Windows Management Framework 4.0 (PowerShell 4, PowerShell ISE, Management OData, WMI, etc.) now available

Keith Hill's Blog - PowerShell 4.0 Now Available

You can get PowerShell 4.0 for down level operating systems now via the WMF 4.0 download. NOTE: Be sure you have .NET 4.5 installed *before* you install WMF 4.0....

Windows PowerShell Blog - Windows Management Framework 4.0 is now available

Windows Management Framework 4.0, our package that lets you use management technologies from Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 on some of Microsoft’s older operating systems, is now available for you to download and install. This full-release version of Windows Management Framework 4.0 includes even more improvements than our Preview release. Be certain to read this blog post fully before installing, especially because WMF 4.0 is not compatible with certain versions of server products.

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IMPORTANT: Not all Microsoft server applications are currently compatible with WMF 4.0. Before installing WMF 4.0, be sure to read the WMF 4.0 Release Notes. Specifically, systems that are running the following server applications should not run WMF 4.0 at this time:

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (not including SP1)

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (including SP1)

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010

Windows Small Business Server 2011Standard

We acknowledge that there is still a need for management of Windows Server 2008, and Windows Management Framework 3.0 remains the answer for Windows Server 2008.

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Microsoft Downloads - Windows Management Framework 4.0

Windows Management Framework 4.0 includes updates to Windows PowerShell, Windows PowerShell ISE, Windows PowerShell Web Services (Management OData IIS Extension), Windows Remote Management (WinRM), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), the Server Manager WMI provider, and a new feature for 4.0, Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC).

Version: 1.0

Date Published: 10/24/2013

Windows Management Framework 4.0 Release Notes.docx, 89 KB

Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration Quick Reference for Windows Management Framework 4.0.pdf, 244 KB

Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration Quick Reference for Windows Management Framework 4.0.pptx, 73 KB

Windows6.1-KB2819745-x64-MultiPkg.msu, 18.4 MB

Windows6.1-KB2819745-x86-MultiPkg.msu, 14.1 MB

Windows8-RT-KB2799888-x64.msu, 17.5 MB

This release includes new features and functionality in Windows Management Framework 4.0, including the following:

Windows PowerShell 4.0

Windows PowerShell ISE

Windows PowerShell Web Services (Management OData IIS Extension)

Windows Remote Management (WinRM)

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

The Server Manager WMI provider

A new feature for 4.0, Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC)

Windows Management Framework 4.0 makes updated management functionality available for installation on Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and Windows Server 2012.

Windows PowerShell 4.0
Some of the new features in Windows PowerShell 4.0 include:

Support for workflow and remote script debugging

Improved workflow authoring experience to make it more consistent with script authoring

Added PipelineVariable as a common parameter

Better support for downloading updatable help by using Save-Help and Update-Help in offline scenarios

Updated version from 3.0 to 4.0

Several bug fixes and performance improvements

Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment
Windows PowerShell ISE in Windows Management Framework 4.0 introduces:

Support for Windows PowerShell Workflow debugging

Support for remote script debugging

IntelliSense support for Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration resources and configurations

Windows PowerShell Web Services
Windows PowerShell Web Services (Management OData IIS Extension) enables an administrator to expose a set of Windows PowerShell cmdlets as a RESTful web endpoint accessible by using OData (Open Data Protocol). This provides remote access to run cmdlets from both Windows-based and non-Windows-based client computers or devices.

Improved error messages in event logs

Endpoint versioning support

Autopopulation of OData dispatch schema fields

Support for complex types

Multilevel association support

Ability to perform large binary stream transfers

Support for non-Create/Read/Update/Delete (CRUD) actions

Key-As-Segment URL syntax support

Constrained resource operations

WMI, WinRM, and Server Manager CIM Provider
These features were included with WMF 3.0, and continue to be included in WMF 4.0. There are no significant changes to these features.

Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration
Windows Management Framework 4.0 introduces Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC), with the following highlights:

Local configuration manager for applying configurations on the local computer

Windows PowerShell language extensions for authoring DSC documents

PSDesiredStateConfiguration module and DSC-related cmdlets

A set of built-in DSC configuration resources

DSC service for distributed access to DSC resources