Chocolatey: Windows Package Manager — Install Any Program with One Command
7 min readUpdated
How to install Chocolatey on Windows 10 and 11 and manage software from the command line. Install, update and remove programs, automate new PC setup with a single script.
Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows — like apt on Linux or brew on macOS. Instead of finding a website, downloading an installer and clicking Next-Next-Finish, one command installs any program.
Install Chocolatey
Open PowerShell as administrator:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
Verify:
choco --version
Essential Commands
choco install vlc # install
choco install vlc 7zip -y # install multiple, no prompts
choco upgrade vlc # update
choco upgrade all -y # update everything
choco uninstall vlc # remove
choco search firefox # search
choco list --local-only # list installed
Popular Packages
# Browsers
choco install googlechrome firefox brave
# Media
choco install vlc spotify
# Development
choco install vscode git nodejs python
# Utilities
choco install 7zip notepadplusplus everything powertoys
# Communication
choco install telegram.install discord zoom
Automate New PC Setup
# setup-new-pc.ps1 (run as administrator)
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
choco install -y `
7zip googlechrome firefox vlc `
notepadplusplus everything git `
vscode telegram.install powertoys
Write-Host "✅ All programs installed!" -ForegroundColor Green
GUI
choco install chocolateygui
Chocolatey vs winget vs Scoop
| Chocolatey | winget | Scoop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packages | ~10000 | ~6000 | ~6000 |
| GUI | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Admin required | Yes | Not always | No |
| Built into Windows | ❌ | ✅ (Win 10/11) | ❌ |
Summary
| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| Install | choco install name |
| Install silently | choco install name -y |
| Update all | choco upgrade all -y |
| Remove | choco uninstall name |
| Search | choco search name |