Chocolatey is the Batch Install Manager Your Windows Needs

Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that offers most of the required features. Although it provides a graphical interface for basic tasks, its command-line tool is more popular and powerful. For the convenience of my readers, I have designed this guide using the Chocolatey GUI.

What I find most interesting is that Chocolatey is free, like other popular package managers, and supports thousands of software packages for the Windows operating system. This includes essential packages like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and other tools and utilities such as CCleaner, VLC Media Player, and more.

Install Chocolatey

Let’s begin by downloading and installing Chocolatey. The process is straightforward if you have administrative access. If you don’t have admin privileges, you should follow the steps provided at this link. Otherwise, follow the steps below:

1. Press Win + X and choose “Command Prompt (Admin)“.
2. Copy and paste the following command into the Command Prompt: @"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"



3. After installing Chocolatey, test run the package manager by executing chocolatey or choco -? in the Command Prompt. If you see an output similar to the one below, you’re set. Otherwise, there might be an issue.

Install Chocolatey GUI

Once you’ve installed Chocolatey, you can proceed to install the Chocolatey GUI. Follow the steps below to download and install it:

1. Press Win + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)“.
2. Execute choco install chocolateygui in the Command Prompt.



3. If everything goes smoothly, you will see a message similar to the image above.

Installing Single Package

After you’ve installed Chocolatey and Chocolatey GUI, let’s explore how to install a package using these tools, step by step.

Chocolatey

If you’re comfortable with the Command Prompt, proceed with the following steps. Otherwise, you can skip to the next section. Press Win + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)“. It’s important to launch it with admin privileges because many packages won’t install in a non-admin console, so this helps avoid potential issues.

In the console, type choco list NAME (replace “NAME” with your search query). This will display a list of packages matching your query. Identify the exact name of the desired package. Then type choco install NAME (replace “NAME” with the exact name of the package), and Chocolatey will download and install it for you.

Chocolatey GUI

If you’re a beginner or prefer a graphical interface, follow these steps: First, open the Start menu, search for “Chocolatey GUI”, and launch it. In the interface, click on Chocolatey on the left, then enter your search query in the text field labeled Search and press Enter. The application will search for matching packages.

After a few moments, Chocolatey GUI will display packages with similar names. Locate the desired package, right-click its thumbnail, and select Install from the context menu. The software will then download and install the package for you.

Installing Multiple Packages

Unfortunately, Chocolatey GUI does not currently support installing multiple packages at once. Therefore, we need to rely on Chocolatey for this task.

Chocolatey

In the Command Prompt, type choco install NAME1 NAME2 to install multiple packages (replace “NAME1” with the name of the first package and so on). You can list as many packages as you need to install simultaneously. However, ensure you provide the correct package names; otherwise, Chocolatey may return an error.

Update a Single Package

Chocolatey GUI is efficient at updating packages, just as it is with installing them. You can update packages individually or in batches, depending on your preference. Let’s see how to do it.

Chocolatey GUI

In Chocolatey GUI, click on “This PC” on the left to view all the installed packages. Right-click on a package and select Update to update it. Chocolatey will then download the latest version and install it.

Update Multiple Packages

Let’s explore how to efficiently update all installed packages on your system at once using Chocolatey GUI. It’s as simple as a few clicks.

Chocolatey GUI

In Chocolatey GUI, click on “This PC” in the left sidebar to view all the installed packages. It might take a moment to retrieve information about all the packages. Once the progress bar disappears, click the “Update All” button to update all packages, and let Chocolatey GUI handle the rest.

That concludes our guide on installing and updating apps (or packages) using Chocolatey and Chocolatey GUI. I hope this helps you manage your software more efficiently.