How to Install winget (Windows Package Manager)
Let's look at how to install winget, the Windows Package Manager.
If you've followed me for a while, you'll know that I am a fan of Chocolatey; I use it to help install packages in bulk or keep them updated without much faff. Whenever I share my love for Chocolatey, people ALWAYS ask why I don't use WinGet. And to be honest, I've not looked at it properly, but today is the day. Today I will look at installing it on my machine and seeing what it can do.
WinGet was announced at Build in May 2020. And version 1.0 was released in May 2021.
How to install WinGet manually
There are a couple of options for getting WinGet installed on your machine. As it's open source, you can clone, build, and run deploy from the source code, which is in the GitHub repository if you want to go down that route.
The other options for those who aren't comfortable with that are via the Windows Store ordownloading the Release file from GitHub.
I went with downloading the latest release file from https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/releases If you are running Windows 10, find the latest .appxbundle file, download that and install it.
There are some considerations you need to remember when trying to install the WinGet tool. To get the whole picture and the latest guidance, you can head over here.
Installation
I've downloaded the latest .appxbundle file to install; just double-click and go through the install wizard prompted. It should be pretty quick.
How do I know if WinGet is installed and running on Windows?
To check the installation has happened, launch PowerShell or Command Prompt shell and type in
winget --version
What packages can be installed by WinGet?
There is a long list of packages that can be installed with WinGet if you type in the command
winget search
It will take you through the list, and it's pretty extensive!
You can narrow that search down by issuing a command such as:
winget search vlc
This shows me the VLC packages that I can install via WinGet. You can search for anything you want, VLC, PowerShell, Azure, and many things. 😊
Learn more!
To learn more about Windows Package Manager and a complete overview of its features, check out the Microsoft Learn module - Explore the Windows Package Manager Tool.