Chocolatey Software Package Manager for Windows
What is Chocolatey Software?
Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that simplifies the process of installing, updating, and managing software.
Think of it like apt for Ubuntu or Homebrew for macOS, but tailored for Windows.
It allows you to use command-line commands to automate software installation, eliminating the need to manually download installers, navigate setup wizards, or write custom scripts. For instance, instead of visiting a website to download Notepad++, you can just run
choco install notepadplusplus
in a command prompt or PowerShell window.
Key features include:
- Automation: Install one or many applications with a single command.
- Consistency: Ensures uniform software setup across systems.
- Updates: Use choco upgrade all to keep everything up to date.
- Community Packages: Access thousands of pre-built packages from a community repository.
Chocolatey works by wrapping software installers (like .exe, .msi, or scripts) into packages (.nupkg files, based on NuGet) that it can deploy quickly. It’s open-source (Apache 2.0 license) and widely used for personal and enterprise purposes, with paid tiers like Chocolatey for Business adding features like package creation and enhanced security.
Go to Chocolatey Software | Installing Chocolatey for instructions and the executable.
Alternatively this can also be done in power shell.
The first step is to open power shell as Administrator and execute the following:
Get-ExecutionPolicy
If it returns “Restricted” like it did for me then we need to do the following.
Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned
or
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process
I chose to change it to AllSigned. Please review the security impacts of this before choosing this option.
Now we can use the following command to install form the Powershell CLI while running as Administrator.
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
A warning will tell you that you might need to reopen the shell to access. I would recommend doing so.
Check to see if it installed by typing just the executable
choco
For some reason in my case it did not fully install so I simply navigated to the folder “C:\ProgramData” and deleted the “chcoco” folder. And tried again. This time it worked.
And confirming choco was properly installed with the “choco /?” command
Next I would recommend installing the Chocolatey GUI. This is a little more user friendly to run then just the cli. From Powershell run the following:
choco install chocolateygui
Choose Y to continue.
I did not run as administrator so it failed.
This time running Powershell as admin I got the following screen.
I entered “A” for allowing all.
It now shows when I search for Choco
When it opens, it will display the applications it knows about.
To add new software simply click on the chocolatey on the left hand side and search for your application such as Notepad++
Right click on what you want and choose install.
Very briefly it will show installing. Depending on how long the install takes.
When it is complete click on “This PC” and you will now see it listed.
This makes it so much easier to find command applications that we use instead of having to find the website and figure out which of the dozens of “install” and “download” links filled with advertising/spam links to choose. It also will help you keep them up to date.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope you find it helpful!