Introduction#
After ten years of graduation, I have been using computers to write, draw, design, and create videos. I have always resisted coding until I have reinstalled the system countless times, and each time I have to reinstall software for an entire afternoon. I even have a software installation package folder specifically in my NAS. Could my ultimate destiny be coding?
What is winget#
winget is a software management tool launched by Microsoft that runs in the Windows terminal. It is only supported in Windows 10 version 1709 and higher, and the core command is winget. When you enter winget in the terminal, you will see:
PS C:\Users\cgart> winget
Windows Package Manager v1.7.10582
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
WinGet is a command line utility that allows you to install applications and other packages from the command line.
Usage: winget [<command>] [<options>]
The following commands are valid:
install Install the given package
show Show information about a package
source Manage sources of packages
search Find and show basic information of packages
list List installed packages
upgrade Show and perform available upgrades
uninstall Uninstall the given package
hash Helper to hash installer
validate Validate manifest file
settings Open settings or set admin settings
features Show the status of experimental features
export Export the list of installed packages
import Install all packages from a file
pin Manage package pins
configure Configure the system to a desired state
download Download installer from a given package
repair Repair the selected package
For more detailed information on a specific command, pass it help argument. [-?]
The following options are available:
-v,--version Show the version of the tool
--info Show general information about the tool
-?,--help Show help information for the selected command
--wait Prompt the user to press any key before exiting
--logs,--open-logs Open the default log location
--verbose,--verbose-logs Enable verbose logging for WinGet
--disable-interactivity Disable interactive prompts
More help can be found at: "https://aka.ms/winget-command-help"
Why recommend using winget#
Advantages of winget#
- Free: It comes with Windows.
- Simple and comprehensive functionality: winget has the functions of searching, downloading, installing, upgrading, uninstalling, and configuring software packages. For a software management tool, these are all core functions and are sufficient.
- Convenient operation: There is no need to download and install packages from various websites. Just enter the corresponding command in the command line to easily perform various operations on software packages. No need to download a bunch of installation packages and click around, sometimes even watching progress bars.
- Safe and reliable: The software packages installed through winget are all from Microsoft official or trusted sources, avoiding the security risks that may come from downloading software from unofficial channels, such as bundled malware or viruses.
- Easy to learn: The commands of winget are relatively simple, and users can quickly master them with a little learning, without the need for complex programming or technical background.
- High integration: winget can be integrated with Windows Terminal, PowerShell, or CMD, allowing users to directly use winget commands in these environments.
- Support for multiple formats: The latest version of winget supports software packages in the .zip format, which means it can extract and run installers from .zip files or install one or more portable software packages from files, further expanding its applicability.
Disadvantages of winget#
- Software source limitations: The software sources of winget may be limited, and sometimes the desired software packages are not included. This limits the range of choices for users, especially for those looking for specific or niche software.
- Command line operation threshold: winget is a command line-based tool, which may have a certain learning curve for people who are not familiar with the command line. Although the commands of winget are relatively simple, some people may still find it inconvenient to use the command line for operations.
- Update speed: The update speed of winget may not be as fast as some third-party software package management tools. This means that some newly released software packages may not be installed or updated through winget in the first time. However, for software versions, I don't recommend insisting on installing the latest version, which is a matter of personal preference.
- Community support: Compared to some popular third-party software package management tools, the community support for winget may be relatively weak. This may make it difficult for people to find solutions or get help when encountering problems.
How to use winget#
The most common use cases of winget are searching, installing, and uninstalling commonly used software.
The commonly used winget commands are as follows:
winget search <keywords>: Search for installation packages
winget install <appname/id>: Install software
winget uninstall <appname/id>: Uninstall software
winget update: Check for software updates
winget upgrade --all: Update all software
For example, to install WeChat, you can use the search command winget search WeChat and get the above results.
PowerShell 7.4.1
PS C:\Users\cgart> winget search WeChat
Name ID Version Match Source
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
WeChat Tencent.WeChat 3.9.9.43 Tag: WeChat winget
PS C:\Users\cgart>
Because there are many installation packages with the keyword "WeChat," when installing a specific package, you should enter the ID of the installation package. The ID of WeChat is Tencent.WeChat, so we enter the command winget install Tencent.WeChat. WeChat will be installed automatically, making the whole process convenient, safe, and quiet.
By extrapolation, you can try using other commands to search, install, update, and uninstall software.
Automated Installation Script#
Although we only need to type a few letters and no longer need to search and download commonly used installation packages in the browser, it is still troublesome to type commands line by line every time the system is reinstalled. Therefore, I wrote an installation script that automatically runs commands and put it on GitHub. It can be downloaded and used for free. Here is the link
The structure of the entire script is actually very simple:
@echo off
REM Check if the software list file exists
if not exist "software_list.txt" (
echo Software list file does not exist! Please create the software list file and run the script again.
exit /b
)
REM Read the software list file line by line and install the software
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (software_list.txt) do (
echo Installing software: %%a
winget install %%a
)
echo All software is already installed!
pause
This way, every time you face a freshly reinstalled system or a newly purchased computer, you only need to run this script to install commonly used software at once.
All the lists are saved in this txt document, with each line representing a software ID. When the script is run, it will read each line of the ID and execute the installation command. Note that if the software is already installed, it will check for updates and upgrade to the latest version. By default, the software in the list is what I commonly use, but you can customize it according to your needs.
Oh, by the way, I also made one for Mac :) .