The fastest and most common way to download and install programs in Linux is using a package manager from a terminal, usually APT. In Windows, the way to install programs has always been to download them from the Internet and run their EXE file. With the arrival of the Microsoft Store, Windows 10 users could have a store, such as macOS, Android or iOS, to download their programs. But what has really revolutionized Windows has been the launch of its own APT tool, Package Manager, also known as WinGet.
WinGet first saw the light of day in May of this year. Although it is still a tool in an experimental phase, Microsoft is working hard (together with the community, being an OpenSource software) to add all kinds of functions and characteristics so that it can become a worthy alternative to the more veteran package managers .
Although the development of this tool does not usually bring great changes , the latest version, released a few days ago, brought with it a large number of novelties and features (although in an experimental phase) that, without a doubt, mark a before and after in development. of this program.
WinGet: customization of the progress bar and support for the Microsoft Store
Customize the installation bar
One of the novelties included in the latest versions of WinGet is the ability to customize the appearance of the installation bar . At the moment, Microsoft has only included a rainbow effect to the download and installation bar of WinGet packages, although it is very easy that later, as new functions are released, the customization can go further.
MS Store apps
As for the Microsoft Store , not all the programs that we can find in the store are (yet) in the repositories. Rather, we will find a collection of about 300 UWP apps , all of them validated by Microsoft. Thus we will find the most popular programs in each category: programming, networks, development, etc.
To install them, we simply have to use the command “winget install”, followed by the name of the package that we are going to install. The universal app will appear in the download section of the Microsoft Store, and it will update automatically from there like any other program.
At the moment, the function of uninstalling or updating programs from WinGet is not included, although Microsoft has been working on it for some time. We shouldn’t take long to see it work.
Autocomplete
Finally, Microsoft has also included a new auto-complete system that will allow us to make faster use of the commands through keyboard shortcuts. With this, Windows WinGet is increasingly similar to Linux APT.
Download Windows Packet Manager “WinGet” and enable experimental features
Although this tool will surely become part of Windows when it is fully developed, for now, users who want to try it will have to download and install it manually. The download, of course, is totally free, and we can find the latest version in its own GitHub repository .
We will download an appxbundle file, which we will have to run on Windows to install the tool.
Once installed, we can enable the experimental functions of this package manager from its configuration. In a CMD window we will execute “winget settings”, and we will be able to see a text file (in json format) inside which we must add the following parameters:
- {
- // For documentation on these settings, see: https://aka.ms/winget-settings
- // “source”: {
- // “autoUpdateIntervalInMinutes”: 5
- //},
- “visual”: {
- “progressBar”: “rainbow”
- },
- “experimentalFeatures”: {
- “experimentalCmd”: true,
- “experimentalArg”: true,
- “experimentalMSStore”: true
- }
- }
We save the changes and we will have all the latest experiments enabled. For example, the installation progress bar will now have a rainbow color, and if we run ” winget source list ” we can see that the MS Store is now one of the software sources.
Now we can use this vitaminized Windows 10 tool to install programs in the purest Linux style.
