AWS Tools Installer V2 is Now Generally Available

If you’ve been managing multiple AWS Tools for PowerShell modules individually, you know how time-consuming installations and updates can be. In this post, we announce the general availability of AWS Tools Installer V2. It minimizes installation time by downloading a single zip file and extracting modules in parallel.

In February 2026, we announced the preview of AWS Tools Installer V2.

V2 improvements

AWS Tools Installer V2 downloads a single zip file from Amazon CloudFront and extracts modules in parallel. This eliminates the need to install hundreds of individually packaged modules.

Installer V2 installs modules by default, so commands are available for immediate use. This also helps avoid module import conflicts that can occur when modules are not all on the same version.

The following example shows how to install all AWS Tools for PowerShell modules by running Install-AWSToolsModule. To reduce the risk of breaking changes, add the -Version parameter. It limits updates to minor versions of V5 of AWS Tools for PowerShell.

Install-AWSToolsModule -Version 5.*

AWS Tools Installer V2 also introduces the self-update commands Install-AWSToolsInstaller and Uninstall-AWSToolsInstaller so you can update the installer module directly without manual steps.

The following example installs the latest minor version updates for AWS Tools Installer V2. Staying on minor versions helps you maintain a stable environment.

Install-AWSToolsInstaller -Version 2.*

Bugs fixed

V2 resolves two key issues:

  1. Previously, latest modules were not installed on systems with discontinued modules. V2 now successfully updates modules that are not discontinued.
  2. During the daily release window, installations sometimes failed because some modules were still being published. V2 avoids this by installing only the module versions that have completed publishing.

New features

  1. Support for Offline Installation: The new -SourceZipPath parameter allows installation from locally staged files in offline or air-gapped environments.
  2. Support for Prerelease Installation: A new parameter called -Prerelease allows installation of preview builds of AWS Tools for PowerShell and AWS Tools Installer.
  3. Installer Update Notifications: When you import AWS Tools Installer, it displays a message notifying you if a new version is available.
  4. Support for Standard Module Removal: AWS Tools Installer now adds metadata so you can remove modules using standard PowerShell commands (Uninstall-Module and Uninstall-PSResource).
  5. Removal of Legacy Modules: AWS Tools Installer V2 supports uninstalling the legacy AWSPowerShell and AWSPowerShell.NetCore modules from the paths listed in the PSModulePath environment variable.
Uninstall-AWSToolsModule -CleanUpLegacyScope 'CurrentUser'
Install-AWSToolsModule -CleanUpLegacyScope 'CurrentUser'

Breaking changes

You must plan for the following potential issues when upgrading:

  1. New download endpoint: AWS Tools Installer V2 uses following endpoint to download zip files: https://sdk-for-net.amazonwebservices.com/ps/. You might need to update your firewall rules to allow access to this endpoint.
  2. Proxy parameters ignored: The -Proxy and -ProxyCredential parameters are now ignored and have no effect. They are still accepted for backward compatibility. To configure proxy settings for your environment, see the PowerShell environment variables documentation. On Windows PowerShell 5.1, downloads use your system proxy settings.
  3. Force parameter behavior change: The -Force parameter is now deprecated and ignored for Uninstall-AWSToolsModule. When running Install-AWSToolsModule -Force, the existing module is overwritten even if the name and version match. To skip interactive confirmation prompts, add -Confirm:$false to the command.
  4. Ignored parameters: The -SkipUpdate, -SkipPublisherCheck, and -AllowClobber parameters are accepted for backward compatibility but no longer have any effect. If your scripts relied on -SkipUpdate to prevent updates, installed modules will now be updated.

Note: The original V1 command behavior is preserved in these additional commands: Install-AWSToolsModuleV1, Uninstall-AWSToolsModuleV1, and Update-AWSToolsModuleV1. You can define an alias for each command to map legacy scripts back to the original functionality after upgrading to V2. For example:

Set-Alias -Name Install-AWSToolsModule -Value Install-AWSToolsModuleV1

Getting started

For prerequisites and full setup details, see Installing the AWS Tools for PowerShell.

Install the latest version of AWS Tools Installer V2 from the PowerShell Gallery (PSGallery) by running the following command:

Install-Module -Name AWS.Tools.Installer -MinimumVersion 2.0.0 -MaximumVersion 2.9.999 -Repository PSGallery

View help documentation

Once installed, run the following command to list the available AWS Tools Installer commands:

Get-Command -Module AWS.Tools.Installer

Run Get-Help to view documentation for any AWS Tools Installer command. For example:

Get-Help Install-AWSToolsModule -Full

Conclusion

AWS Tools Installer V2 is now generally available with faster installation, parallel extraction, and improved reliability. To get started, install V2 from PSGallery using the commands in this post.

Provide feedback

We’re looking forward to hearing what you think about the new version of AWS Tools Installer. Please share any feedback you have at the AWS Tools for PowerShell GitHub repository.

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