Installing WinGet and PowerShell Module Programmatically on Windows 10

[norsemangrey]

Has anyone been able to successfully install WinGet as well as the PowerShell module (Microsoft.WinGet.Client) on a Windows 10 machine programmatically (using command line / PS script)?

I have been trying now for a couple of weeks, but it always results in the PS module giving me this error when I try to run commands like Get-WinGetPackage or Find-WinGetPackage:

An error occurred while connecting to the catalog.

Using the winget command always works so it does not appear to be anything wrong with the WinGet installation itself (lately I have been using this installer script)

I have tried two different approaches; installing PowerShell 7 first (in PS5 using this MSI), then WinGet and finally the Microsoft.WinGet.Client in PS7 ... and another where I install WinGet first then PS7 using WinGet in PS5, and finally Microsoft.WinGet.Client in PS7. None of the approaches seems to work.

Has anyone tried the same and experienced similar issues?

[Andrew-J-Larson]

The PS module only works if WinGet is installed, and installing the PS module itself doesn't install WinGet with it.

But yes, I was able to create a script to install WinGet (but it doesn't install the PS module Microsoft.WinGet.Client). The script should even work on machines booted for the first time right after OOBE, and only hooks into websites trusted/used by Microsoft:

• https://github.com/Andrew-J-Larson/OS-Scripts/blob/main/Windows/Wrapper-Functions/Install-WinGet-Function.ps1

[Andrew-J-Larson]

Depending on the version of Windows, or the Desktop App Installer (WinGet), it can try some remediating steps first for certain quirks, before going out and actually grabbing and installing files needed for the WinGet install, and then it will install WinGet itself.

[Andrew-J-Larson]

It also tries to be efficient by only downloading the files it needs to complete the install (or forced upgrade).

Additionally, for any required packages that can possibly get new versions, this script dynamically grabs latest versions, so no specific versions of packages are hard coded (e.g. should work "forever" basically, unless underlying URL/JSON/XML formats are changed, then it'll need to be fixed at that point).

[Andrew-J-Larson]

For anyone that was having issues with the script, I updated it, and it should be working now.

[Trenly]

This should work, since it is what is used in the SandboxTest script over at winget-pkgs.

try {
  Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -Force | Out-Null
  Install-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.Client -Force -Repository PSGallery | Out-Null
} catch {
  throw "Microsoft.Winget.Client was not installed successfully"
} finally {
  # Check to be sure it acutally installed
  if (-not(Get-Module -ListAvailable -Name Microsoft.Winget.Client)) {
    throw "Microsoft.Winget.Client was not found. Check that the Windows Package Manager PowerShell module was installed correctly."
  }
}
Repair-WinGetPackageManager

If you don't need the Try-Catch, it can be simplified down to 3 lines -

Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -Force | Out-Null
Install-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.Client -Force -Repository PSGallery | Out-Null
Repair-WinGetPackageManager

As @Andrew-J-Larson said, you need to install the WinGet client in order to use commands like Get-WinGetPackage or Find-WinGetPackage. However, you can use the PowerShell Module to install the WinGet client with the Repair-WinGetPackageManager cmdlet, which will automatically handle any of the dependencies needed.

[Andrew-J-Larson]

One thing to note here though is that the Microsoft.Winget.Client module requires that it be used in Powershell (not the built-in 5.1 version) to be completely compatible with the module.

If the Powershell 5.1 version must be used, the script I created in #4065 (comment) should help.

[Trenly]

The Repair-WinGetPackageManager cmdlet works in PowerShell 5.1, though, as it was specifically intended for the purpose of fixing any installation issues with WinGet. So, using the PowerShell module to install winget does work

[TOXXXX]

Thanks a lot @Trenly , that script solve my problem! I searched how to install winget and all I got is that it comes with "App Manager" from the Microsoft Store. Although I have downloaded and upgraded it, I was still not able to use winget. And this github version of winget does not give any instruction on how to deploy it.