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Winstaller Prerelease

A lightweight Windows software installer built with Rust and egui.

Winstaller provides a simple graphical interface for discovering, checking, and installing common Windows applications using either Windows Package Manager (winget) or Chocolatey.

⚠️ Winstaller is currently a prerelease.
Some features are still being developed and Windows security software may occasionally flag early builds as potentially unwanted or suspicious software.

✨ Features

  • 📦 Supports Windows Package Manager (winget)
  • 🍫 Supports Chocolatey
  • 🔍 Search applications by name or description
  • ☑️ Select multiple applications
  • 🚫 Automatically detects already-installed applications
  • ⚡ Installs multiple applications in parallel
  • 🔄 Refresh application installation status
  • 📊 Overall installation/status progress bar
  • 📝 Automatic logging to logs.txt
  • 🌙 Dark-themed graphical interface
  • 🚀 Background threads keep the UI responsive
  • 🪟 Package-manager console windows are hidden
  • 💾 Application definitions are compiled directly into the executable
  • 🔧 Automatically checks whether winget and Chocolatey are available

🖥️ Requirements

Winstaller is currently intended for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Winstaller uses one of the following package managers:

  • Windows Package Manager (winget)
  • Chocolatey

You can check whether they are installed with:

Winget

winget --version

Chocolatey

choco --version

📦 Package Managers

Winget

Windows Package Manager is normally included with modern Windows 10 and Windows 11 installations through Microsoft's App Installer package.

If Winget is unavailable, Winstaller can direct you to the official Microsoft App Installer page so it can be installed.

Chocolatey

If Chocolatey is not installed, Winstaller can attempt to install it using Chocolatey's official installation bootstrap script.

Installing Chocolatey may require Administrator privileges.

🔎 Application Detection

Before installing an application, Winstaller checks whether it is already installed.

Winget

Winstaller uses:

winget list --id <id> -e

Chocolatey

Winstaller uses:

choco list --local-only --exact <id>

Installation-status checks are performed in background threads so the graphical interface remains responsive.

⚡ Installation

Applications can be selected using the checkboxes and installed together.

Winget

winget install --id <id> -e --silent --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements

Chocolatey

choco install <id> -y

Each application is installed in its own background task.

The application status changes between:

Not installed
     ↓
Installing...
     ↓
Done / Failed

📊 Progress

Winstaller displays an overall progress indicator while applications are being checked or installed.

The current progress bar represents completed application operations.

It does not currently represent the actual download percentage reported by Winget or Chocolatey.

For example:

[████████████░░░░░░░░] 60%

means approximately 60% of the tracked application operations have completed.

Real download/install percentage tracking may be added in a future release.

📝 Logging

Winstaller automatically writes application activity to:

logs.txt

The log can contain information such as:

Winstaller starting...
Loaded 50 applications.
Winget available: true
Chocolatey available: true
Checking installation status: Visual Studio Code
Installation started: Git
Installation successful: Git
Installation failed: Example App - exit code 1

The log file is useful when troubleshooting failed installations.

🛡️ Windows Defender / Virus Detection

Because Winstaller is a new, unsigned prerelease application, Windows Defender or another antivirus product may occasionally flag a build as suspicious.

This does not automatically mean that Winstaller contains malware.

Winstaller performs actions that can resemble installer or deployment software, including:

  • Launching winget
  • Launching Chocolatey
  • Installing applications
  • Starting PowerShell when setting up Chocolatey
  • Running package-manager commands in the background
  • Hiding package-manager console windows

These behaviors can sometimes trigger heuristic antivirus detections, particularly for new executables with little or no reputation.

If Windows Defender detects Winstaller

First, check the exact detection name instead of assuming that every warning is a confirmed infection.

You can inspect Defender detections with:

Get-MpThreatDetection |
    Select-Object ThreatName, InitialDetectionTime, Resources

You can also scan the executable with a multi-engine service such as VirusTotal.

Do not disable Windows Defender simply to run Winstaller.

If a release is incorrectly detected, the preferred solution is to investigate the detection, verify the source code/build, and submit a false-positive report to the relevant antivirus vendor.

Code Signing

Official releases should eventually be digitally signed with an Authenticode certificate.

Code signing can help Windows establish the publisher's identity and improve application reputation.

Prerelease development builds may remain unsigned.

🔐 Security

Winstaller is designed to use the official package managers rather than downloading application installers directly.

Applications are installed through:

Winstaller
    │
    ├── Winget
    │     └── Application package
    │
    └── Chocolatey
          └── Application package

Application definitions are stored directly in the Rust source code rather than loaded from an external JSON configuration file.

🛠️ Source Code

Winstaller is built using:

  • Rust

🚧 Prerelease Status

Winstaller is still under active development.

Planned improvements include:

  • 🖼️ Application icons
  • 📈 Real download/install progress
  • 🔐 Code-signed releases
  • 📦 More applications
  • 🔄 Improved package-manager setup
  • ❌ Better error handling
  • 📋 More detailed installation logs
  • 🎨 UI improvements
  • 🪟 Windows installer/package distribution

App Setup

To set up the app get it from the releases page.

Fixes

  • fixed choco manager
  • some ui changes