Installing PowerShell on macOS
PowerShell 7.0 or higher require macOS 10.13 and higher. All packages are available on our GitHub
releases page. After the package is installed, run pwsh
from a terminal. Before
installing, check the list of Supported versions below.
Note
PowerShell 7.2 is an in-place upgrade that removes previous versions of PowerShell 6.x and 7.x.
The /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/6
folder is replaced by /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7
.
If you need to run an older version of PowerShell side-by-side with PowerShell 7.2, install the version you want using the binary archive method.
Installation of latest stable release via Homebrew on macOS 10.13 or higher
There are several ways to install PowerShell on macOS. Choose one of the following methods:
- Install using Homebrew. Homebrew is the preferred package manager for macOS.
- Install PowerShell via Direct Download
- Install from binary archives.
If the brew
command is not found, you need to install Homebrew following
their instructions.
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Now, you can install PowerShell:
brew install --cask powershell
Finally, verify that your install is working properly:
pwsh
When new versions of PowerShell are released, update Homebrew's formulae and upgrade PowerShell:
brew update
brew upgrade powershell --cask
Note
The commands above can be called from within a PowerShell (pwsh) host,
but then the PowerShell shell must be exited and restarted to complete the upgrade
and refresh the values shown in $PSVersionTable
.
Installation of latest preview release via Homebrew on macOS 10.13 or higher
After you've installed Homebrew, you can install PowerShell. First, install the Cask-Versions package that lets you install alternative versions of cask packages:
brew tap homebrew/cask-versions
Now, you can install PowerShell:
brew install --cask powershell-preview
Finally, verify that your install is working properly:
pwsh-preview
When new versions of PowerShell are released, update Homebrew's formulae and upgrade PowerShell:
brew update
brew upgrade powershell-preview --cask
Note
The commands above can be called from within a PowerShell (pwsh) host,
but then the PowerShell shell must be exited and restarted to complete the upgrade.
and refresh the values shown in $PSVersionTable
.
Installing PowerShell using the Homebrew tap method is also supported for stable and LTS versions.
brew install powershell/tap/powershell
You can now verify your install
pwsh
When new versions of PowerShell are released, run the following command.
brew upgrade powershell
Note
Whether you use the cask or the tap method, when updating to a newer version of PowerShell, use the same method you used to initially install PowerShell. If you use a different method, opening a new pwsh session will continue to use the older version of PowerShell.
If you do decide to use different methods, there are ways to correct the issue using the Homebrew link method.
Installation via Direct Download
PowerShell 7.2 adds support for the Apple M1 processor. Download the install package from the releases page onto your computer. The links to the current versions are:
- PowerShell 7.2.5
- x64 processors - powershell-7.2.5-osx-x64.pkg
- M1 processors - powershell-7.2.5-osx-arm64.pkg
- PowerShell 7.0.11 - powershell-7.0.11-osx-x64.pkg
You can double-click the file and follow the prompts, or install it from the terminal using the following commands. Change the name of the file to match the file you downloaded.
sudo installer -pkg powershell-7.2.5-osx-x64.pkg -target /
If you are running on macOS Big Sur 11.5 or higher you may receive the following error message when installing the package:
"powershell-7.2.5-osx-x64.pkg" can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software.
There are two ways to work around this issue:
Using the Finder
- Find the package in Finder.
- Control-click (click while pressing the Ctrl key) on the package.
- Select Open from the context menu.
From the command line
- Run
sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine powershell-7.2.5-osx-x64.pkg
. Include the full path to the.pkg
file. - Install the package as you normally would.
Note
This is a known issue related to package notarization that will be addressed in the future.
Install OpenSSL. OpenSSL is needed for PowerShell remoting and CIM operations.
Install as a .NET Global tool
If you already have the .NET Core SDK installed, it's easy to install PowerShell as a .NET Global tool.
dotnet tool install --global PowerShell
The dotnet tool installer adds ~/.dotnet/tools
to your PATH
environment variable. However, the
currently running shell does not have the updated PATH
. You should be able to start PowerShell
from a new shell by typing pwsh
.
Install OpenSSL. OpenSSL is needed for PowerShell remoting and CIM operations.
Binary Archives
PowerShell binary tar.gz
archives are provided for the macOS platform to enable advanced
deployment scenarios. When you install using this method you must also manually install any
dependencies.
Install OpenSSL. OpenSSL is needed for PowerShell remoting and CIM operations.
