Installing PowerShell on macOS

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PowerShell 7 or higher requires macOS 11 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 7.4 is an in-place upgrade that removes previous versions of PowerShell 7. Preview versions of PowerShell can be installed side-by-side with other versions of PowerShell. If you need to run PowerShell 7.4 side-by-side with a previous version, reinstall the previous version using the binary archive method.

Install the latest stable release of PowerShell

There are several ways to install PowerShell on macOS. Choose one of the following methods:

If the brew command isn't found, you need to install Homebrew following their instructions.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Once brew is installed you can install PowerShell.

The following command installs the latest stable release of PowerShell:

brew install powershell/tap/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

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.

Install the latest preview release of PowerShell

After you've installed Homebrew, you can install PowerShell.

brew install powershell/tap/powershell-preview

Run the following command to start the preview version of PowerShell:

pwsh-preview

When new versions of PowerShell are released, update Homebrew's formulae and upgrade PowerShell:

brew update
brew upgrade powershell-preview

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.

Install the latest LTS release of PowerShell

brew install powershell/tap/powershell-lts

You can now verify your install

pwsh

When new versions of PowerShell are released, run the following command.

brew upgrade powershell-lts

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

Starting with version 7.2, PowerShell supports the Apple M-series Arm-based processors. Download the install package from the releases page onto your computer. The links to the current versions are:

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 ./Downloads/powershell-7.4.6-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-7.4.6-osx-x64.pkg" cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software.

There are two ways to work around this issue:

Using the Finder

  1. Find the package in Finder.
  2. Control-click (click while pressing the Ctrl key) on the package.
  3. Select Open from the context menu.

From the command line

  1. Run sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine ./Downloads/powershell-7.4.6-osx-x64.pkg. If you are using PowerShell 7 or higher, you can use the Unblock-File cmdlet. Include the full path to the .pkg file.
  2. 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 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 doesn't have the updated PATH. You should be able to start PowerShell from a new shell by typing pwsh.

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.

Note

You can use this method to install any version of PowerShell including the latest:

Installing binary archives on macOS

Download the install package from the releases page onto your computer. The links to the current versions are:

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/v7.4.6/powershell-7.4.6-osx-x64.tar.gz

# Create the target folder where powershell is placed
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7

# Expand powershell to the target folder
sudo tar zxf /tmp/powershell.tar.gz -C /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7

# Set execute permissions
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7/pwsh

# Create the symbolic link that points to pwsh
sudo ln -s /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7/pwsh /usr/local/bin/pwsh

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 isn't necessary if you installed with Homebrew.

Paths

  • $PSHOME is /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7
    • The macOS install package creates a symbolic link, /usr/local/bin/pwsh that points to pwsh in the $PSHOME location.
  • 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

PowerShell respects the XDG Base Directory Specification on macOS.

Supported versions

Microsoft supports PowerShell until PowerShell reaches end-of-support or the version of macOS reaches end-of-support.

  • macOS 12 (Monterey) x64 and Arm64
  • macOS 13 (Ventura) x64 and Arm64
  • macOS 14 (Sonoma) x64 and Arm64

Apple determines the support lifecycle of macOS. For more information, see the following:

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 can't support those methods.

Additional Resources