Microsoft ends support for PowerShell 7.4 (LTS) and PowerShell 7.5 on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, according to the PowerShell support lifecycle. After that date neither version gets updates, security fixes included. The replacement is PowerShell 7.6, the current LTS release, supported until November 14, 2028. Microsoft publishes the date only, with no time of day or time zone.

Why both versions end on the same day

PowerShell 7 support follows the .NET release underneath. PowerShell 7.4, released November 16, 2023, runs on .NET 8; 7.5, released January 23, 2025, runs on .NET 9. Microsoft extended standard-term .NET support to 24 months starting with .NET 9, so the .NET support policy ends both runtimes together, on November's Patch Tuesday (see our patch calendar).

PowerShell 7.6 shipped on March 18, 2026, built on .NET 10; 7.7 is not released yet (its latest build, a release candidate, appeared on October 29). Microsoft supports only the latest patch of each release: as of October 28, 2026 that is 7.6.9, 7.5.13 or 7.4.22, all published on GitHub on October 25.

Check which version you run

  • $PSVersionTable.PSVersion in a session, or pwsh -Version from any shell.
  • [System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::FrameworkDescription shows the runtime: .NET 8 means 7.4, .NET 9 means 7.5, .NET 10 means 7.6.
  • $PSHOME shows the install type: Program Files\PowerShell\7 usually means MSI, a WindowsApps path means MSIX.
  • On Linux, dpkg -l 'powershell*' or rpm -qa 'powershell*'.

Upgrading on Windows

A newer PowerShell 7 release replaces the previous 7.x install in place and runs side by side with Windows PowerShell 5.1. To keep 7.4 for comparison, unpack its ZIP package into a separate folder.

  • WinGet: winget upgrade --id Microsoft.PowerShell keeps your current package format. New installs default to MSIX from 7.6.0; add --installer-type wix for the MSI. WinGet is not available on Windows Server 2022 or earlier.
  • Servers: Microsoft recommends the MSI. MSIX installs are per-user and do not accept incoming PowerShell remoting, and in April 2026 the PowerShell team said MSIX did not yet cover system services such as Task Scheduler. No MSI is planned for 7.7 or later.
  • Microsoft Update: for opted-in MSI installs it ships patches as optional updates within a release channel. Its FAQ says 7.5 installs move to the newer LTS when 7.5 support ends, but promises nothing similar for 7.4, so upgrade those machines yourself.

Linux, macOS and containers

In Microsoft's package repository, the powershell package already carries 7.6 (7.6.9 for both Ubuntu 24.04 and RHEL 9 as of October 30, 2026). The powershell-lts package has no 7.6 build and stops at 7.4.22, so apt or dnf upgrades leave those hosts on 7.4. Both packages install /usr/bin/pwsh, so remove powershell-lts before installing powershell (Microsoft's Ubuntu guide covers only the powershell package), and update scripts that call pwsh-lts. On macOS, install the 7.6 PKG from GitHub.

On the same date, the mcr.microsoft.com/powershell image repository had no 7.6 tags. Microsoft points to the .NET SDK images instead, where the PowerShell version follows the SDK: the Ubuntu 24.04 Dockerfiles installed 7.4.22 in sdk:8.0, 7.5.13 in sdk:9.0 and 7.6.9 in sdk:10.0. Microsoft labels these images for testing and suggests building your own for production.

Azure Functions and Azure Automation

Azure Functions lists November 10, 2026 as the end of support for PowerShell 7.4 and supports 7.6 until November 14, 2028 on every hosting plan except Linux Consumption. Linux Consumption apps must move to Flex Consumption before upgrading, and Flex Consumption does not support Managed Dependencies, so include modules in the app content.

Switch versions in the portal (Settings, Configuration, General settings) or with az functionapp config set and --powershell-version (Windows) or --linux-fx-version (Linux), via a staging slot where the plan allows one. Locally, set FUNCTIONS_WORKER_RUNTIME_VERSION to "7.6"; "~7" means 7.0.x. Under the retirement policy, 7.4 apps keep running without security patches and may be limited to one instance.

In Azure Automation, PowerShell 7.6 is available through runtime environments. Their version cannot be changed, so create a 7.6 environment, import your modules and relink runbooks with Update Runtime Environment. Source control integration does not support 7.6 runbooks.

CI runners

GitHub-hosted runners and Azure Pipelines Microsoft-hosted agents are built from the same runner images, and the October 2026 manifests for Windows Server 2022 and 2025 and Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 already list PowerShell 7.6. Self-hosted agents and container jobs need checking separately. Our Tooling and Cloud sections track other end-of-support dates.

Scripts and modules

Coming from 7.4, read the breaking changes for both 7.5 and 7.6. In 7.6, Join-Path -ChildPath accepts an array, and Microsoft.PowerShell.ThreadJob replaces the ThreadJob module, so module-qualified ThreadJob\Start-ThreadJob calls need the new name. In 7.5, ConvertTo-Json serializes BigInteger values as numbers. Modules shipped outside PowerShell, such as ActiveDirectory, follow their own product lifecycle.

Frequently asked questions

Will PowerShell 7.4 stop working on November 10, 2026?

No. It keeps running, but Microsoft ships no further updates for 7.4 or 7.5, security fixes included, and their .NET 8 and .NET 9 runtimes stop receiving patches the same day.

Should I wait for PowerShell 7.7?

Not for production. PowerShell 7.7 is still a pre-release on .NET 11, and Microsoft does not officially support pre-release builds. PowerShell 7.6 is the LTS release, supported until November 14, 2028.

Is Windows PowerShell 5.1 affected?

No. It ships with Windows and is supported under the lifecycle of the Windows version it runs on.