Note
You can use this method to install any version of PowerShell including the latest:
- Stable release: https://aka.ms/powershell-release?tag=stable
- LTS release: https://aka.ms/powershell-release?tag=lts
- Preview release: https://aka.ms/powershell-release?tag=preview
Installing binary archives on macOS
Download the install package from the releases page onto your computer. The links to the current versions are:
- PowerShell 7.2.5
- x64 processors - powershell-7.2.5-osx-x64.tar.gz
- M1 processors - powershell-7.2.5-osx-arm64.tar.gz
- PowerShell 7.0.11 - powershell-7.0.11-osx-x64.tar.gz
Use the following commands to install PowerShell from the binary archive. Change the download URL to match the version you want to install.
# Download the powershell '.tar.gz' archive
curl -L -o /tmp/powershell.tar.gz https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.2.5/powershell-7.2.5-osx-x64.tar.gz
# Create the target folder where powershell is placed
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7.2.5
# Expand powershell to the target folder
sudo tar zxf /tmp/powershell.tar.gz -C /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7.2.5
# Set execute permissions
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7.2.5/pwsh
# Create the symbolic link that points to pwsh
sudo ln -s /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7.2.5/pwsh /usr/local/bin/pwsh
Installing dependencies
OpenSSL is required for PowerShell remoting and CIM operations. You can install OpenSSL via MacPorts if needed.
Note
MacPorts and Homebrew can have problems when used to together on the same system. However, Homebrew does not have a package for OpenSSL 1.0. For more information, see the MacPorts FAQ.
Install the Xcode command-line tools. The Xcode tools are required by MacPorts.
xcode-select --install
Install MacPorts. If you need instructions, refer to the installation guide.
Update MacPorts by running
sudo port selfupdate
.Upgrade MacPorts packages by running
sudo port upgrade outdated
.Install OpenSSL:
- For x64-based systems run
sudo port install openssl10
- For M1-based systems run
sudo port install openssl10 +universal
- For x64-based systems run
Link the libraries to make them available to PowerShell:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/opt/openssl sudo ln -s /opt/local/lib/openssl-1.0 /usr/local/opt/openssl/lib
Uninstalling PowerShell
If you installed PowerShell with Homebrew, use the following command to uninstall:
brew uninstall --cask powershell
If you installed PowerShell via direct download, PowerShell must be removed manually:
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/pwsh /usr/local/microsoft/powershell
To remove the additional PowerShell paths, refer to the paths section in this document
and remove the paths using sudo rm
.
Note
This is not necessary if you installed with Homebrew.
Paths
$PSHOME
is/usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7.2.5/
- User profiles are read from
~/.config/powershell/profile.ps1
- Default profiles are read from
$PSHOME/profile.ps1
- User modules are read from
~/.local/share/powershell/Modules
- Shared modules are read from
/usr/local/share/powershell/Modules
- Default modules are read from
$PSHOME/Modules
- PSReadLine history are recorded to
~/.local/share/powershell/PSReadLine/ConsoleHost_history.txt
The profiles respect PowerShell's per-host configuration. So the default host-specific profile
exists at Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
in the same locations.
PowerShell respects the XDG Base Directory Specification on macOS.
Because macOS is a derivation of BSD, the prefix /usr/local
is used instead of /opt
. So,
$PSHOME
is /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7.2.5/
, and the symbolic link is placed at
/usr/local/bin/pwsh
.
Supported versions
The following table is a list of currently supported PowerShell releases and the versions of Windows they are supported on. These versions remain supported until either the version of PowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version of [macOS reaches end-of-support][eol-windows].
- A ✅ indicates that the version of the OS or PowerShell is still supported
- A ❌ indicates that the version of the OS or PowerShell isn't supported
- A 🟡 indicates the version of PowerShell is no longer supported on that version of the OS
- When both the version of the OS and the version of PowerShell have ✅, that combination is supported
macOS | 7.0 (LTS) | 7.1 | 7.2 (LTS-current) | 7.3 (preview) |
---|---|---|---|---|
✅ macOS Big Sur 11.5 | ✅ | 🟡 | ✅ | ✅ |
✅ macOS Catalina 10.15 | ✅ | 🟡 | ✅ | ✅ |
✅ macOS Mojave 10.14 | ✅ | 🟡 | ✅ | ✅ |
✅ macOS High Sierra 10.13 | ✅ | 🟡 | ❌ | ❌ |
macOS Monterey 12.0 has not been tested.
Support of macOS is defined by Apple. For more information, see:
PowerShell is supported on macOS for the following processor architectures:
macOS | 7.0 (LTS) | 7.2 (LTS-current) | 7.3 (preview) |
---|---|---|---|
macOS Big Sur 11.5 | x64 | x64, Arm64 | x64, Arm64 |
macOS High Sierra 10.13+ | x64 | x64 | x64 |
Installation support
Microsoft supports the installation methods in this document. There may be other methods of installation available from other sources. While those tools and methods may work, Microsoft cannot support those methods.
Additional Resources
Feedback
Submit and view feedback for