Download PowerShell 7.3 Preview 1

Microsoft has released PowerShell version 7.3.0 Preview 1. It is an optional download if you wish to test out the new features and improvements in their latest development.

Since it is a preview version, you may experience some anomalies. There is currently one known issue where the Alpine Linux packages are missing powershell.config.json which disables the experimental features by default.

If you already have a stable version of Windows PowerShell running on your machine, installing the preview version will not affect it and both could run simultaneously. However, in case an older preview version of PowerShell is installed, it will be automatically overwritten with the newer preview version.

While installing PowerShell, you will be given the option to choose whether to update it via Microsoft Update or WSUS. However, it will have no effect since the preview version needs to be manually installed.

Since you already know the known issue with this release, let us see what new features it brings before you install it.

Changes and Improvements

We have highlighted the significant improvements in this preview release:

• [Breaking Changes]
  • Add clean block to script block as a peer to begin, process, and end to allow easy resource cleanup.
  • Change default for $PSStyle.OutputRendering to ANSI.
• [Engine]
  • Removed duplicate remote server mediator code.
  • Fix PSVersion parameter version checks and error messages for PowerShell 7 remoting.
  • Use the same temporary home directory when HOME env variable is not set.
  • Fix parser to generate error when array has more than 32 dimensions.
• [Performance]
  • Avoid validation for built-in file extension and color VT sequences.
• [General Cmdlet Fixes]
  • Use PlainText when writing to a host that doesn’t support VT.
  • Remove support for AppExeCLinks to retrieve target.
  • Fix ConvertTo-SecureString with key regression due to .NET breaking change.
  • Fix regression in Move-Item to only fallback to copy and delete in specific cases
  • Fix link header parsing to handle unquoted rel types.
  • Fix a casting error when using $PSNativeCommandUsesErrorActionPreference.
  • Make the native command error handling optionally honor ErrorActionPreference.
  • Remove declaration of experimental features in Utility module manifest as they are stable.
  • Fix race condition between DisconnectAsync and Dispose.
  • Fix the Max_PATH condition check to handle long path correctly.
  • Fix tab completion within the script block specified for the ValidateScriptAttribute.
  • Add -HttpVersion parameter to web cmdlets.
  • Add support to web cmdlets for open-ended input tags.
  • Fix ConvertTo-Json -Depth to allow 100 at maximum.
  • Fix for SSH remoting when banner is enabled on SSHD endpoint.
  • Fix PipelineVariable to set variable in the right scope.

To learn more about these fixes and improvements, read the Release Notes.

Download PowerShell 7.3 Preview 1

You can download PowerShell 7.3 Preview 1 from the direct download links below.

For Windows 11, 10, 8.1, and 7

PowerShell-7.3.0 Preview 1 for Windows 64-bit.msi [101 MB]

PowerShell-7.3.0 Preview 1 for Windows 32-bit.msi [92.2 MB]

For MacOS

PowerShell-7.3.0 Preview 1 for MacOS 64-bit.pkg [63.8 MB]

PowerShell-7.3.0 Preview 1 for MacOS ARM64.pkg [60.2 MB]

For Linux

PowerShell-7.3.0 Preview 1 for RedHat Linux.rpm [65.8 MB]

PowerShell-7.3.0 Preview 1 for Debian.deb [66.4 MB]

For more download options, please check out this download page.

How to Install PowerShell 7.3 Preview 1

Here is how you can install Windows PowerShell 7.3 Preview 1 in Windows 11,10, 8.1, and Windows 7.

1. Download and execute the respective MSI file from the links above.
2. The installation wizard will now run. Click Next on the first screen.
   
   
3. Now select the destination folder for the installation and click Next.
   
   
4. Select the optional features you want to install, such as adding PowerShell to environment variables, enable PowerShell remoting, add PowerShell to the context menu, etc. Click Next when selected.
   
5. Leave the default settings on the next page and click Next.
   
6. On the next screen, click Install to begin the installation.
   
   
7. Once installed, click Finish.
   
   
8. Now confirm that PowerShell has been installed by running PowerShell. Type in pwsh in Run and ou shall see the installed version at the top.
   
   

Learn more about PowerShell and PowerShell Core. You can also download and install PowerShell over the network.

Final Thoughts

We recommend that you install all preview releases by Microsoft in a test environment, for example on a virtual machine, and not on production environments. This is because preview releases are meant for testing purposes so that Microsoft can fix any issues that they missed based on the user’s feedback.