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https://github.com/jdhitsolutions/WingetTools

A set of PowerShell tools for working with the winget package manager.
https://github.com/jdhitsolutions/WingetTools

powershell winget-cli

Last synced: 6 days ago
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A set of PowerShell tools for working with the winget package manager.

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# WingetTools



[![PSGallery Version](https://img.shields.io/powershellgallery/v/WingetTools.png?style=for-the-badge&label=PowerShell%20Gallery)](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/WingetTools/) [![PSGallery Downloads](https://img.shields.io/powershellgallery/dt/WingetTools.png?style=for-the-badge&label=Downloads)](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/WingetTools/)



> The Winget team has [released an alpha version](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/releases/tag/v1.4.3531) of a PowerShell module for Winget. In my opinion, it still needs a lot of work, but I'm hopeful. I'm deferring further work on this module in hope that the Winget team can release a viable PowerShell module that would make my module moot.



Install this module from the PowerShell Gallery. It should work in Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7.x on Windows.



```powershell

Install-Module WingetTools

```



The WingetTools module is a PowerShell wrapper around the `winget` command-line tool which is [Microsoft's latest package manager and installer](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli). `Winget` is a command-line tool, **not** a PowerShell command. The commands in the WingetTools module are designed to make using winget a little more PowerShell friendly.



> **NOTE:** The current version of this module has been tested with winget version `1.3.2091`. If you have an older version, some commands in this module may not work as expected.



Installing this module will also install the `ThreadJob` and [`psyml`](https://github.com/bitrut94/psyml) modules, which are dependencies.



## Background



The `winget` utility was never designed with PowerShell in mind. Without going into the years-long discussion about the lack of PowerShell support, `winget` was designed for non-PowerShell audience. The application queries online sources for package information and writes output to the console. Many of the commands in this module resort to brute force parsing of the output and then turning that output into custom objects. As such, some commands may not perform as efficiently as one would like. But they work for now.



The Winget development team is working on a PowerShell module using Crescendo, but as far as I know that is stil wrapping the native commands in PowerShell. Short of true PowerShell cmdlets, I am hoping for an option where winget output is structured data like JSON. Unfortunately for now, the commands in this module are the best workaround that I can come up with.



## [Install-WinGet](docs/Install-Winget.md)



Until winget is publically available in the Microsoft Store, you can download and install the latest version from Github. This command **must be run in a Windows PowerShell session** in Windows 10 or Windows 11. The installation is **not** supported in PowerShell 7. The `winget` package requires the DesktopAppInstaller package. If it isn't found locally, it will be downloaded and installed.



![install winget](images/install-winget.png)



## [Get-WGReleaseNote](docs/Get-WGReleaseNote.md)



This command will query the Github repository for the winget project and display the release note for the latest version.



![Get release note](images/get-wgreleasenote.png)



You can also display it in markdown format, which is helpful if running in PowerShell 7.



![release note markdown](images/releasenote-markdown.png)



You also have an option to go online to view the release note.



## [Get-WGPackage](docs/get-WGPackage.md)



This command is a PowerShell wrapper aroung winget.cmd that will get a package and create an object you can use in PowerShell.



![get winget package](images/get-wgpackage-1.png)



The command has a default table view but the output object has other properties you might want to use.



```text

Moniker             : gh

Description         : gh is GitHub on the command line. It brings pull

                      requests, issues, and other GitHub concepts to

                      the terminal next to where you are already working with git and your code.

Author              : GitHub, Inc.

Publisher           : GitHub, Inc.

PublisherUrl        : https://github.com

PublisherSupportUrl : https://help.github.com/en

Homepage            : https://github.com/cli/cli

Name                : GitHub CLI

ID                  : GitHub.cli

Version             : 2.15.0

Source              : winget

Computername        : WIN11DESK

```



The command typically gets a single package, but you can pipe a `winget search` command to it.



![get winget package search](images/get-wgpackage-2.png)



## [Get-WGInstalled](docs/Get-WGInstalled.md)



This command will get a list of all packages installed with `winget`. These will be packages with winget as the source. Here's a sample of the default output.



