Learn how to – Install Applications from Windows Command Line Interface

Learn how to – Install Applications from Windows Command Line Interface.

How can I install programs/Applications on Windows from command line interface?. How to install Scoop on Windows Server?. In this blog post, I’ll show you how you can use Scoop command-line installer for Windows to install your favorite open source applications which you often enjoy in Linux.

With Scoop command-line installer for Windows, you don’t have to worry about Weird and long wizard-style installers, permission popups, and manually installing dependencies. All you do is fire command and the dirty work is handled by Scoop.

Install Scoop on Windows Desktop / Windows Server

Scoop is installed on Windows using PowerShell. Login as Administrator user and launch PowerShell.

Once PowerShell is active, use the following command to install scoop to its default location (C:Users<user>scoop)

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -scope CurrentUser 
iex (new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://get.scoop.sh')

The installer will download, extract and install Scoop.

You can confirm if Scoop is working by viewing help page with scoop help.

Enable multi-connection downloads

Scoop can utilize aria2 to use multi-connection downloads. Install aria2 using Scoop and it will be used for all downloads afterward.

scoop install aria2

Using Scoop on Windows Desktop / Windows Server

These are the scoop commands available for use:

alias       Manage scoop aliases
bucket      Manage Scoop buckets
cache       Show or clear the download cache
checkup     Check for potential problems
cleanup     Cleanup apps by removing old versions
config      Get or set configuration values
create      Create a custom app manifest
depends     List dependencies for an app
export      Exports (an importable) list of installed apps
help        Show help for a command
home        Opens the app homepage
info        Display information about an app
install     Install apps
list        List installed apps
prefix      Returns the path to the specified app
reset       Reset an app to resolve conflicts
search      Search available apps
status      Show status and check for new app versions
uninstall   Uninstall an app
update      Update apps, or Scoop itself
virustotal  Look for app's hash on virustotal.com
which       Locate a shim/executable (similar to 'which' on Linux)

Let’s consider few examples.

Install Application with Scoop

Example below will install aria2 download manager on Windows using Scoop.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop install aria2
 Installing 'aria2' (1.34.0-1) [64bit]
 aria2-1.34.0-win-64bit-build1.zip (2.0 MB) [==================================================================] 100%
 Checking hash of aria2-1.34.0-win-64bit-build1.zip … ok.
 Extracting aria2-1.34.0-win-64bit-build1.zip … done.
 Linking ~scoopappsaria2current => ~scoopappsaria21.34.0-1
 Creating shim for 'aria2c'.
 'aria2' (1.34.0-1) was installed successfully!

Install multiple applications by separating them with space.

scoop install aria2 wget curl grep sed less touch vim sudo 

The installed applications are located on User’s home directory ~/scoop/apps

Search for package with Scoop

Search for available packages using search option. My favorite command is which, it is used to locate path of binary executable file. I’ll search for this using scoop.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop search which
 'main' bucket:
     busybox (2962-g9aae70405) --> includes 'which'
     gow (0.8.0) --> includes 'which.exe'
     which (2.20)

From the output, we can confirm which tool is available for installation. Use install command to get it.

scoop install which

See below screenshot.

Uninstall package with Scoop

To uninstall application, use scoop uninstall command.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop uninstall sed
 Uninstalling 'sed' (4.2.1).
 Removing shim for 'sed'.
 Unlinking ~scoopappssedcurrent
 'sed' was uninstalled.

List Scoop installed Apps

Use the list command to get a list of all installed applications.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop list
 Installed apps:
 7zip 19.00
   aria2 1.34.0-1
   cacert 2019-01-23
   curl 7.64.0_2
   grep 2.5.4
   less 550
   sudo 0.2018.07.25
   touch 0.2018.07.25
   vim 8.1.0999
   wget 1.20
   which 2.20

Update Applications installed with Scoop

The update command option is used to update apps, or Scoop itself.

First install git.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop install git openssh 

# Then run:
[environment]::setenvironmentvariable('GIT_SSH', (resolve-path (scoop which ssh)), 'USER') scoop update

Then update installed applications/Scoop.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop update
 Updating Scoop…
 Scoop was updated successfully!

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop update vim
 vim: 8.1.0999 (latest version)
 Latest versions for all apps are installed! For more information try 'scoop status'

Set configuration values for Application

Use config command option. E.g set aria2 retry to 5 times.

scoop config aria2-retry-wait 5

To disable aria2, use

scoop config aria2-enabled false

Remove Apps old versions

The cleanup option is used to cleanup apps by removing old versions.

PS C:UsersAdministrator> scoop cleanup vim
 vim is already clean

Explore other options using scoop help.

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