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. An old version is kept, with a warning in the log, if another installed module still needs that exact version (for example a module that pins RequiredVersion of a dependency). Dependents are removed before the modules they depend on, so old Microsoft.Graph.* sets clean up in one run. A version that's loaded in a running PowerShell session is skipped with a warning.

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, or an old version was kept because another module requires it
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, when Update-AllUsersModules is run without elevation (except with -WhatIf), 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). Without elevation it stops before changing anything; -WhatIf previews work without elevation.