In the previous tip we discussed the “Chocolatey” package manager which works best if you’d like to install software for all users (Administrator privileges required).
Another great package manager is “Scoop” which targets regular users with no Administrator privileges. Scoop downloads and installs software strictly for the current user and as a portable app.
Note: To be able to run scripts and download code, you may have to run these lines as a prerequisite:
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12 Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
To install this package manager, run these lines in PowerShell (no Administrator privileges required):
Invoke-RestMethod -UseBasicParsing -Uri 'https://get.scoop.sh' | Invoke-Expression scoop install git scoop bucket add extras
After the installation, there is a new command called “Scoop”.
Now you can install all the tools you may need. The following lines install PowerShell 7, Windows Terminal, 7Zip, Notepad++, and the Visual Studio Code editor:
scoop install pwsh scoop install windows-terminal scoop install 7zip scoop install notepadplusplus scoop install vscode-portable
With the command “scoop search [phrase]” you can search for other available installation packages.
Scoop installs all software as portable apps in its own folder which you can open like this:
explorer $home\Scoop\Apps
Some installation packages may add links to your desktop and taskbar but in general it is your job to visit the scoop installation folder, launch the application manually and then pin them to your taskbar or start menu for easy access.
Important: “Scoop” downloads and installs the packages and also tries to resolve dependencies. However, some packages like “Windows Terminal” may have additional requirements (i.e. Windows Build 1903 or better), so if a software won’t launch after installation, you may want to check additional requirements.
