Repository navigation
Installing a package doesn't add it it to path #549
Description
Activity
As I know,
wingetdon't add to PATH automatically. But if the installer itself have ability to add its exe to PATH that meansSwitcheshave problem. I'm gonna look at it.
I'm look at it and vim installer don't have any installer arguments (and there is no installer option to add PATH too). You have to add yourself until this ability comes to
winget. There is some feature requests about this issue. It's gonna be added.Have a nice day! 🥂
Reacted by Atif Ali, Mubashir Hassan, Somraj Saha, Changwei Miao, Aha, Sohang Chopra, aKrin, maximizzar, Javi Laurín, Tesla Zhang and 2 moreThanks, I came from linux and is used to installing packages with
aptcommand. So I was expecting the same behaviour withwinget.Reacted by se316, Samuel Volin, Mihir, Keith Z-G, Johnny Qian, Zeno Jiricek, Sohang Chopra, aKrin, Michael A. Volz (Flynn), RazvanModex and 8 moreI think that linux users benefits WSL as a package manager when native gui server comes with it. I use WSLGentoo and when gui server comes with it, I will migrate fully and only use
wingetin order to contribute it.Reacted by Sebastian N. and ErnieAtif Ali (@matifali) winget is still in preview. Hope it will soon grow like apt and other package managers. We have to wait.
I've been working on the backlog recently. You can take a look at the milestones to see what we're planning.
We do plan on having the ability to add the path for .zip, .exe, and standalone/portable apps. I'm not sure what we'd be able to do with an installer that doesn't provide a path. If we specify a path during "install" time for packages like this, we might be able to add that path to the environment. Is that what you would be looking for here?
Reacted by se316Atif Ali (@matifali) this path problem is not because of winget-cli.
The actual installer of vim does not add vim directory to the path. So this is not an issue of winget-cli.
Reacted by Ryan and GitHubRulesOKReacted by Sebastian Schmidt, Adam Rose, Grant Zhang, Kyle J Strand, Robert Dean, Antonny Melo, Boris Rumyantsev, Luka Gelashvili FreeUni, Tyler Hampton, rguptar and 41 moreI've been working on the backlog recently. You can take a look at the milestones to see what we're planning.
We do plan on having the ability to add the path for .zip, .exe, and standalone/portable apps. I'm not sure what we'd be able to do with an installer that doesn't provide a path. If we specify a path during "install" time for packages like this, we might be able to add that path to the environment. Is that what you would be looking for here?
Demitrius Nelon (@denelon) I don't know how you gonna handle this but something like this will be good I think:
- Determine or override default installer location.
- Either pass
location:variable as keyword to all manfiests files and install them under "..\winget-pkgs\$pgkname" to easily find winget-pkgs. - Or pass default installer location as
location:keyword.
- Either pass
- Add
shortcut:keyword to manifests. - Add
createshortcut:keyword (can be overridden withwinget install vim --shortcut y|n) - Run script and add environ vars under
winget-shortcutsname with powershell script after each successful installation according tolocationandshortcutsfrom manifests. (I don't know how to create environ vars from powershell and I'm too lazy to right now to find it. 😆)
In the end it turns something like this (example for vim manifest):
Id: vim.vim Name: vim AppMoniker: vim Version: 8.2.1484 Publisher: vim Author: vim License: Copyright (C) 1991-2020 Bram Moolenaar [[email protected]] - Charityware / GNU GPL compatible LicenseUrl: https://github.com/vim/vim/blob/master/LICENSE MinOSVersion: 10.0.0.0 Homepage: http://www.vim.org/ Description: Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to make creating and changing any kind of text very efficient Tags: "vim,gvim,vi,text editor,text editing,code editor,utility,tool" InstallerType: nullsoft Installers: - Arch: x64 Url: https://github.com/vim/vim-win32-installer/releases/download/v8.2.1484/gvim_8.2.1484_x64_signed.exe Sha256: 02c7e62b4c712af927d2f0a9635ca7746072feab81b6071a00d95dea2a4ec654 Switches: Silent: /S SilentWithProgress: /S Location: "C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82" # Default install location. Shortcuts: "vim.exe, gvim.exe" CreateShortcut: yReacted by Mubashir Hassan, bugrasan, gitmpr, RPE-PeterD and soroshsabz- Determine or override default installer location.
