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This project uses the Winget tool to daily update apps (with system context) and notify users when updates are available and installed.

Installation

Just download latest release WAU.msi:

Use winget to install WAU

The following command will install WAU through winget itself in the newest version available.

winget install Romanitho.Winget-AutoUpdate

Configurations

Keep some apps out of Winget-AutoUpdate

• BlockList

You can exclude apps from update job (for instance, apps you want to keep at a specific version or apps with built-in auto-update): Add (or remove) the apps' ID you want to disable autoupdate to 'excluded_apps.txt'. (File must be placed in the same folder as WAU.msi).

• AllowList

You can update only pre-selected apps. To do so, create an "included_apps.txt" with the apps' ID of the apps you want to auto-update and place it in the same folder as WAU.msi during install.

The lists can contain Wildcard (*). For instance Mozilla.Firefox* will take care of all Firefox channels.

List and Mods folder content will be copied to WAU install location:

Notification Level

You can choose which notification will be displayed: Full, Success only or None.

Notification language

You can easily translate toast notifications by creating your locale xml config file (and share it with us :) ).

When does the script run?

WAU runs ,by default, at logon. You can configure the frequency with options (Daily, BiDaily, Weekly, BiWeekly, Monthly or Never).

Log location

You can find logs in install location, in logs folder.
If Intune Management Extension is installed, a SymLink (WAU-updates.log) is created under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs
If you are deploying winget Apps with Winget-Install a SymLink (WAU-install.log) is also created under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs

"Unknown" App version

As explained in this post, Winget cannot detect the current version of some installed apps. We decided to skip managing these apps with WAU to avoid retries each time WAU runs:

Eventually, try to reinstall or update app manually to see if new version is detected.

Handle metered connections

We might want to stop WAU on metered connection (to save cellular data on connection sharing for instance). The default behavior will detect and stop WAU on limited connections (only for fresh install).

To force WAU to run on metered connections anyway, run new installation with -RunOnMetered parameter.

System & user context

WAU runs with system and user contexts. This way, even apps installed on User's scope are updated. Shorcuts for manually run can also be installed.

Default install location

By default, scripts and components will be placed in "Program Files" location (inside a Winget-AutoUpdate folder).

Update WAU

Manual Update

Same process as new installation.

Automatic Update

By default, WAU AutoUpdate is enabled. It will not overwrite the configurations, excluded_apps list,...

Advanced installation

Mainly for admins or advanced user installation.
You can run the WAU.msi script with parameters :

/qn
Install Winget-AutoUpdate and prerequisites silently.

RUN_WAU
Default value NO. Set RUN_WAU=YES to run WAU just after installation.

DISABLEWAUAUTOUPDATE
Default value 0. Set DISABLEWAUAUTOUPDATE=1 to disable Winget-AutoUpdate self update checking. By default, WAU auto updates if new version is available on Github.

USEWHITELIST
Set USEWHITELIST=1 to force WAU to use WhiteList. During installation, if a whitelist is provided, this setting is automatically set to 1.

LISTPATH
Get Black/White List from external Path (URL/UNC/Local/GPO) - download/copy to Winget-AutoUpdate installation location if external list is newer.
PATH must end with a Directory, not a File...
...if the external Path is an URL and the web host doesn't respond with a date/time header for the file (i.e GitHub) then the file is always downloaded!

If the external Path is a Private Azure Container protected by a SAS token (resourceURI?sasToken), every special character should be escaped at installation time.
It doesn't work to call Powershell in CMD to install WAU with the parameter:
-ListPath https://storagesample.blob.core.windows.net/sample-container?v=2023-11-31&sr=b&sig=39Up9jzHkxhUIhFEjEh9594DIxe6cIRCgOVOICGSP%3A377&sp=rcw
Instead you must escape every special character (notice the % escape too) like:
-ListPath https://storagesample.blob.core.windows.net/sample-container^?v=2023-11-31^&sr=b^&sig=39Up9jzHkxhUIhFEjEh9594DIxe6cIRCgOVOICGSP%%3A377^&sp=rcw

If -ListPath is set to GPO the Black/White List can be managed from within the GPO itself under Application GPO Blacklist/Application GPO Whitelist. Thanks to Weatherlights in #256 (reply in thread)!

MODSPATH
Get Mods from external Path (URL/UNC/Local/AzureBlob) - download/copy to mods in Winget-AutoUpdate installation location if external mods are newer.
For URL: This requires a site directory with Directory Listing Enabled and no index page overriding the listing of files (or an index page with href listing of all the Mods to be downloaded):

<ul>
<li><a  href="Adobe.Acrobat.Reader.32-bit-installed.ps1">Adobe.Acrobat.Reader.32-bit-installed.ps1</a></li>
<li><a  href="Adobe.Acrobat.Reader.64-bit-override.txt">Adobe.Acrobat.Reader.64-bit-override.txt</a></li>
<li><a  href="Notepad++.Notepad++-installed.ps1">Notepad++.Notepad++-installed.ps1</a></li>
<li><a  href="Notepad++.Notepad++-uninstalled.ps1">Notepad++.Notepad++-uninstalled.ps1</a></li>
</ul>

Validated on IIS/Apache.

Nota bene IIS :

• The extension .ps1 must be added as MIME Types (text/powershell-script) otherwise it's displayed in the listing but can't be opened
• Files with special characters in the filename can't be opened by default from an IIS server - config must be administrated: Enable Allow double escaping in 'Request Filtering'

For AzureBlob: This requires the parameter -AzureBlobURL to be set with an appropriate Azure Blob Storage URL including the SAS token. See -AzureBlobURL for more information.

