
How to install chocolatey/choco on Windows 10
In this article, I will show you how to install Chocolatey on Windows 10. Chocolatey is an easy-to-use Software Package Manager for Windows similar to apt
on ubuntu/debian or brew
on OSX.
Steps to Install chocolatey/choco on Windows 10
- Click Start and type “powershell“
- Right-click Windows Powershell and choose “Run as Administrator“
- Paste the following command into Powershell and press enter.
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; ` iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
- Answer Yes when prompted
- Close and reopen an elevated PowerShell window to start using
choco
Choco is now installed and can be used from a PowerShell prompt or a regular command prompt windows to install many different software packages. Whichever one you use, just make sure you run choco from an elevated powershell/command prompt window.
Package Search with choco
choco search [keyword]
You can search the choco repository to see exactly what software chocolatey can install.
C:\>choco search hugo Chocolatey v0.10.8 hugo 0.32.2 [Approved] Downloads cached for licensed users pcwrunas 0.4.0.20161129 [Approved] Downloads cached for licensed users lightworks 14.0.0.20171007 [Approved] 3 packages found.
Passing in the -v
flag will give you more detailed information about each package.choco search hugo -v
I commonly use choco
to install & update Hugo and sometimes Python3. Hugo is a excellent Static Website Generator written Go. Let’s try installing it!
Install software with choco
choco install [packagename]
C:\WINDOWS\system32>choco install hugo Chocolatey v0.10.8 Installing the following packages: hugo By installing you accept licenses for the packages. Progress: Downloading hugo 0.32.2... 100% hugo v0.32.2 [Approved] hugo package files install completed. Performing other installation steps. The package hugo wants to run 'chocolateyInstall.ps1'. Note: If you don't run this script, the installation will fail. Note: To confirm automatically next time, use '-y' or consider: choco feature enable -n allowGlobalConfirmation Do you want to run the script?([Y]es/[N]o/[P]rint): y Downloading hugo 64 bit ... The install of hugo was successful. Software installed to 'C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\hugo\tools' Chocolatey installed 1/1 packages. See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log).
Upgrade software with choco
choco upgrade [packagename]
C:\>choco upgrade hugo Chocolatey v0.10.8 Upgrading the following packages: hugo By upgrading you accept licenses for the packages. hugo v0.32.2 is the latest version available based on your source(s). Chocolatey upgraded 0/1 packages. See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log).
Installing choco updates
choco upgrade chocolatey
Choco can also upgrade itself.
C:\>choco upgrade chocolatey Chocolatey v0.10.8 Chocolatey detected you are not running from an elevated command shell (cmd/powershell). You may experience errors - many functions/packages require admin rights. Only advanced users should run choco w/out an elevated shell. When you open the command shell, you should ensure that you do so with "Run as Administrator" selected. If you are attempting to use Chocolatey in a non-administrator setting, you must select a different location other than the default install location. See https://chocolatey.org/install#non-administrative-install for details. Do you want to continue?([Y]es/[N]o): Y Upgrading the following packages: chocolatey By upgrading you accept licenses for the packages. chocolatey v0.10.8 is the latest version available based on your source(s). Chocolatey upgraded 0/1 packages. See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log).
List Packages installed by Choco
choco list --local-only
C:\>choco list --local-only Chocolatey v0.10.8 7zip 16.4.0.20170506 chocolatey 0.10.8 chocolatey-core.extension 1.3.1 hugo 0.31.1 4 packages installed.
Advanced choco usage examples
Now that we have covered the basics, let’s look at some advanced choco examples.
choco install chrome --yes
- The
-y, --yes
switch will make choco install without asking you any questions. This is useful if you are using choco in a batch file or powershell script. choco search Git -ev
- The
-v, --verbose
switch will print detailed package information but thesearch
keyword usually matches multiple packages and it all goes flying by.
The-e, --exact
flag will narrow down the output to one particular packgae. choco search Git -ea
- Adding the
-a, --all
switch will list all versions of a specific package.C:\>choco search Git -ea Chocolatey v0.10.8 git 2.15.1.2 [Approved] git 2.15.1 [Approved] git 2.15.0 [Approved] git 2.14.3 [Approved] git 2.14.2.20170927 [Approved] git 2.14.2 [Approved] ...
choco search python --order-by-popularity
- The
--order-by-popularity
switch will sort the search results, most popular packages first.
More Useful Software to Install with choco
Here is a list of useful software that I use, they can all be installed using choco.
choco install chrome
– Google Chrome Browserchoco install git
– Git cli Client for Windowschoco install github
– Official GUI-Based Git Clientchoco install 7zip
– Archive utility to compress/uncompress zip, tar, gz, bzip and other formats.choco install SublimeText3
– An execellent markdown & source code editor.choco install vlc
– An open-source media playerchoco install putty
– An open-source SSH clientchoco install keepass
– An open-source Password Managerchoco install greenshot
– My favorite screenshot utility for Windowschoco install imagemagick.app
– A suite of cli tools for working with and converting images
Thanks for following along, I hope you enjoyed this guide. Installing software on Windows with choco is a breeze. You will never want to go back to the Next, Next, Next, Finish GUI-based software installers.
If you’ve enjoyed this article about Chocolatey, please take a moment to leave a comment below or share it on social media. – JCutrer
References
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