How can I change the version of powershell I'm running in from within the script?

Question

I would like to run my powershell script in v2 mode. Is it possible to do this without having a wrapper script?

So for example, I can do this now if I can two files.

MainContent.ps1

write-output 'run some code'
Read-Host -Prompt "Scripts Completed : Press any key to exit" 


Wrapper.ps1

powershell -version 2 -file 'MainContent.ps1'

This will work but I'm hoping I don't need to have this second wrapper file because I'm creating a whole bunch of these ps1 scripts, and having wrapper files will double the amount of scripts I'll need.

I'm hoping I can do something like this.

MainContent.ps1

Set-Powershell -version 2
write-output 'run some code'
Read-Host -Prompt "Scripts Completed : Press any key to exit"

Later on, I would also like each script to ask for a set of credentials as well without using a wrapper file.

Is this currently possible?

To be clear, I'm using version 2 of powershell

Pardon my curiosity, but why do you need this? Are you just trying to write portable scripts, or do you have a specific compatibility issue? — Ryan Bemrose
– Ryan Bemrose, Commented Jul 3, 2015 at 0:58
@RyanBemrose = compability issue. Users with powershell 3.0 installed get this error "Microsoft SharePoint is not supported with version 4.0.30319.17929 of the Microsoft .Net Runtime." — Diskdrive
– Diskdrive, Commented Jul 3, 2015 at 1:03
It's not just the PowerShell version then. It's the underlying .NET runtime you need loaded. Starting a new process is the only way to change it. — Mike Zboray
– Mike Zboray, Commented Jul 3, 2015 at 1:06
@mikez - yeah I'm not sure why that message is showing but this KB says to just change the powershell version and it does work when I do that. support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2796733 — Diskdrive
– Diskdrive, Commented Jul 3, 2015 at 1:08
PowerShell 2.0 used .NET 3.5, so it's a way force down the CLR version. — Mike Zboray
– Mike Zboray, Commented Jul 3, 2015 at 1:14

Ryan Bemrose · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-03 01:27:01Z

9

If your only goal is to avoid creating separate wrapper scripts, you can always have the script re-launch itself. The following script will always re-launch itself once with PS version 2.0.

param([switch]$_restart)
if (-not $_restart) {
  powershell -Version 2 -File $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition -_restart
  exit
}

'run some code'
Read-Host -Prompt "Scripts Completed : Press any key to exit"

Or you can make it conditional. This script re-launches itself with version 2 only if the version is greater than 2.0.

if ($PSVersionTable.PSVersion -gt [Version]"2.0") {
  powershell -Version 2 -File $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition
  exit
}

'run some code'
Read-Host -Prompt "Scripts Completed : Press any key to exit"

edited Jul 3, 2015 at 1:27

answered Jul 3, 2015 at 1:08

Ryan Bemrose

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3 Comments

Diskdrive Over a year ago

ah ok, that's not bad. Is this a common pattern? Is there a way to make it generic so that instead of checking the version, it checks to see if the script has run the first time? Then I can actually put other stuff in there like calling Set-Credential to get the user to run the script in a particular account

Ryan Bemrose Over a year ago

Modified to show both cases - conditional restart and always restart.

Diskdrive Over a year ago

thanks ryan. That's exactly the line of logic that I was implementing, but thanks for completing it for me!

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