In the default installation of PowerShell Core 6.0 and Windows PowerShell 5.10 (PS5) with 13 and 89 modules discovered respectively, both PS versions have overlapping module names as illustrated:
CimCmdlets
Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive
Microsoft.PowerShell.Diagnostics
Microsoft.PowerShell.Host
Microsoft.PowerShell.Management
Microsoft.PowerShell.Security
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility
Microsoft.WSMan.Management
PackageManagement
PowerShellGet
PSDesiredStateConfiguration
PSDiagnostics
PSReadline
An output with similar module names does not always mean that the number and type of commands in each of these modules correspond (see Part I of this blog series). Entirely brand new, updated* or removed parameters for individual commands, particularly cmdlets, is always possible and this needs to be verified through Get-Help or via Microsoft’s official documentation when available.
Here, the ‘extra’ 76 modules (Table 1) in PS5 provide functionality which do not surface in #PsCore6 such as WindowsUpdate or Pester. It should be evident that the WindowsUpdate module is Windows OS dependent so its absence in #PsCore6 is understandable. On the other hand, one may argue that certain modules like the missing Pester should be right in the box since it is indispensable for unit testing.
* e.g. folded into other parameters or syntax change
TABLE 1 (Windows PS5 only Modules missing in PowerShell Core 6)
AppBackgroundTask
AppLocker
AppvClient
Appx
AssignedAccess
BestPractices
BitsTransfer
BranchCache
ConfigCI
Defender
DirectAccessClientComponents
Dism
DnsClient
EventTracingManagement
HgsClient
HgsDiagnostics
HNVDiagnostics
Hyper-V
International
iSCSI
IscsiTarget
ISE
Kds
ManagementTools
Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts
Microsoft.PowerShell.ODataUtils
Microsoft.PowerShell.Operation.Validation
MMAgent
MsDtc
NetAdapter
NetConnection
NetEventPacketCapture
NetLbfo
NetNat
NetQos
NetSecurity
NetSwitchTeam
NetTCPIP
NetWNV
NetworkConnectivityStatus
NetworkSwitchManager
NetworkTransition
NFS
PcsvDevice
Pester
PKI
PlatformIdentifier
PnpDevice
PrintManagement
PSScheduledJob
PSWorkflow
PSWorkflowUtility
RemoteDesktop
ScheduledTasks
SecureBoot
SecurityCmdlets
ServerCore
ServerManager
ServerManagerTasks
SmbShare
SmbWitness
SoftwareInventoryLogging
StartLayout
Storage
TLS
TroubleshootingPack
TrustedPlatformModule
UEV
UserAccessLogging
VpnClient
Wdac
Whea
WindowsDeveloperLicense
WindowsErrorReporting
WindowsSearch
WindowsUpdate
Test platform
Windows Server 2016 RTM Build (Version 1607 OS Build 14393.693)
+ PowerShell Core 6.0.0 GA