New-TemporaryFile not available when calling powershell.exe from PowerShell 7 through cmd.exe or CreateProcess

Steps to reproduce

PS C:\test> cmd.exe /c "powershell.exe -command ""New-TemporaryFile"""

Expected behavior

Command to success and return a temporary file path

Actual behavior

Error of "The term 'New-TemporaryFile' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file..."

Environment data

PowerShell 7.1 on Windows 10 x64 version 2004 (for pwsh.exe)
Windows PowerShell 5.1 (for powershell.exe)

Note

When callingPS C:\test> powershell.exe -command "New-TemporaryFile" the command works as expected. It seems that when passing through cmd.exe or ::CreateProcess() the Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility assembly somehow is loaded differently and a few commands, including New-TemporaryFile end up missing.

New-TemporaryFile is available both on PowerShell 7 and on Windows PowerShell 5.1 so this is quite an interesting behavior

[RobMahn]

The problem is that Powershell V7 (pwsh.exe) adds “c:\program files\powershell\7\Modules” to PSModulePath and then Powershell V5 (powershell.exe) inherits the modified PSModulePath . I don’t know the reason that New-TemporaryFile has a problem with that when other commands do not. The best solution is to call pwsh.exe instead of powershell.exe. Or, if you’re not sure what version of powershell is making the call, use $((Get-Process -Id $PID).Processname) .

[GaetanCambier]

Workaround : cmd.exe /c "powershell.exe -command ""Import-Module Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility; New-TemporaryFile"""