Windows Package Manager 1.0
Tags: bash, productivity, windows, winget
Published: 2021-05-30 04:03:06

## WinGet - Finally released 1.0

Let's talk about package manager a bit for those who don't know what it is. It allows you to type the name of your favorite app that should be in the Windows Giant database of all the programs that people are submitted So, you can download it directly and install it without clicking on anything.

## Benefits of a package manager

- Check the version of any program or package
- Update the Existing Version you already installed
- Download and install in just one Command
- Automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs
- Upgrade all the program at once
- Export list of program that you've installed and install them back whenever you required

## How to get Winget

- If you are running on any current Windows Insider build or you have signed up for the Windows Package Manager Insider group you may already have it.
- This will be included in an automatic update on any version of windows that is at least 1809+
- You can install it from the Microsoft store App installer, It is included in that

## How to use it

- Open Terminal or cmd and then use command `winget` as it will show you the commands you can use
- For Searching a program `winget search vscode` or `winget search "Visual studio code"` to be specific
- for installing a program you can use `winget install "Visual Studio Code Insiders"`
- For Upgrading `winget upgrade "Visual Studio Code Insiders"` this will update `Visual Studio Code Insiders`
- For upgrading all programs `winget upgrade --all`
- For installing a specific version of the program you can provide the version number as `winget install python -v 3.8.0` it will take `-v` option for that
- For making some changes in settings you can use `winget settings`

> This will also identify your previously install program so you can also upgrade them as well

- For getting a list of upgrades available you can use `winget upgrade` and it will show you all the upgrades available. There are some bugs as of it now most common one is version mismatch as the developer might truncate the version in the program and submitted the whole version. That will be fixed soon.
- For checking all the programs you can use `winget list` and it will show you the list of programs in Windows Database and also show you the version and available version.
- You can also export the list of the program `winget export -o D:\list.txt`

> They are actively changing it to make it more user friendly so you will see a lot of changes very soon

The [Winget Client](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/ "Winget Client") is the main tool you will use to manage packages on your machine.

You can also add your programs or packages by executing `winget install wingetcreate` to install the [Windows Package Manager Manifest Creator](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-create/ "Windows Package Manager Manifest Creator"). Once the tool has been installed, execute `wingetcreate new` provide the URL to the installer. Then the tool will download the installer, parse it to determine any of the manifest values available in the installer, and guide you through the process to generate a valid manifest. If you provide your GitHub credentials when prompted, it will even fork the repository, create a new branch, submit a pull request, and provide you the URL to track its progress.

Last but not least, They also released a [reference implementation](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli-restsource "Reference Implementation") for the REST API source so you can host your private repository. This is a new type of source for the Windows Package Manager. The default source is a “PreIndexed” Package delivered via the Microsoft Store, but now you may add additional REST-based sources if they properly implement the JSON-based REST API schema.

### Let me know if you have any questions or queries. I’ll be happy to help you

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## Thanks for reading