How can I run PowerShell with the .NET 4 runtime?

Question

I am updating a PowerShell script that manages some .NET assemblies. The script was written for assemblies built against .NET 2 (the same version of the framework that Power

Answer 1

Actually, you can get PowerShell to run using .NET 4 without affecting other .NET applications. I needed to do so to use the new HttpWebRequest "Host" property, however changing the "OnlyUseLatestCLR" broke Fiddler as that could not be used under .NET 4.

The developers of PowerShell obviously foresaw this happening, and they added a registry key to specify what version of the Framework it should use. One slight issue is that you need to take ownership of the registry key before changing it, as even administrators do not have access.

• HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Powershell\1\PowerShellEngine\RuntimeVersion (64 bit and 32 bit)
• HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Powershell\1\PowerShellEngine\RuntimeVersion (32 bit on 64 bit machine)

Change the value of that key to the required version. Keep in mind though that some snapins may no longer load unless they are .NET 4 compatible (WASP is the only one I have had trouble with, but I don't really use it anyway). VMWare, SQL Server 2008, PSCX, Active Directory (Microsoft and Quest Software) and SCOM all work fine.