Installing and Running Windows PowerShell

Before you install Windows PowerShell, be sure that your system has the software programs that Windows PowerShell requires. Windows PowerShell requires the following programs:

• Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows 2003 Service Pack 1, or later versions of Windows
  
  
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
  
  

If any version of Windows PowerShell is already installed on the computer, use Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel to uninstall it before installing a new version.

To install Windows PowerShell:

1. Download the Windows PowerShell installation file. (The name of the file will differ with the platform, operating system, and language pack.)
   
   
2. To start the installation, click Open.
   
   
3. Follow the instructions on the installation wizard pages.
   
   

You can also save the Windows PowerShell files to a network share for installation on multiple computers.

To perform a silent installation, type:

<PowerShell-exe-file-name> /quiet

For example,

PowerShellSetup_x86_fre.exe /quiet

On 32-bit versions of Windows, Windows PowerShell is installed, by default, in the %SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0  directory. On 64-bit versions of Windows, a 32-bit version of Windows PowerShell is installed in the %SystemRoot%\SystemWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 directory and a 64-bit version of Windows PowerShell is installed in the %SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 directory.

To start Windows PowerShell from the Start Menu, click Start, click All Programs, click Windows PowerShell 1.0, and then click the Windows PowerShell icon.

To start Windows PowerShell from the Run box, click Start, click Run, type powershell, and click OK.

To start Windows PowerShell from a Command Prompt (cmd.exe) window, at the command prompt, type powershell. Because Windows PowerShell runs in a console session, you can use this same technique to run it within a remote telnet or SSH session. To return to your Command Prompt session, type exit.