PowerShell follows theMicrosoft Modern Lifecycle Policy. Support dates follow the.NET Support Policy. In this servicing approach, customers can choose Long Term Support (LTS)releases or current releases.

AnLTS release of PowerShell is built on anLTS release of .NET. Updates to anLTSrelease only contain critical security updates and servicing fixes that are designed to minimizeimpact on existing workloads.

Acurrent release is a release that occurs betweenLTS releases. Current releases cancontain critical fixes, innovations, and new features. Microsoft supports acurrent release forsix months after the nextLTS release.

BothLTS andcurrent versions of PowerShell receive security updates and bug fixes.Microsoft only supports the latest update version of a release.

Getting support

Microsoft provides support for PowerShell on a best-effort basis. Support for Windows PowerShell 5.1is provided through Windows support channels. You can use the standard paid support channels to getsupport for PowerShell.

• Support for business
• Contact support

There are many free support options available from the PowerShell community. The most activecommunity support channels are available throughDiscord orSlack. The discussion channelsare mirrored on both platforms, so you can choose the platform that you prefer. These channels canhelp you troubleshoot issues, answer questions, and provide guidance on how to use PowerShell.

If you think that you found a bug, you can file an issue onGitHub. The PowerShell team can'tprovide support through GitHub, but they welcome bug reports. Thecommunity support pageprovides links to the most popular community support channels.

Supported platforms

PowerShell runs on multiple operating systems (OS) and processor architecture platforms. Theplatform must meet the following criteria:

• The target platform (OS version and processor architecture) is supported by .NET.
• Microsoft has tested and approved PowerShell on the target platform.
• The OS version is supported by the distributor for at least one year.
• The OS version isn't an interim release or equivalent.
• The OS version is currently supported by the distributor.

Support for PowerShell ends when either of the following conditions are met:

• The target platform reaches end-of-life as defined by the platform owner
• The specific version of PowerShell reaches end-of-life

After a version of PowerShell reaches end-of-life, no further updates, including security updates,are provided. Microsoft encourages customers to upgrade to a supported version of PowerShell tocontinue receiving updates and support.

Windows

Microsoft supports PowerShell untilPowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version ofWindows reaches end-of-support.

The Docker images for the .NET SDK contain the latest versions of PowerShell. These images areavailable from theMicrosoft Artifact Registry.

These images may not have the latest security updates. Microsoft recommends that you update the OSpackages to the latest version to ensure the latest security updates are applied.

These images are provided for testing purposes. If you need a Docker image for a productionworkload, you should build and maintain your own.

macOS

Microsoft supports PowerShell untilPowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version ofmacOS reaches end-of-support.

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) x64 and Arm64
• macOS 14 (Sonoma) x64 and Arm64
• macOS 13 (Ventura) x64 and Arm64

Apple determines the support lifecycle of macOS. For more information, see the following:

• macOS release notes
• Apple Security Updates

Alpine Linux

Microsoft supports PowerShell untilPowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version ofAlpine reaches end-of-life.

The Docker images for the .NET SDK contain the latest versions of PowerShell. These images areavailable from theMicrosoft Artifact Registry.

These images are built from official operating system (OS) images provide by the OS distributor.These images may not have the latest security updates. Microsoft recommends that you update the OSpackages to the latest version to ensure the latest security updates are applied.

These images are provided for testing purposes. If you need a Docker image for a productionworkload, you should build and maintain your own.

Debian Linux

Microsoft supports PowerShell untilPowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version ofDebian reaches end-of-life.

Install package files (.deb) are also available fromhttps://packages.microsoft.com/.

The Docker images for the .NET SDK contain the latest versions of PowerShell. These images areavailable from theMicrosoft Artifact Registry.

These images are built from official operating system (OS) images provide by the OS distributor.These images may not have the latest security updates. Microsoft recommends that you update the OSpackages to the latest version to ensure the latest security updates are applied.

These images are provided for testing purposes. If you need a Docker image for a productionworkload, you should build and maintain your own.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Microsoft supports PowerShell untilPowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version ofRHEL reaches end-of-support.

Install package files (.rpm) are also available fromhttps://packages.microsoft.com/.

• RHEL 10 - OS support ends on 2035-05-31
• RHEL 9 - OS support ends on 2032-05-31
• RHEL 8 - OS support ends on 2029-05-31

PowerShell is tested on Red Hat Universal Base Images (UBI). For more information, see theUBI information page.

Ubuntu Linux

Microsoft supports PowerShell untilPowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version ofUbuntu reaches end-of-support.

Install package files (.deb) are also available fromhttps://packages.microsoft.com/.

The Docker images for the .NET SDK contain the latest versions of PowerShell. These images areavailable from theMicrosoft Artifact Registry.

These images are built from official operating system (OS) images provide by the OS distributor.These images may not have the latest security updates. Microsoft recommends that you update the OSpackages to the latest version to ensure the latest security updates are applied.

These images are provided for testing purposes. If you need a Docker image for a productionworkload, you should build and maintain your own.

Support for PowerShell modules

The support lifecycle for PowerShell doesn't cover modules that ship outside of the PowerShellrelease package. For example, using theActiveDirectory module that ships as part of WindowsServer is supported under theWindows Support Lifecycle.

Support for experimental features

Experimental features aren't intended to be used in production environments. We appreciatefeedback on experimental features and we provide best-effort support for them.

Notes on licensing

PowerShell is released under theMIT license. Under this license, and without a paid supportagreement, users are limited tocommunity support. With community support, Microsoft makes noguarantees of responsiveness or fixes.

PowerShell end-of-support dates

The PowerShell support lifecycle follows thesupport lifecycle of .NET. The following tablelists the end-of-support dates for the current versions of PowerShell:

The following table lists the end-of-support dates for retired versions of PowerShell:

Windows PowerShell release history

The following table contains a historical timeline of the major releases of Windows PowerShell.Microsoft no longer supports Windows PowerShell versions lower than 5.1.

Run the following command to see the full version number of .NET used by the version of PowerShellyou're running:

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::FrameworkDescription