Why doesn't Console in PowerShell ISE use the latest installed version of PowerShell?

Question

I have recently installed PowerShell 6.2.

If I start a PowerShell 6 (x64) command prompt and run $PSVersionTable.PSVersion this is the result

Major  Minor  Patch  PreReleaseLabel BuildLabel
-----  -----  -----  --------------- ----------
6      2      0

From the same prompt I run the ISE using powershell_ise.exe and the PowerShell ISE starts. However, in the console within ISE if I run $PSVersionTable.PSVersion it reports this:

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
4      0      -1     -1  

Is there a setting to control where ISE looks for PowerShell? Or is there any way to ensure it is using the latest version installed?

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UPDATE: As part of installing PowerShell Core (i.e. ver 6.2) I had to install Windows Management Framework 5.1. My understanding from this doc is that this should have upgraded the ISE console's version of PowerShell to 5.1 as well. I am still seeing ver 4.0 as noted above. What am I missing?

Answer 1

The latest version of PowerShell is 5.1, this is the most recent version that you can use in ISE as well.

PowerShell 6 is also known as PowerShell Core, which is not supported in ISE. You can download a tool called Visual Studio Code that can be used with PowerShell 6 (Core).

Bonus: Interestingly enough, there was actually an article I read recently about a PowerShell 7 that Microsoft is currently working on which looks pretty interesting. See here as well for PowerShell 7.

Update: Thanks @Magnetron for updating in the comments. PowerShell 7 officially released this week.

Hope this helps!