Windows 7 shipped with PowerShell 2.0 installed. Windows 8 brought PowerShell 3.0 and Windows 8.1 brings PowerShell 4.0.
Windows 8 and 8.1 also have a lot of modules installed. This extra functionality widens PowerShell reach immensely – the networking modules alone are a significant step forward.
When you install PowerShell 3.0 or 4.0 on Windows 7 you don’t most of the new modules. This has puzzled many people and I’m often asked how those Windows 8/8.1 modules can be made available on Windows 7.
The short answer is that you can’t.
The long answer is that you can’t because, for the most part, those modules are based on CIM (WMI) classes that were introduced in Windows 8 or 8.1. A lot of the system management functionality you see in modern Windows is based on CIM classes that then use the CDXML approach to create PowerShell modules.
Installing the new CIM classes on Windows 7 is not possible – so you can’t get the modules on which they are based.
If you want the new functionality you have to upgrade to Windows 8.1