AZUREBLOBURL
Used in conjunction with the -ModsPath parameter to provide the Azure Storage Blob URL with SAS token. The SAS token must, at a minimum, have 'Read' and 'List' permissions. It is recommended to set the permisions at the container level and rotate the SAS token on a regular basis. Ensure the container reflects the same structure as found under the initial mods folder.

USERCONTEXT
Default value 0. Set USERCONTEXT=1 to install WAU with system and user context executions.
Applications installed in system context will be ignored under user context.

BYPASSLISTFORUSERS
Default value 0. Set BYPASSLISTFORUSERS=1 to bypass Black/White list when run in user context.

DESKTOPSHORTCUT
Set DESKTOPSHORTCUT=1 to create a shortcut for user interaction on the Desktop to run task Winget-AutoUpdate

STARTMENUSHORTCUT
Set STARTMENUSHORTCUT=1 to create shortcuts for user interaction in the Start Menu to run task Winget-AutoUpdate and open Logs.

NOTIFICATIONLEVEL
Specify the Notification level: Full (Default, displays all notification), SuccessOnly (Only displays notification for success) or None (Does not show any popup).

UPDATESATLOGON
Default value 1. Set UPDATESATLOGON=0 to disable WAU from running at user logon.

UPDATESINTERVAL
Default value Never. Specify the update frequency: Daily, BiDaily, Weekly, BiWeekly, Monthly or Never.

UPDATESATTIME
Default value 6AM (06:00:00). Specify the time of the update interval execution time. Example UPDATESATTIME="11:00:00"

DONOTRUNONMETERED
Default value 1. Set DONOTRUNONMETERED=0 to force WAU to run on metered connections. May add cellular data costs on shared connexion from smartphone for example.

MAXLOGFILES
Specify number of allowed log files.
Default is 3 out of 0-99:
Setting MaxLogFiles to 0 don't delete any old archived log files.
Setting it to 1 keeps the original one and just let it grow.

MAXLOGSIZE
Specify the size of the log file in bytes before rotating.
Default is 1048576 = 1 MB (ca. 7500 lines)

INSTALLDIR
Specify Winget-AutoUpdate installation location. Default: C:\Program Files\Winget-AutoUpdate (Recommended to leave default).

Deploy with Intune

You can use Winget-Install to deploy the package for example in Intune:

"%systemroot%\sysnative\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass -file "C:\Program Files\Winget-AutoUpdate\Winget-Install.ps1" -AppIDs "Romanitho.Winget-AutoUpdate --scope machine --override \"/qn RUN_WAU=YES USERCONTEXT=1 STARTMENUSHORTCUT=1 NOTIFICATIONLEVEL=SuccessOnly UPDATESINTERVAL=Daily""

Custom script (Mods for WAU)

Mods for WAU allows you to craft a script to do whatever you like via _WAU-mods.ps1 in the mods folder.
This script executes if the network is active/any version of Winget is installed/WAU is running as SYSTEM.
If ExitCode is 1 from _WAU-mods.ps1 then Re-run WAU.

Custom scripts (Mods feature for Apps)

The Mods feature allows you to run additional scripts when upgrading or installing an app. Just put the scripts in question with the AppID followed by the -preinstall, -upgrade, -install, -installed or -notinstalled suffix in the mods folder.

• Runs before upgrade/install: AppID-preinstall.ps1
• Runs during upgrade/install (before install check): AppID-upgrade.ps1/AppID-install.ps1
• Runs after upgrade/install has been confirmed: AppID-installed.ps1
• Runs after a failed upgrade/install: AppID-notinstalled.ps1
• Runs after a failed upgrade/install: _WAU-notinstalled.ps1 (any individual AppID-notinstalled.ps1 overrides this global one)

The -install mod will be used for upgrades too if -upgrade doesn't exist (WAU first tries & $Winget upgrade --id and if the app isn't detected after that & $Winget install --id is tried).
AppID-install.ps1 is recommended because it's used in both scenarios.

Example:
If you want to run a script that removes the shortcut from %PUBLIC%\Desktop (we don't want to fill the desktop with shortcuts our users can't delete) just after installing Acrobat Reader DC (32-bit), prepare a powershell script that removes the Public Desktop shortcut Acrobat Reader DC.lnk and name your script like this: Adobe.Acrobat.Reader.32-bit-installed.ps1 and put it in the mods folder.

You can find more information on Winget-Install Repo, as it's a related feature.
Read more in the README.md under the directory mods.

Share your mods with the community:
https://github.com/Romanitho/Winget-AutoUpdate/discussions/categories/mods

Winget native parameters

Another finess is the AppID followed by the -override suffix as a text file (.txt) that you can place under the mods folder.

Example:
Canneverbe.CDBurnerXP-override.txt with the content ADDLOCAL=All REMOVE=Desktop_Shortcut /qn

This will use the content of the text file as a native winget --override parameter when upgrading (as proposed by JonNesovic in Mod for --override argument #244).

GPO Management

In an enterprise environment it's crucial that different groups can have different settings in applications etc. or to implement other mandatory settings, i.e for security/management reasons.
WAU doesn't have any setting that can be changed except for when installing (or editing the registry/the task Winget-AutoUpdate as Admin).
With the use of ADML/ADMX files you can manage every WAU setting from within GPO.
They will be detected/evaluated on a daily basis.
The GPO ADMX/ADML validated with: Windows 10 - Validate ADMX for Ingestion
Read more in the README.md under the directory Policies.

Known issues

• As reported by soredake, Powershell from MsStore is not supported with WAU in system context. See #113

Optimization

Feel free to give us any suggestions or optimizations in code and support us by adding a star :)

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WAU - GitHub