Screenshot of a PowerShell 7 session in Windows Terminal | |
| Paradigm | Imperative, pipeline, object-oriented, functional and reflective |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Jeffrey Snover, Bruce Payette, James Truher (et al.) |
| Developer | Microsoft |
| First appeared | November 14, 2006; 17 years ago |
| Stable release | |
| Typing discipline | Strong, safe, implicit and dynamic |
| Implementation language | C# |
| Platform | PowerShell: .NET Windows PowerShell: .NET Framework |
| OS | |
| License | MIT License[2] (but the Windows component remains proprietary) |
| Filename extensions |
|
| Website | |
| Influenced by | |
| Python, Ksh, Perl, C#, CL, DCL, SQL, Tcl, Tk,[3] Chef, Puppet | |
PowerShell includes its own extensive, console-based help (similar to man pages in Unix shells) accessible via the Get-Help cmdlet. Updated local help contents can be retrieved from the Internet via the Update-Help cmdlet. Alternatively, help from the web can be acquired on a case-by-case basis via the -online switch to Get-Help.


- cmdlets (.NET Framework programs designed to interact with PowerShell)
- PowerShell scripts (files suffixed by
.ps1) - PowerShell functions
- Standalone executable programs
Extended Type System
The number of cmdlets included in the base PowerShell install has generally increased with each version:
| Version | Cmdlets | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| Windows PowerShell 1.0 | [38] | |
| Windows PowerShell 2.0 | [39] | |
| Windows PowerShell 3.0 | [40] | |
| Windows PowerShell 4.0 | ? | |
| Windows PowerShell 5.0 | [41] | |
| Windows PowerShell 5.1 | [] | |
| PowerShell Core 6.0 | ? | |
| PowerShell Core 6.1 | ? | |
| PowerShell Core 6.2 | ? | |
| PowerShell 7.0 | [] | |
| PowerShell 7.1 | ? | |
| PowerShell 7.2 | ? | |
| PowerShell 7.4 |
# Definition of static parameters # Definition of dynamic parameters # Set of instruction to run at the start of the pipeline # Main instruction sets, ran for each item in the pipeline # Set of instruction to run at the end of the pipeline
Desired State Configuration
Upon running a configuration, DSC will ensure that the system gets the state described in the configuration. DSC configurations are idempotent. The Local Configuration Manager (LCM) periodically polls the system using the control flow described by resources (imperative pieces of DSC) to make sure that the state of a configuration is maintained.
Initially using the code name “Monad”, PowerShell was first shown publicly at the Professional Developers Conference in October 2003 in Los Angeles. All major releases are still supported, and each major release has featured backwards compatibility with preceding versions.
Windows PowerShell 1.0

Windows PowerShell 2.0

Windows PowerShell 3.0
- Scheduled jobs: Jobs can be scheduled to run on a preset time and date using the Windows Task Scheduler infrastructure.
- Session connectivity: Sessions can be disconnected and reconnected. Remote sessions have become more tolerant of temporary network failures.
- Improved code writing: Code completion (IntelliSense) and snippets are added. PowerShell ISE allows users to use dialog boxes to fill in parameters for PowerShell cmdlets.
- Delegation support: Administrative tasks can be delegated to users who do not have permissions for that type of task, without granting them perpetual additional permissions.
- Help update: Help documentations can be updated via Update-Help command.
- Automatic module detection: Modules are loaded implicitly whenever a command from that module is invoked. Code completion works for unloaded modules as well.
- New commands: Dozens of new modules were added, including functionality to manage disks
get-WmiObject win32_logicaldisk, volumes, firewalls, network connections, and printers, which had previously been performed via WMI.[further explanation needed]
Windows PowerShell 4.0
New features in PowerShell 4.0 include:
- Desired State Configuration:[83][84][85] Declarative language extensions and tools that enable the deployment and management of configuration data for systems using the DMTF management standards and WS-Management Protocol
- New default execution policy: On Windows Servers, the default execution policy is now
RemoteSigned. - Save-Help: Help can now be saved for modules that are installed on remote computers.
- Enhanced debugging: The debugger now supports debugging workflows, remote script execution and preserving debugging sessions across PowerShell session reconnections.
- -PipelineVariable switch: A new ubiquitous parameter to expose the current pipeline object as a variable for programming purposes
- Network diagnostics to manage physical and Hyper-V‘s virtualized network switches
- Where and ForEach method syntax provides an alternate method of filtering and iterating over objects.
Windows PowerShell 5.0

