. Below we see which ones they refer to.
- PowerShell Workflows
- PowerShell Snap-ins
- WMIv1 cmdlets (Get-WmiObject, Invoke-WmiMethod, etc.). It is recommended to use CIM/WMIv2 cmdlets
- Running Desired State Configuration via PowerShell
Microsoft emphasizes that existing scripts that work in the old version may need some customization in order to run in the Powershell Core 6.0 version.
