Use winget in your upKeeper Manager environment

Using Windows Package Manager and the command line tool winget can be a fast track to deploy applications and if you combine it with upKeeper Manager you get a structure solution suitable for small organisations or in test and lab situations. If you not familiar with winget please read our introduction in the article Application packaging made easy where we go thru the basics. In this article we describe how you can use winget in upKeeper manager.   

Make a plan

As always you should start with making a plan before you start implement things. There is not differens with winget applications, you should plan what to use, how to deploy, maintain and reinstall/retire them. Start by making a list of applications that you need and not a list of what you want. List should include application id for all applications. After your list is done we recommend that you decide on a your way to add winget applications to your upKeeper Manager environment. We recommend all our users to build installation and uninstallation scripts for each application so that you easy can move applications from test to upKeeper Manager but also to follow a easy and standardize process.

Test

Build the installation and uninstallation script for your applications. If your applications list include id the creation will be done in minutes and you will be a master och copy and paste. Test your applications by running your scripts on a test computer in your environment. Don't forget to test your uninstallations scripts as well.  

Implement 

Copy your tested scripts to your upKeeper Manager stage area. Make a upKeeper application for each application script and add scripts for the installation an uninstallation. Note! Application version in name and or version field might be unnecessary is you don't pointed out a specific version.  

Remember to set "Install in user context" on each winget application package because installation will be made on user not machine.

You should roll out your freshly made application packages according to a standard roll out plan, start with a few target machines and add more and more machines after you verified the success of implementation and use.

Maintain

We always recommend our users to maintain there applications, this means applications should be updated. With winget applications you can use upgrade command to get single or all applications updated to the latest version. Because applications are installed in user context the have to be updated in the same way. One way we found effective is to setup a update script in the login process on each user. In that way updates are made every time a user login. One can also schedule update to be performed on a regular basis using the task scheduler, so find what suite your organisation and implementation best.   

Updates will be done from each client and your environment will not be in sync when it comes to application version. To get information when updates are made and the result we recommend you to use upKeeper.Client.Logger with information in your update scripts.  

Retire 

Applications that has been retired, replaced or is not used anymore should be removed from your clients. If your uninstallation scripts are correct uninstallation should be easy.

Summary

To implement and use Windows Package Manager in upKeeper Manager is quite easy and suitable in some situations. There are a few differences that you should be aware of compared to "normal" application packages: files are always download from internet, applications are installed in user context, package quality can differ and application version can differ in the environment. 

If you want to know more or like to use or scripts send us an email.