where are windows server 2022 installation instructions?

[greyltc]

Hi. The readme says:

winget-cli/README.md

Line 16 in f1ae126

> The client requires Windows 10 1809 (build 17763) or later at this time. Windows Server 2019 is not supported as the Microsoft Store is not available nor are updated dependencies. It may be possible to install on Windows Server 2022, this should be considered experimental (not supported), and requires dependencies to be manually installed as well.

I'm glad to hear that installation on windows server 2022 "may be possible." What steps should I take to test if it's possible for me?

[greyltc]

After doing some more searching, I think this issue is a duplicate of #438 which has seemingly been closed as a "won't fix" if I understand correctly (issue marked closed & docs are non-existent).

I think it's a bit strange to dangle the possibility of installation on windows server 2022 in the readme, then make it a secret out of how to actually do it.

[denelon]

There are a couple of different options. Users should also be aware that WinGet distributed through the App Installer is considered a Windows System component which means once it's been added to Windows Server 2022, removal is not supported.

One method is the instructions at Microsoft Learn for bootstrapping WinGet in the Windows Sandbox. The other method is using the Repair-WinGetPackageManager PowerShell cmdlet inside the Microsoft.WinGet.Client PowerShell module.

$progressPreference = 'silentlyContinue'
Write-Information "Downloading WinGet and its dependencies..."
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/getwinget -OutFile Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx -OutFile Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/releases/download/v2.8.6/Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.x64.appx -OutFile Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.x64.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.x64.appx
Add-AppxPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

[tristanbarcelon]

Hi Demitrius Nelon (@denelon) I followed your suggestion above and received an error about missing license.

[Karl-WE]

A non Microsoft approach is
Bit.ly/winget-install

Works for unsupported OS like Windows Server 2022 and 2019.

[tristanbarcelon]

I updated winget on Server 2022 using later version of winget-install and it borked the winget cli. Incidentally, Microsoft.Winget.Client still works.

[DandelionSprout]

I got the following to work for Windows Server 2019 RTM Desktop Experience, making it practically guaranteed it'll also work for Server 2022:

1. Install the newest VC++ Redist X64 from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist
2. Download the newest Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle file from https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/releases
3. Change its file extension from .msixbundle → .zip in File Explorer.
4. Extract the .zip.
5. In the extracted folder, find AppInstaller_x64.msix. Then change that one too to a .zip and extract it.
6. Open a command line in the extracted AppInstaller_x64 folder, and run .\winget search weather or similar.
7. It works. Text strings are a bit broken, but it works. MSIX programs (e.g. PowerShell 7) installed through Winget can sometimes throw "No applicable app licenses found" on first launch, but will work on the 2nd launch onwards.

Screenshot proof:

This guide will probably also work for pretty much anyone wanting a portable Winget environment for any ≥2018 Windows version (except Server Core).

I did also try to see if this would work with Windows 8 RTM, Windows 8.1 RTM, and Windows Server 2016 RTM, but it turned out Winget relies on something called IsWow64Process2 that was introduced in 2017 OS updates.