Support installing WinGet on Docker for Windows containers

[JensNordenbro]

Description of the new feature / enhancement

msix packages are not possible to install on Windows containers .

WinGet is an excellent means to acquire tools for containers.

Proposed technical implementation details

Provide a Windows Containers friendly package. xcopy - deployment zip for example.

[mdanish-kh]

Related discussions:

• Docker and Server installation instructions #1961
• Build winget in a container #1962

[JensNordenbro]

In a way the request is perhaps more about being able to install any msix, winget is just what is in front of me for the moment.

[benh57]

Would love to see this moved forward especially with server 2025 now including winget.

[lygstate]

Is this a duplicated of #3037?

[JensNordenbro]

It is.

Fix it * 2!

[benh57]

The powershell process in #3037 is considered the official position by the project? That is ridiculous to close this for that. There should be a straightforward way to install winget in docker.

[JensNordenbro]

I just closed it to only have one copy open to make life easier to the devs (If there are any).

I can reoopen of you want me to but please consider my logic first

[gerneio]

JensNordenbro the other issue was closed a year ago.

[JensNordenbro]

Ohh, now I see your point.

[jankap]

I can install winget inside a container of mcr.microsoft.com/windows/server:ltsc2025 via (thanks to #3037 (comment))

# Fail fast & no progress bars
    $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
    $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'

    # https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/issues/3037
    New-Item -Force -ItemType 'directory' -Name 'winget-cli' -Path 'C:/temp'
    Invoke-WebRequest 'https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x64.exe' -OutFile 'C:/temp/vc_redist.x64.exe' -UseBasicParsing -Proxy $env:http_proxy
    powershell -c C:/temp/vc_redist.x64.exe /install /quiet /norestart
    Invoke-WebRequest 'https://aka.ms/getwinget' -OutFile 'C:/temp/winget-cli/winget.zip' -UseBasicParsing -Proxy $env:http_proxy
    echo "downloaded winget"
    Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:/temp/winget-cli/winget.zip' -DestinationPath 'C:/temp/winget-cli' -Force
    echo "expanded archive"
    Move-Item -Path 'C:/temp/winget-cli/AppInstaller_x64.msix' -Destination 'C:/temp/winget-cli/AppInstaller_x64.zip'
    Expand-Archive -LiteralPath 'C:/temp/winget-cli/AppInstaller_x64.zip' -DestinationPath 'C:/temp/winget-cli' -Force
    New-Item -Force -ItemType 'directory' -Name 'winget-cli' -Path 'C:/'
    Move-Item -Path 'C:/temp/winget-cli/winget.exe' -Destination 'C:/winget-cli/winget.exe'
    Move-Item -Path 'C:/temp/winget-cli/WindowsPackageManager.dll' -Destination 'C:/winget-cli/WindowsPackageManager.dll'
    Move-Item -Path 'C:/temp/winget-cli/resources.pri' -Destination 'C:/winget-cli'

    echo "Adding winget to PATH (current session + machine)"
    $wingetDir = 'C:\winget-cli'
    # Persist:
    try {
      $machPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path','Machine')
      if ($machPath -notmatch [regex]::Escape($wingetDir)) {
        [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', "$machPath;$wingetDir", 'Machine')
      }
    } catch { }

    # Immediate use in this job:
    if ($env:Path -notmatch [regex]::Escape($wingetDir)) {
      $env:Path += ";$wingetDir"
    }

    echo "Install complete"

    # Verify
    winget --version

You might have to adjust $env:http_proxy.

and a version is shown:

PS C:\> winget --version
v1.11.510

But I can't install anything:

winget settings --enable ProxyCommandLineOptions

winget source update --proxy $env:http_proxy
Updating all sources...
Updating source: msstore...
Done
Updating source: winget...
Cancelled

I haven't cancelled it - happend automatically.

PS C:\> winget source list --proxy $env:http_proxy
Name    Argument                                      Explicit
--------------------------------------------------------------
msstore https://storeedgefd.dsx.mp.microsoft.com/v9.0 false
winget  https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache        false

My proxy is not blocking the winget cache, because iwr https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix -Proxy $env:http_proxy -UseBasicParsing -OutFile source.msix works...

I can even add the package, at least there's no error, but it doesn't change anything.

PS C:\> Add-AppxPackage -Path .\source.msix
PS C:\>

Interestingly, msstore stuff seems to work, at least a search does work, whereas winget does not

PS C:\> winget search git --proxy $env:http_proxy --verbose --source winget
Failed when opening source(s); try the 'source reset' command if the problem persists.
An unexpected error occurred while executing the command:
0x8a15000f : Data required by the source is missing

PS C:\> winget search git --proxy $env:http_proxy --verbose --source msstore
Name      Id           Version
------------------------------
My Git    9NLVK2SL2SSP Unknown
GitFiend  9NMNKLTSZNKC Unknown
GitLooker 9PK6TGX9T87P Unknown

Of couese, I've reset the sources, but no change:

PS C:\> winget source reset --force --proxy $env:http_proxy
Resetting all sources...Done

So long story short, is winget unusable on Windows Containers?