isc-ts-cc-cs-PowerShell-Update-UserModules

A PowerShell module to update a user's modules, and clean up old versions of the modules.

The module works on Windows, macOS and Linux and provides two scope-specific commands:

• Update-CurrentUserModules manages modules installed in the CurrentUser scope.
• Update-AllUsersModules manages modules installed in the AllUsers scope and should be run from an elevated PowerShell session.

Installation

Clone or copy this repository into a module directory, then import the manifest:

Import-Module ./Update-UserModules.psd1
Get-Command Update-CurrentUserModules, Update-AllUsersModules

The functions are stored in Functions/ and exported by the module manifest.

What it does

1. Update: checks the repository (PSGallery by default) for a newer version of each module in the selected scope and installs it.
2. Clean up: keeps the newest version of each module plus a set number of older versions (default 1, so versions n and n-1), and uninstalls the rest.

Every action is written to a log file. By default the commands print nothing to the console.

Requirements

• Windows PowerShell 5.1, or PowerShell 7+ on Windows, macOS or Linux
• PowerShellGet (Get-InstalledModule, Find-Module, Update-Module, Uninstall-Module)

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
-LogPath	./<CommandName>_<yyyyMMdd-HHmmss>.log	Log file path. If you give a folder, the default file name is created inside it.
-KeepVersions	1	Number of older versions to keep alongside the newest. 0 keeps only the newest.
-CleanupOnly	off	Skip the update step and only remove old versions.
-Name	*	Module name filter; wildcards allowed.
-Repository	PSGallery	Repository to check for updates.
-WhatIf	off	Log what would happen without changing anything.
-Verbose	off	Also show each log line on screen.
-Confirm	off	Prompt before each update or removal.

Examples

# Update everything, keep n and n-1, log to the current folder, no console output
Update-CurrentUserModules

# Preview what would be updated and removed
Update-CurrentUserModules -WhatIf -Verbose

# Only remove old versions, keeping just the newest
Update-CurrentUserModules -CleanupOnly -KeepVersions 0

# Limit to specific modules and log to another folder
Update-CurrentUserModules -Name Microsoft.Graph*, ExchangeOnlineManagement -LogPath ~/Logs -Verbose

# Preview updates and cleanup for modules installed for all users
Update-AllUsersModules -WhatIf -Verbose

# Update and clean up all-users modules (run PowerShell elevated)
Update-AllUsersModules

Log format

Syslog-style lines with an ISO 8601 timestamp:

2026-09-21T08:59:43-04:00 myhost Update-CurrentUserModules[2372]: notice: Removed FakeMod 1.2.0

Severity	Meaning
info	Progress and status
notice	A change was made (or would be, when the message starts with WhatIf:)
warning	Something was skipped, e.g. a module wasn't found in the repository
err	An update or removal failed

User module locations

Platform	Path
Windows (PowerShell 5.1)	<Documents>\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
Windows (PowerShell 7+)	<Documents>\PowerShell\Modules
macOS / Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/powershell/Modules (default ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules)

AllUsers module locations:

Platform	Path
Windows (PowerShell 5.1)	$env:ProgramFiles\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
Windows (PowerShell 7+)	$env:ProgramFiles\PowerShell\Modules
macOS / Linux	/usr/local/share/powershell/Modules

Errors

The commands throw a terminating error when a required PowerShellGet command is unavailable or when one or more update/removal operations fail. See the generated log for details.

Notes

• A module version that's loaded in any open PowerShell session may fail to uninstall. Run from a fresh session (pwsh -NoProfile) for best results.
• On macOS/Linux, don't run Update-CurrentUserModules with sudo. That switches $HOME to root's, so root's modules would be targeted instead of yours.
• Run Update-AllUsersModules in an elevated session (Run as Administrator on Windows or through sudo pwsh on macOS/Linux).