Microsoft captured developers’ attention at its Build virtual conference last month by announcing WinGet, a new way to install software on Windows.

How to “WinGet” your software with Windows’ new package manager

submited by

Style Pass

2020-06-30 14:35:30

Microsoft captured developers’ attention at its Build virtual conference last month by announcing WinGet, a new way to install software on Windows. WinGet is a command line package manager that lets you quickly find and download apps from central “repositories,” removing the need to trawl through ad-riddled websites.

Package managers are a fact of life on Linux systems where they’re integrated into the platform and are the default way of adding software. Until now, Windows users have only had third-party options available – we’ve covered Chocolatey and Scoop in the past.

With WinGet, Microsoft is baking its own package manager into Windows. It will host a primary repository of applications, while also enabling third-parties to make their own source lists available. Software that’s in the repository will be installable with a single PowerShell (or Command Prompt) command.

WinGet will debut in a future Windows 10 update. You can try it out today by manually installing it. Head to the winget-cli GitHub releases page and find the latest release (at the top of the page). Click the “appxbundle” file under “Assets” to download the WinGet installer.