Via the Windows Management Framework

May 17, 2010 15:13 GMT  ·  By

It appears that because of the way Microsoft labeled its PowerShell 2.0 download package, there is a bit of confusion on whether the technology is available for download or not. The short answer is yes, PowerShell 2.0, the version that is included by default in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has already been wrapped up and is indeed offered to users of older versions of Windows client and server platforms for quite some time now. The confusion has been spurred by the fact that PowerShell 2.0 is not offered as a standalone download, but rather as a part of a larger package dubbed the Windows Management Framework.

“We are responsible for the confusion because our redistribution is not called PowerShell V2, it’s called Windows Management Framework,” noted Jeffrey Snover [MSFT] distinguished engineer. Along with PowerShell 2.0, the Windows Management Framework brings to the table two additional technologies, namely Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0 and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 4.0.

“In the past, we had a dog’s breakfast of management technologies, each releasing on its own schedule with its own installer, its own approach to supporting downlevel OSes etc. We were trying “shipping our organization”. What is worse is that we never had anyone making sure that these things worked together (they did but if they didn’t, there was no one to hold accountable). Having spent the majority of my career building management products and solutions, I knew that this inconsistency was a problem for the very community we were trying to help,” Snover added.

What is important to underline is that Microsoft was looking to do more than simply backporting PowerShell 2.0 to Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003. The company worked to make sure that IT professionals have a complete package of management solutions, rather than just a new release of PowerShell.

“What we needed to do is to provide a single package with all the management technologies that customers needed. That is what we developed and we called it the Windows Management Framework. That is why you don’t have a “downlevel package for PowerShell V2”, you have a downlevel package for management,” Snover explained.

Windows Management Framework (Windows PowerShell 2.0, Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.00, and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 4.0) is available for download here.