Last Updated on March 17, 2021 by Mathew Diekhake

PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and the associated scripting language. Initially a Windows component only, known as Windows PowerShell, it was made open-source and cross-platform on 18 August 2016 with the introduction of PowerShell Core. The former is built on the .NET Framework, the latter on .NET Core.

PowerShell 6.1 builds on the initial features given in 6.0 and adds 1900+ existing cmdlets in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019, is built on top of .NET Core 2.1, comes with Significant performance improvements which include markdown cmdlets, as well as support for the latest versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux. In addition to all of that, there are also new experimental feature flags.

PowerShell 6.1 comes with module support. There was some debate after the release of PowerShell 6.0 whether Microsoft officials wanted module support for future PowerShell versions. Joey Aiello, in particular, stated that it was still a work in progress. Now, though, Aiello has assuaged those concerns.

“By far, the biggest feature of this release is compatibility of built-in Windows modules with PowerShell Core,” Aiello wrote. “This means that you can natively run those modules/cmdlets with PowerShell Core and easily transition from Windows PowerShell.”

Other features in PowerShell 6.1 include “significant performance improvements” which can be seen from the Group-Object cmdlet which is now 66% faster. There is also Microsoft Modern Lifecycle support. The Microsoft Modern Lifecycle Policy requires the acceptance of all software updates.

SHA256 Hashes of the release artifacts

  • powershell-6.1.1-1.rhel.7.x86_64.rpm
    • C374A010FB3A898CFCB9CA2B7DE4E9539A506BC6F28691EA748D76ECC0A333D1
  • powershell-6.1.1-linux-arm32.tar.gz
    • A6F0684BF5ED169AE0ABF7391AFBCD612A5815163865DFA4AB43F8F1EC92CDCF
  • powershell-6.1.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
    • 822CB473A5B3D076584181BB5D308035A9FBD079A68762E9E6C0D7543E05B513
  • powershell-6.1.1-osx-x64.pkg
    • BCAA357FB472B688ECD3FC3472D360C1EB58E43AFE9B083D7C8C76C36FDED4B9
  • powershell-6.1.1-osx-x64.tar.gz
    • 86E59F4785B2669CA727454975EFBEA76FDB9D14D487066ACDA7F06B4F4775F4
  • PowerShell-6.1.1-win-arm32.zip
    • A646C8E9306B5480A940206838099C704FE2518E8BE07C24CA27E21C85CECDF3
  • PowerShell-6.1.1-win-arm64.zip
    • 91B1470EAC752FF3C9BB5C6AE760B32E7CDB34D2F497E7E964A25E0846505EEA
  • PowerShell-6.1.1-win-x64.msi
    • 19B255C767BD9517B7BDB85D957F793968F7D86BDD33F9E71813B2ED2912BE56
  • PowerShell-6.1.1-win-x64.zip
    • F1198F0421A9D0D8CFE10D012AE8EDB625787B341777BF0A2187FF0069EE8661
  • PowerShell-6.1.1-win-x86.msi
    • DC35FF9488734E2A0D6B0F51BCC5C673ADC787F4CE9ABBB52803C46973D92B8D
  • PowerShell-6.1.1-win-x86.zip
    • 1C7146E3879EAE99476FF75FC560245B6097A39AB0BDA76FAB62CA2525B06B69
  • powershell_6.1.1-1.debian.8_amd64.deb
    • 119D013CADEE35D1373F5B0B6EF93B22A5B0FF2BDA33769CD07F2535CF320993
  • powershell_6.1.1-1.debian.9_amd64.deb
    • E2E3F38BB0F25E42B1E3A8C9A3D157A29D58CC510A95BCBAC8DD4312AD1F0E34
  • powershell_6.1.1-1.ubuntu.14.04_amd64.deb
    • B148A7265CAACAF5CDBDA8C118139A1ECF7C20AD0DCD595C93E45C6C61AE4416
  • powershell_6.1.1-1.ubuntu.16.04_amd64.deb
    • 2B6E8722C87131505DA78487F0FB4B0E075FDEEB0C6CD8B5405441C1BED8A0C1
  • powershell_6.1.1-1.ubuntu.18.04_amd64.deb
    • 158E97DCAED4F9C46EC1C6DE2D05D33B855423AFC1CC71276EA688661AC61B53
  • powershell-6.1.1-linux-musl-x64.tar.gz
    • 27580F0A7D42BB4CA1F316C59558A4ECDCE721647FA28A2533D7E1047FD94DBE

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