Automate Windows apps setup like apt with scoop

Andreas Fuhrich

2021-12-09

Automate Windows apps setup like apt with scoop

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Are you tired of setting up apps by clicking through time-consuming GUI installers with never ending dialogs? Are you missing tools like apt and brew which automate software setup on Linux and MacOS. There are similar projects for windows. Here is how to use scoop…

Prerequisites

Installed Windows PowerShell
No fear of using the command line / PowerShell

TL;DR - show me a full example

If you don’t want to read but just get an example setup script, here is one…

Projects

There are several projects to automate App setup on Windows. Two well known projects are:

Since Scoop uses ~/scoop folder to store its contents, requires no admin privileges to install software and does not pollute the system with files or configs, I prefer the latter.

Note: One disadvantage may be, that not EVERY App will work like expected, since some of them really require admin permissions to work. But I did not come across a single App, that did not work after some tweaking.

Overview

Getting started To install scoop, just open a PowerShell and copy the following commands:

set-executionpolicy remotesigned -scope currentuser
iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex

# confirm with A (all) to proceed

Basic requirements To use scoop, git is a required package. You also need a so-called bucket , where the apps are bundled as collection:

# preparation / requirements
scoop install git
scoop bucket add extras

Search packages You can search for packages in your bucket like this:

scoop search burn
'extras' bucket:
    anyburn (5.2)
    cdburnerxp (4.5.8.7128)
    imgburn (2.5.8.0)
    msiafterburner (4.6.4.16117)

'main' bucket:
    rktools2k3 (1.0) --> includes 'cdburn.exe'

Install packages To install a package, use the according identifier:

scoop install imgburn

List installed packages

scoop list

Update scoop and / or packages

scoop update
scoop update imgburn

Sample install script

To save you a little effort and time, here is my personal install script containing the apps I usually install on a new system - one per line, to easily allow commenting out non-required items.

# filename: setup.ps1 (can be run via powershell)

# install scoop
set-executionpolicy remotesigned -scope currentuser

# confirm with A (all)
iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex

# preparation of requirements
scoop install git
scoop bucket add extras

# command line tools and helpers
scoop install sudo
scoop install ffmpeg
scoop install hugo-extended
scoop install rclone
scoop install restic
scoop install wget

# GUI tools
scoop install filezilla
scoop install gimp
scoop install imgburn
scoop install keepassxc
scoop install mremoteng
scoop install pdfsam
scoop install vlc
scoop install vscode

# admin / sudo permissions required
sudo scoop install openvpn

Have fun! :-)