Windows PowerShell description
A free and useful new task-based command line shell and scripting language for system administration

Windows PowerShell is a free and useful new task-based command line shell and scripting language for system administration which provides comprehensive control and automation for Windows desktops and servers.

Windows PowerShell makes administrators more productive by improving the manageability of the Windows operating system and applications that run on Windows. Exchange Server 2007 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Microsoft Operations Manager “V3”) will be built upon Windows PowerShell.

Here are some key features of "Windows PowerShell":

· Over 130 standard utilities (called “cmdlets) for completing common system administration tasks such as working with the registry, services, processes, Windows Management Instrumentation, event logs, etc..
· Intuitive, task-based scripting language and support for existing scripts and command line tools..
· Designed for consistency so all tools and system data stores follow a common syntax, common naming conventions and information can be easily shared/piped between tools.
· Simplified command-based navigation of the operating system (including drives, startup files, and registry).
· Powerful object manipulation capabilities (objects can be directly manipulated or pipelined to other tools or databases).
· Designed for extensibility so that independent software vendors and enterprise developers can easily build custom tools and utilities to administer their software.


Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP introduces several significant features to Windows PowerShell 1.0 that extends its use, improves its usability, and allows you to control and managethe Windows environment more easily and comprehensively.

· This software is a pre-release version. It will not work the way a final version of the software does. Features will change before final release.
· The goal of this CTP release is to provide a preview to the community on early thinking and direction on key 2.0 features and get early feedback on them.
· Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP release is compatible with and replaces Windows PowerShell 1.0. You must un-install PowerShell 1.0 to install the PowerShell 2.0 CTP release.
· Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP release will continue to use the execution policy setting of PowerShell 1.0, if present. PowerShell 1.0 installer does not remove or change the execution policy on un-installation.
· PowerShell 2.0 Remoting features will not work correctly on Windows Vista RTM. Please install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta to enable PowerShell Remoting features.
· When Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP is launched with an execution policy of “Restricted,” it will display an error message while loading the types and formatting files. To prevent this error message, change the execution policy to one that enables PowerShell’s scripting features – such as RemoteSigned. For more information about PowerShell’s execution policies, type “Get-Help about_signing”.
· Graphical PowerShell is a very early alpha version meant for previewing early thinking and getting feedback.
· PsJobs rely on the remoting features of Windows PowerShell 2.0. To use PsJobs, remoting must be enabled on Windows PowerShell, even if the PsJob runs only on the local computer.


Here are some key features of "Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP":

· PowerShell Remoting
· Graphical PowerShell
· ScriptCmdlets
· Restricted Runspaces
· RunspacePools
· Background Jobs
· Data Language
· Script Internationalization
· Script Debugging
· 24 New Cmdlets
· Parser Tokenizer API
· New PowerShell Hosting APIs
· Metadata APIs for Command and Parameters



Windows PowerShell 1.0 English-Language Installation Package

Microsoft Windows PowerShell is a new command-line shell and scripting language designed for system administration and automation. Built on the .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell enables IT professionals and developers control and automate the administration of Windows and applications.

· For Windows Server 2003
· For Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems
· For Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
· For Windows XP
· For Windows XP x64 Edition
· For Windows Vista
· For Windows Vista x64 Edition