6 Useful Chocolatey Command for Windows Package Management With Examples

In the our previous posts, we have discussed What, Why & How (installation) of Chocolatey, a windows package manger. In this article, we would see Chocolatey in action i.e. different Chocolatey commands with examples.

Although we would discuss the basic Chocolatey commands here, one can easily find more details regarding Chocolatey commands, How To Pass Options / Switches and Default Options and Switches by simply hitting the choco -? command in their command prompt.

Chocolatey Commands

choco list                        // lists remote or local packages
choco search [package_name]      //searches remote or local packages
choco info [package_name]        // retrieves package information 
choco install [package_name]     // installs packages from various sources
choco uninstall [package_name]   // uninstalls a package
choco upgrade [package_name]     // upgrades packages from various sources
choco outdated                  //retrieves packages that are outdated

Chocolatey Examples

1. Listing Packages
   
   

   ## Listing locally installed Chocolatey packages
   choco list --local-only or choco list -lo or clist -lo
   C:\Windows\system32>choco list --local-only
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   chocolatey 0.10.7
   chocolatey-core.extension 1.3.1
   git.install 2.13.3
   3 packages installed.
   
   ## -i IncludePrograms -l LocalOnly  -a AllVersions 
   C:\Windows\system32>choco list -lai
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   chocolatey 0.10.7
   1 packages installed.
   µTorrent|3.5.0.43916
   7-Zip 15.05 beta x64|
   Mozilla Firefox 54.0.1 (x86 en-US)|54.0.1
   ...
   Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.1.24|5.1.24
   Vagrant|1.9.7
   76 applications not managed with Chocolatey.
   

2. Searching Packages
   

   ## Syntax: choco search [filter] [options/switches] 
   ## search if GIT is present in the repository for install
   C:\Windows\system32>choco search git
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   git 2.13.3 [Approved]
   git.install 2.13.3 [Approved]
   GitHub 3.2.0.0 [Approved] - Possibly broken
   poshgit 0.7.1 [Approved]
   ....
   208 packages found. 
   

3. Retrieves Information about any package
   
   

   ## Suppose wants to retrieves information about VLC
   C:\Windows\system32>choco info vlc
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   vlc 2.2.6 [Approved]
    Title: VLC media player | Published: 5/24/2017
    Package approved as a trusted package on Jul 20 2017 04:57:36.
    Package testing status: Passing on May 24 2017 18:48:49.
    Number of Downloads: 1286069 | Downloads for this version: 376722
   
    Software Site: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
    Software License: http://www.videolan.org/legal.html
    Summary: VLC Media Player
    Description: VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player
    and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, 
    and various streaming protocols.
   ...
   1 packages found.
   
   ## Suppose wants to retrieves information about GIT
   C:\Windows\system32>choco info git
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   git 2.13.3 [Approved]
    Title: Git | Published: 7/14/2017
    Package approved by AdmiringWorm on Jul 15 2017 01:52:17.
    Package testing status: Passing on Jul 14 2017 12:43:55.
    Number of Downloads: 940703 | Downloads for this version: 14965
   ...
   1 packages found.
   

4. Installing Packages
   Want to install the software but not sure about the respective package name then jump to https://chocolatey.org/packages and search for your desired software. That's it!
   
   
   
   
   

   ## Installing GIT 
   C:\Windows\system32>choco install git.install
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   Installing the following packages:
   git.install
   By installing you accept licenses for the packages.
   Progress: Downloading git.install 2.13.3... 100%
   
   git.install v2.13.3 [Approved]
   git.install package files install completed.Performing other installation steps.
   The package git.install wants to run 'chocolateyInstall.ps1'.
   Note: If you don't run this script, the installation will fail.
   Note: To confirm automatically next time, use '-y' or consider:
   choco feature enable -n allowGlobalConfirmation
   Do you want to run the script?([Y]es/[N]o/[P]rint): Y
   Using Git LFS
   Installing 64-bit git.install...
   git.install has been installed.
   WARNING: Can't find git.install install location
     git.install can be automatically uninstalled.
   Environment Vars (like PATH) have changed. Close/reopen your shell to
    see the changes (or in powershell/cmd.exe just type `refreshenv`).
    ShimGen has successfully created a shim for Git-2.13.3-32-bit.exe
    The install of git.install was successful.
     Software installed to 'C:\Program Files\Git\'
   Chocolatey installed 1/1 packages.
    See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log).
   C:\Windows\system32>
   
   ## Verify if GIT is really Installed 
   C:\Windows\system32>refreshenv
   Refreshing environment variables from registry for cmd.exe. 
   Please wait...Finished..
   C:\Windows\system32>git --version
   git version 2.13.3.windows.1
   
   ## Installing other software packages examples 
   choco install flashplayerplugin // install Flash Player Plugin 26.0.0.137
   choco install googlechrome      // install Google Chrome 60.0.3112.90
   choco install jre8              //install  Java SE Runtime Environment 8.0.141
   choco install 7zip.install      //install 7-Zip (Install) 16.4.0.20170506
   choco install vlc               //install VLC media player 2.2.6
   choco install vlc jre8          //install VLC and jre8
   

5. Uninstalling Packages
   
   
   
   
   

   ## Uninstalling GIT 
   C:\Windows\system32>choco uninstall git
   Chocolatey v0.10.7
   Uninstalling the following packages:
   git
   You are uninstalling git, which is likely a metapackage for an
    *.install/*.portable package that it installed
    (git represents discoverability).
   Would you like to uninstall git.install as well?([Y]es/[N]o): Y
   git is not installed. Cannot uninstall a non-existent package.
   git.install v2.13.3
    Running auto uninstaller...
    Auto uninstaller has successfully uninstalled git.install 
    or detected previous uninstall.
    git.install has been successfully uninstalled.
   Environment Vars (like PATH) have changed. Close/reopen your shell to
    see the changes (or in powershell/cmd.exe just type `refreshenv`).
    See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log).
   ...
   C:\Windows\system32>
   

6. Upgrading Packages
   
   

   ## upgrading every packages at one go 
   choco upgrade all -y
   

Thank you for reading this article. Now you know how easily one can install/search/ list/upgrade software packages in Windows system using Chocolatey!  Happy Learning!!