Get Powershell Version : various methods to get the version of Powershell

 There are numerous ways to do the same thing in Powershell. In this post, we will go over every way to check the PowerShell version.  All these ways should work in both Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core. 

Here are the ways to get the version of PowerShell :

• The $host.Version property
• The (Get-Host).Version property
• The $PSVersionTable.PSVersion property
• The registry (Windows PowerShell only)

Another method is getting the Powershell version from a remote computer:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName 10.0.0.5 -ScriptBlock {Get-Host} -Credential $cred

results in for example:

Major Minor Build Revision PSComputerName ----- ----- ----- -------- -------------- 1 0 0 0 10.0.0.5

Using $host and Get-Host  command

: Referencing $host.Version is another way to check Powershell version. The $host variable is an automatic variable that returns the same output as Get-Host.

$host.Version on Remote Computers

You will see the same behavior via PowerShell Remoting with $host.Version as you will running Get-Host.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName 10.0.0.5 -ScriptBlock {$host.Version} -Credential $cred

Registry

If you don’t want to open up PowerShell itself, you can also check the registry. The version of PowerShell is tucked away under a value in the registry key path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine. This registry key has a value called PowerShellVersion that you can reference by using Get-ItemProperty.

(Get-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine -Name 'PowerShellVersion').PowerShellVersion 5.1.17134.1

Also WMI:

reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine /v PowerShellVersion HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine PowerShellVersion REG_SZ 5.1.17134.1

Registry on a remote computer:

$scriptBlock = { [version](Get-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine -Name 'PowerShellVersion').PowerShellVersion } PS51> Invoke-Command -ComputerName 10.0.0.5 -ScriptBlock $scriptBlock -Credential $cred

 Version via $PSVersionTable.

PSVersion property on the $PSVersionTable automatic variable. This method will always represent the PowerShell engine.