![installed](images/get-wginstalled.png)



The custom object has a set of properties that should be found on most `winget` packages.



```powershell

PS C:\> Get-WGInstalled | where publisher -match google | select *



Name             : Google Drive

ID               : Google.Drive

InstalledVersion : 61.0.3.0

OnlineVersion    : 61.0.3.0

Publisher        : Google LLC

PublisherUrl     : https://www.google.com

Author           : Google LLC

Moniker          : google-drive

Description      : Mounts Google Drive(s) as a share drive and streams files as needed from the cloud. Alternative to

                   Google Backup and Sync.

Homepage         : https://www.google.com/drive/download/

Source           : winget

Computername     : PROSPERO

Update           : False



Name             : Google Chrome

ID               : Google.Chrome

InstalledVersion : 104.0.5112.81

OnlineVersion    : 104.0.5112.81

Publisher        : Google LLC

PublisherUrl     : https://www.google.com

Author           : Google LLC

Moniker          : chrome

Description      : A fast, secure, and free web browser built for the modern web. Chrome syncs bookmarks across all

                   your devices, fills out forms automatically, and so much more.

Homepage         : https://www.google.com/chrome

Source           : winget

Computername     : PROSPERO

Update           : False

```



This object type also has a named table view.



![update view](images/update-view.png)



## [Get-WGUpgrade](docs/Get-WGUpgrade.md)



This command will attempt to get all available updates and create PowerShell-friendly output.



![get-wgupgrade](images/get-wgupgrade.png)



The default output is formatted as a table. But you can use the output in PowerShell.



```dos

PS C:\> Get-WGUpgrade -Name *toys* | select *



Source       : winget

Computername : PROSPERO

Name         : PowerToys (Preview)

ID           : Microsoft.PowerToys

Version      : 0.58.0

Available    : 0.61.1

```



## [Invoke-WGUpgrade](docs/Invoke-WGUpgrade.md)



`Invoke-WGUpgrade` will run the winget upgrade process using silent installation and accepting all licenses and agreements. It supports `-Whatif`.



```dos

PS C:\> Get-WGUpgrade -Name p* | Invoke-WGUpgrade -WhatIf

What if: Performing the operation "Upgrade from 3.2.0+06857 to 3.3.1+06924" on target "PrivateInternetAccess.PrivateInternetAccess".

What if: Performing the operation "Upgrade from 0.58.0 to 0.61.1" on target "Microsoft.PowerToys".

What if: Performing the operation "Upgrade from 3.10.3 to 3.10.6" on target "Python.Python.3".

```



You might also consider using a command like `Out-Gridview` as an object picker.



```powershell

Get-WGUpgrade | Out-GridView -OutputMode Multiple | Invoke-WGUpgrade

```



Be aware, that winget may still have a problem running the upgrade due to issues isolating upgrade packages.



## [Test-WGVersion](docs/Test-WGVersion.md)



The test command is an easy way to determine if an update for winget itself is available from Github.



```dos

PS C:\> Test-WGVersion



Installed    Online       Update    Command

---------    ------       ------    -------

1.3.2091     1.3.2091     False     C:\Users\Jeff\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe

```



If an update is available and you are running the command in the PowerShell console or VSCode, the `Update` value will be displayed in green.



You can use the `-Quiet` parameter to return a Boolean result.



```dos

PS C:\> Test-WGVersion -Quiet

False

```



## Localization



Beginning with version 1.5.0, I've attempted to handle localization issues. It appears that in some locations, the winget output is localized which throws off the regular expression patterns I originally used. I am now using localized data to parse the winget output and construct the custom objects.  Currently, the only supported cultures are `de-DE` and 'fr-FR`. The default will be `en-US`.



If you encounter problems running module commands under a different culture, please post an issue. Include the output from these commands.



```powershell

winget show --id microsoft.powershell --source winget

Get-Culture

```



I've also started to add localized command help. I created German versions using Google Translate, so German speakers are more than welcome to submit a documentation pull request on the markdown files. I would also welcome PRs for other languages. Create a language specific docs folder like `docs-FR`, and add localized versions of the help markdown files. I will generate the module MAML help file after merging the pull request.



## Issues



If there are problems with commands in this module, try running the winget command directly. Report problems to the module's Github repository at .



Visit the winget Github repository for more information about the project at .