Document history - Amazon Tools for PowerShell (version 4)
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Document history

This topic describes significant changes to the documentation for the Amazon Tools for PowerShell.

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For additional information about changes and updates to the Amazon Tools for PowerShell, see the release notes. For notification about updates to this documentation, you can subscribe to an RSS feed.

ChangeDescriptionDate

What's new

Released preview content for V5 of the Amazon Tools for PowerShell.

June 13, 2025

Observability

Announced the GA release for observability

February 10, 2025

What's new

Added information about new default behavior for integrity protection.

January 15, 2025

What's new

Added information about the first preview release of the Amazon Tools for PowerShell version 5.

November 18, 2024

Pipelining, output, and iteration

Replaced content about $AWSHistory, which has been deprecated.

October 10, 2024

Observability

Added preview information about observability in the Amazon Tools for PowerShell, which enables the gathering of telemetry data.

September 13, 2024

Installing the Amazon Tools for PowerShell on Windows

Added information about unblocking ZIP files before extracting the contents.

August 5, 2024

Information about EC2-Classic

Removed information about EC2-Classic, which has been retired.

August 1, 2024

Code Examples

Included a chapter with cmdlet examples.

April 17, 2024

Additional security considerations

Included information about potential logging of sensitive data.

April 16, 2024

Configure tool authentication with Amazon

Added information about support for SSO in the Amazon Tools for PowerShell.

March 15, 2024

Cmdlet reference for the Tools for PowerShell

Added section with a link to the Tools for PowerShell cmdlet reference.

November 17, 2023

Included more IAM best practices updates

Updated guide to align with the IAM best practices. For more information, see Security best practices in IAM.

October 12, 2023

Installing on Windows

Removed information about installing the Tools for Windows PowerShell by using the MSI, which has been deprecated.

September 25, 2023

IAM best practices updates

Updated guide to align with the IAM best practices. For more information, see Security best practices in IAM.

September 8, 2023

Pipelining and $AWSHistory

Added the IncludeSensitiveData parameter to the Set-AWSHistoryConfiguration cmdlet.

March 9, 2023

Using the ClientConfig parameter in cmdlets

Added information about support for the ClientConfig parameter.

October 28, 2022

Launch an Amazon EC2 Instance Using Windows PowerShell

Added notes about retiring EC2-Classic.

July 26, 2022

Amazon Tools for PowerShell Version 4

Added information about version 4, including installation instructions for both Windows and Linux/macOS, and a migration topic that describes the differences from version 3 and introduces new features.

November 21, 2019

Amazon Tools for PowerShell 3.3.563

Added information about how to install and use the preview version of the AWS.Tools.Common module. This new module breaks apart the older monolithic package into one shared module and one module per Amazon service.

October 18, 2019

Amazon Tools for PowerShell 3.3.343.0

Added information to the Using the Amazon Tools for PowerShell section introducing the Amazon Lambda Tools for PowerShell for PowerShell Core developers to build Amazon Lambda functions.

September 11, 2018

Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell 3.1.31.0

Added information to the Getting Started section about new cmdlets that use Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to support configuring federated identity for users.

December 1, 2015

Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell 2.3.19

Added information to the Cmdlets Discovery and Aliases section about the new Get-AWSCmdletName cmdlet that can help users more easily find their desired Amazon cmdlets.

February 5, 2015

Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell 1.1.1.0

Collection output from cmdlets is always enumerated to the PowerShell pipeline. Automatic support for pageable service calls. New $AWSHistory shell variable collects service responses and optionally service requests. AWSRegion instances use Region field instead of SystemName to aid pipelining. Remove-S3Bucket supports a -DeleteObjects switch option. Fixed usability issue with Set-AWSCredentials. Initialize-AWSDefaults reports from where it obtained credentials and region data. Stop-EC2Instance accepts Amazon.EC2.Model.Reservation instances as input. Generic List<T> parameter types replaced with array types (T[]). Cmdlets that delete or terminate resources prompt for confirmation prior to deletion. Write-S3Object supports in-line text content to upload to Amazon S3.

May 15, 2013

Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell 1.0.1.0

The install location of the Tools for Windows PowerShell module has changed so that environments using Windows PowerShell version 3 can take advantage of auto-loading. The module and supporting files are now installed to an AWSPowerShell subfolder beneath AWS ToolsPowerShell. Files from previous versions that exist in the AWS ToolsPowerShell folder are automatically removed by the installer. The PSModulePath for Windows PowerShell (all versions) is updated in this release to contain the parent folder of the module (AWS ToolsPowerShell). For systems with Windows PowerShell version 2, the Start Menu shortcut is updated to import the module from the new location and then run Initialize-AWSDefaults. For systems with Windows PowerShell version 3, the Start Menu shortcut is updated to remove the Import-Module command, leaving just Initialize-AWSDefaults. If you edited your PowerShell profile to perform an Import-Module of the AWSPowerShell.psd1 file, you will need to update it to point to the file's new location (or, if using PowerShell version 3, remove the Import-Module statement as it is no longer needed). As a result of these changes, the Tools for Windows PowerShell module is now listed as an available module when executing Get-Module -ListAvailable. In addition, for users of Windows PowerShell version 3, the execution of any cmdlet exported by the module will automatically load the module in the current PowerShell shell without needing to use Import-Module first. This enables interactive use of the cmdlets on a system with an execution policy that disallows script execution.

December 21, 2012

Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell 1.0.0.0

Initial release

December 6, 2012