Key features included:
- The new
classkeyword that creates classes for object-oriented programming - The new
enumkeyword that creates enums OneGetcmdlets to support the Chocolatey package manager[87]- Extending support for switch management to layer 2 network switches.[88]
- Debugging for PowerShell background jobs and instances of PowerShell hosted in other processes (each of which is called a “runspace”)
- Desired State Configuration (DSC) Local Configuration Manager (LCM) version 2.0
- DSC partial configurations
- DSC Local Configuration Manager meta-configurations
- Authoring of DSC resources using PowerShell classes
Windows PowerShell 5.1
PowerShell Core 6
- The
-Parallelswitch for theForEach-Objectcmdlet to help handle parallel processing - Near parity with Windows PowerShell in terms of compatibility with built-in Windows modules
- A new error view
- The
Get-Errorcmdlet - Pipeline chaining operators (
&&and||) that allow conditional execution of the next cmdlet in the pipeline - The ?: operator for ternary operation
- The
??operator for null coalescing - The
??=operator for null coalescing assignment - Cross-platform
Invoke-DscResource(experimental) - Return of the
Out-GridViewcmdlet - Return of the
-ShowWindowswitch for theGet-Help
Comparison of cmdlets with similar commands
-
lsandmanaliases are absent in the Linux version of PowerShell Core. - Clear-Host is implemented as a predefined PowerShell function.
- Available in Windows NT 4, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Windows 2000 Support Tools
- Introduced in Windows XP Professional Edition
- Also used in UNIX to send a process any signal, the “Terminate” signal is merely the default
-
curlandwgetaliases are absent from PowerShell Core, so as to not interfere with invoking similarly named native commands.
| Extension | Description |
|---|---|
| .ps1 | Script file[111] |
| .psd1 | Module’s manifest file; usually comes with a script module or binary module[112] |
| .psm1 | Script module file[113] |
| .dll | DLL-compliant[a] binary module file[114] |
| .ps1xml | Format and type definitions file[49][115] |
| .xml | XML-compliant[b] serialized data file[116] |
| .psc1 | Console file[117] |
| .pssc | Session configuration file[118] |
| .psrc | Role Capability file[119] |
| Application | Version | Cmdlets | Provider | Management GUI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Server | 2007 | 402 | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server | 2008 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft SQL Server | 2008 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft SharePoint | 2010 | Yes | Yes | No |
| System Center Configuration Manager | 2012 R2 | 400+ | Yes | No |
| System Center Operations Manager | 2007 | 74 | Yes | No |
| System Center Virtual Machine Manager | 2007 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| System Center Data Protection Manager | 2007 | Yes | No | No |
| Windows Compute Cluster Server | 2007 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Domino[120] | 08.02.0012 | 47 | No | No |
| Microsoft PowerTools for Open XML[121] | 1.0 | 33 | No | No |
| IBM WebSphere MQ[122] | 6.0.2.2 | 44 | No | No |
| IoT Core Add-ons[123] | 74 | Unknown | Unknown | |
| Quest Management Shell for Active Directory[124] | 1.7 | 95 | No | No |
| Special Operations Software Specops Command[125] | 1.0 | Yes | No | Yes |
| VMware vSphere PowerCLI[126] | 6.5 R1 | 500+ | Yes | Yes |
| Internet Information Services[127] | 7.0 | 54 | Yes | No |
| Windows 7 Troubleshooting Center[128] | 6.1 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Microsoft Deployment Toolkit[129] | 2010 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NetApp PowerShell Toolkit[130][131] | 4.2 | 2000+ | Yes | Yes |
| JAMS Scheduler – Job Access & Management System[132] | 5.0 | 52 | Yes | Yes |
| UIAutomation[133] | 0.8 | 432 | No | No |
| Dell Equallogic[134] | 3.5 | 55 | No | No |
| LOGINventory[135] | 5.8 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SePSX[136] | 0.4.1 | 39 | No | No |
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Wikiversity has learning resources about PowerShell
- PowerShell on GitHub
- Windows PowerShell Survival Guide on TechNet Wiki
We’ve all been there – you’re trying to uninstall a piece of software, but it just doesn’t seem to be as straightforward as you’d like. Perhaps the traditional uninstall process is proving to be a hassle, or maybe the software doesn’t seem to want to leave your system, no matter how hard you try.
That’s where PowerShell comes in.
In this article, we’ll show you three effective methods that leverage the power of PowerShell to manage and uninstall software packages with ease:
- WMI Method
- Package Provider
- Uninstallation String
Let’s get started!
Uninstalling Software with the WMI Method
One of its key components is the Win32_Product class that embodies products installed by Windows Installer.
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Select-Object -Property Name
After a few seconds, the command will come up with a list of most applications installed on your PC.

2. From this list, identify the exact name of the application you wish to uninstall. It’s crucial to match the name exactly as it appears in the PowerShell output.
3. To locate your application, modify your command as shown below, replacing “PowerShell Test Application” with the name of your application:
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object{$_.Name -eq "PowerShell Test Application"}
$MyApp = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object{$_.Name -eq "PowerShell Test Application"}
$MyApp.Uninstall()While effective, the WMI Method has its limitations:
- It is resource consuming.
- There are cases where the WMI Repository is corrupted.
- Not all applications can be uninstalled by the WMI Method.
In case you’re unable to find your specific application using the WMI Method, the Get-Package cmdlet comes to the rescue, which leads us to the second method.
Uninstalling Software with the Uninstall String
The Uninstallation String method is ideal for custom packages. If a package appears in the Control Panel’s Add & Remove Programs, it creates an entry in the registry.
– For 64bit packages:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
– For 32bit packages:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
To uninstall a package using the Uninstallation String, locate the specific package entry and identify its uninstall string.
For example, if we look at the UXP WebView Support package, we can see that it has a custom uninstall string.

Conclusion
We’ve journeyed through the comprehensive landscape of uninstalling software packages using PowerShell, navigating through three dynamic methods – the WMI Method, Package Provider, and Uninstallation String. Each of these approaches is designed to give you control, flexibility, and precision when managing software on your system.
Whether you’re handling conventional applications or unique, custom packages, these PowerShell methods offer powerful solutions for your uninstallation needs. The key is understanding each method’s advantages and limitations, and strategically applying them based on your specific circumstances.
We hope this guide helps you harness the potential of PowerShell Package Management, enabling you to manage your software environment with confidence and efficiency. Continue exploring, and keep enhancing your software management skills. Remember, in the realm of PowerShell, you’re only limited by what you don’t know. Happy uninstalling!
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