- modified the milestones: ,
on Aug 26, 2020 Is this essentially a duplicate of #222 ?
153 remaining items
this might be a bit late but i found out that it works on command prompt and not powershell... it probably has to do with how these shells handle their PATH variables
nvm, fnm was the problem by reading and declaring the path manually instead of using $env:PATH += "path"... fixed it
Reacted by Alan BallHey folks! Thank so much for your help, feedback and patience. We have added the PATH update starting in PowerShell 7.6.0-Preview.5 (https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/tag/v7.6.0-preview.5)
For more information about this specific update, join us at the next PowerShell community Call on Thursday Oct 16 2025 or watch the recording when convenient. YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhQH-yJlr4_XHkwNunfMog
Please try out PowerShell 7.6-Preview.5 and let us know what you think - especially if you see any issues. Shortly we will move to Release Candidate ( RC) then General Availability ( GA) for the 7.6.0 Long Term Service (LTS) planned in the Dec/Jan timeframe.
Reacted by Michael Keck, ymic9963, Atif Ali and Sohang ChopraReacted by Demitrius Nelon, Rick, Muhammad Danish, ymic9963, Bilal El Medkouri, Dan Thompson, soroshsabz, Jack, Ondřej Hlušička, Gi Hyeon Sim and 1 moreReacted by Benjamin Collet, Gwenn Le Bihan, Muhammad Danish, ymic9963, soroshsabz, Jack, professionaltart and Alan BallJason Helmick (@theJasonHelmick) will this change be backported to powershell 5.1?
soredake - Thanks for the question! No, Windows PowerShell 5.1 is only serviced for security updates.
Here is a demo in the community call.
Reacted by Rick GrayHey folks! Thank so much for your help, feedback and patience. We have added the PATH update starting in PowerShell 7.6.0-Preview.5 (https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/tag/v7.6.0-preview.5)
For more information about this specific update, join us at the next PowerShell community Call on Thursday Oct 16 2025 or watch the recording when convenient. YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhQH-yJlr4_XHkwNunfMog
Please try out PowerShell 7.6-Preview.5 and let us know what you think - especially if you see any issues. Shortly we will move to Release Candidate ( RC) then General Availability ( GA) for the 7.6.0 Long Term Service (LTS) planned in the Dec/Jan timeframe.
7.6.0-preview6 is the latest, any update around expected RC and GA release?
Hi Frulfump. I'm from the PowerShell team and the 7.6 RC is planned for the end of January - with an expectation that it will ga towards the end of febuary. We are quality based, so the final ga date may change based on feedback from the rc. Essentially, my hope is that its in your hands very soon. :)
Reacted by Olav Rønnestad Birkeland, Addison Yates, soroshsabz, ClimbTheWorld and George ViamontesReacted by Frulfump, Addison Yates and David VillamizarPowerShell 7.6 is GA!
Using WinGet to install a package in CMD.exe and in PowerShell 7 now refreshes the environment path variable.
Reacted by MagicAndre1981, Mr Beedell, Roke Julian Lockhart, ymic9963 and Agriya KhetarpalReacted by Addison Yates, Michael Keck, Frulfump, Arturo Javier Alejandro Morán Rouzaud, Muhammad Danish, Bilal El Medkouri, Rick, ymic9963, Agriya Khetarpal, Daemon and 4 more- added a commit that references this issue
on Apr 3, 2026 - added a commit that references this issue
on May 17, 2026
Brief description of your issue
Installing a package doesn't add it it to path
Steps to reproduce
winget install vimvim test.txtExpected behavior
Vim should open the file if it exist or create a new file.
Actual behavior
Environment
Hi Frulfump. I'm from the PowerShell team and the 7.6 RC is planned for the end of January - with an expectation that it will ga towards the end of febuary. We are quality based, so the final ga date may change based on feedback from the rc. Essentially, my hope is that its in your hands very soon. :)