A New PC from One File: `winget export` and `import`

winget export writes the list of apps on a PC to a JSON file, which PowerShell can read and change with ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json -Depth, and winget import installs every app on the list on a new PC in one command.

Journeyman · PowerShell · Operating System · Updated

After this lesson you can

  • Save a PC's app list with winget export, and read or change the export file with ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json -Depth
  • Install every app in an export file on a new PC with winget import and its agreement and --ignore-unavailable switches
  • Choose between Get-CimInstance, Get-WinEvent, the registry, the local-account commands and winget for a question about a PC

Key takeaways

  • winget export --output apps.json writes the apps winget knows on this PC into one JSON file; apps it can't find in a source are left out, with a warning.
  • The file is JSON: ConvertFrom-Json reads it, and .Sources.Packages.PackageIdentifier lists the apps.
  • To change the list, change the objects, then save with ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5; without -Depth, the list of apps is cut off.
  • winget import --import-file apps.json installs every app on the list. --accept-package-agreements and --accept-source-agreements let it run without stopping to ask.
  • The file brings back apps, not your files or settings.

A new laptop is exciting for about an hour, until you remember everything you need on it: the browser, the editor, the media player, the zip tool, PowerShell 7. You install them one by one from memory and find the one you forgot a week later, when you need it. An IT team setting up ten laptops for new hires has the same problem ten times over. winget, Windows' package manager from Installing Apps and Modules: winget and the PowerShell Gallery, can write the whole list to one file on the old PC and install everything on it on the new one.

The list, in one file: `winget export`

winget export writes the apps on this PC that winget knows into a file. --output (read "output") names the file:

winget export --output "$HOME\terminal-practice\new-pc\apps.json"

It prints a line for every installed app that isn't in any of winget's sources, such as a program that came on a disc or a driver from your PC's maker, and leaves those out of the file. The file holds the rest: on a PC that's been in use for a while, often 30 to 60 apps. Your list is your own business, so this lesson works on a small made-up list instead. These lines make it; they print nothing, and running them again makes the same file:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\new-pc" | Out-Null
Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice\new-pc"
Set-Content -Path apps.json -Value @'
{
  "$schema": "https://aka.ms/winget-packages.schema.2.0.json",
  "CreationDate": "2026-11-09T09:30:00.000-00:00",
  "Sources": [
    {
      "Packages": [
        { "PackageIdentifier": "Microsoft.PowerShell" },
        { "PackageIdentifier": "Microsoft.VisualStudioCode" },
        { "PackageIdentifier": "Mozilla.Firefox" },
        { "PackageIdentifier": "VideoLAN.VLC" },
        { "PackageIdentifier": "7zip.7zip" }
      ],
      "SourceDetails": {
        "Argument": "https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache",
        "Identifier": "Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe",
        "Name": "winget",
        "Type": "Microsoft.PreIndexed.Package"
      }
    }
  ],
  "WinGetVersion": "1.29.380"
}
'@

That's the shape of a real export, written more compactly than winget writes it. Sources is a list of the places the apps come from, here only winget's own catalog; apps from the Microsoft Store get a second entry, msstore. Inside, Packages lists each app by its package identifier, the exact Id you met in winget search. Add --include-versions to winget export, and each app gets its version too.

Read it and change it: it's JSON

The file is JSON, so JSON: ConvertFrom-Json and ConvertTo-Json already taught you how to read it. A dot after a list reaches into every item in it, so one line lists every app:

$apps = Get-Content .\apps.json -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json
$apps.Sources.Packages.PackageIdentifier

Microsoft.PowerShell
Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
Mozilla.Firefox
VideoLAN.VLC
7zip.7zip

The new laptop is for work, and it doesn't need the media player. Change the objects, then save them. Sources[0] is the first source; Where-Object keeps every app but VLC:

$apps.Sources[0].Packages = @($apps.Sources[0].Packages | Where-Object PackageIdentifier -ne 'VideoLAN.VLC')
$apps | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5 | Set-Content .\apps.json
(Get-Content .\apps.json -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json).Sources.Packages.PackageIdentifier

Microsoft.PowerShell
Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
Mozilla.Firefox
7zip.7zip

-Depth 5 matters. Each app sits three levels deep (the file, Sources, Packages), and ConvertTo-Json stops at two unless told otherwise: PowerShell warns Resulting JSON is truncated as serialization has exceeded the set depth of 2, and the app list in the file becomes blank text. Adding an app is += with a new object, such as [PSCustomObject]@{ PackageIdentifier = 'Notepad++.Notepad++' }.

Everything back in one command: `winget import`

On the new PC, copy apps.json over (a USB stick or a cloud folder), install PowerShell 7 if you want it there first, and ask winget what import takes:

winget import --help

Windows Package Manager v1.29.380
© 2026 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Installs all the packages listed in a file.

usage: winget import [-i] <import-file> [<options>]

The following arguments are available:
  -i,--import-file             File describing the packages to install

The following options are available:
  --ignore-unavailable         Ignore unavailable packages
  --ignore-versions            Ignore package versions in import file
  --no-upgrade                 Skips upgrade if an installed version already exists
  --accept-package-agreements  Accept all license agreements for packages
  --accept-source-agreements   Accept all source agreements during source operations
  -?,--help                    Shows help about the selected command
  --wait                       Prompts the user to press any key before exiting
  --logs,--open-logs           Open the default logs location
  --verbose,--verbose-logs     Enables verbose logging for winget
  --nowarn,--ignore-warnings   Suppresses warning outputs
  --disable-interactivity      Disable interactive prompts
  --proxy                      Set a proxy to use for this execution
  --no-proxy                   Disable the use of proxy for this execution

More help can be found at: https://aka.ms/winget-command-import

Then the import itself. It installs every app on the list, one after another, so this lesson leaves running it to you, on the PC that needs the apps:

winget import --import-file .\apps.json --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements --ignore-unavailable

The two --accept- switches say yes to each app's license and to the catalog's terms up front, so the import doesn't stop to ask; read them once, the first time. --ignore-unavailable carries on past an app the catalog no longer has, instead of stopping. An app that's already installed is updated if a newer version is waiting, unless you add --no-upgrade. Some installers still ask Windows for permission; click Yes only for the app you meant.

The file brings back apps, not your files or your settings: those come from a backup or a cloud folder. winget is Windows only, and it works the same from Windows PowerShell 5.1.

Five places to look

This chapter has given you five places to look when someone asks about a Windows PC:

  • What's in it and how full it is: Get-CimInstance, in Your Computer's Facts: Get-CimInstance.
  • What happened to it, and when: Get-WinEvent, in Event Logs: Why Did It Restart?
  • How it's set up: the registry, in The Registry as a Drive.
  • Who can use it, and who can change it: Get-LocalUser and Get-LocalGroupMember, in Users and Groups on This PC.
  • Which apps it has: winget, here.

Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

So what

One file holds the list of apps a PC needs: export it once, trim it with the JSON skills you already have, and a new PC is set up with one import instead of an afternoon of downloads.

Key terms

Cheat sheets

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