Install winget by the command line (powershell)

Question

I'm trying to write a PowerShell script to setup windows dev machines. I want to use winget but I don't see any easy way just to install winget using the commandline. You have to either use the windows store or download the msxibundle from github.

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/releases/download/v1.3.2691/Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle -OutFile .\MicrosoftDesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

Both of these require user's interaction instead of just running the script and walking away. Is there a better way? Thanks.

Answer 1

I devised a somewhat different approach, which installs the latest version:

# get latest download url
$URL = "https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-cli/releases/latest"
$URL = (Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $URL).Content | ConvertFrom-Json |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty "assets" |
        Where-Object "browser_download_url" -Match '.msixbundle' |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty "browser_download_url"

# download
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $URL -OutFile "Setup.msix" -UseBasicParsing

# install
Add-AppxPackage -Path "Setup.msix"

# delete file
Remove-Item "Setup.msix"

Answer 2

Here is a script for that directly from Microsoft. Script can also be used to install winget into Windows sandbox.

Original page

$progressPreference = 'silentlyContinue'
$latestWingetMsixBundleUri = $(Invoke-RestMethod https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-cli/releases/latest).assets.browser_download_url | Where-Object {$_.EndsWith(".msixbundle")}
$latestWingetMsixBundle = $latestWingetMsixBundleUri.Split("/")[-1]
Write-Information "Downloading winget to artifacts directory..."
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $latestWingetMsixBundleUri -OutFile "./$latestWingetMsixBundle"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx -OutFile Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx
Add-AppxPackage $latestWingetMsixBundle