Installation

Installation

Pre-built binaries are attached to every GitHub Release. ClutterCutter is cross-platform: the release ships both Windows and Linux downloads. As of 0.11.0, the Windows side offers two options — a portable ClutterCutter.exe and a new ClutterCutter.msi installer for enterprise / network deployment.

Windows

The easiest way is winget:

winget install StruisICT.ClutterCutter
winget upgrade StruisICT.ClutterCutter   # later, to update

winget uses the portable install type: it copies ClutterCutter.exe (under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\...) and registers a cluttercutter alias on PATH, so you can also launch it from a terminal. It's not an MSI — nothing is installed into Program Files and there's no uninstaller entry beyond winget's own.

Or download from the releases page and just run it — the release attaches a single portable ClutterCutter.exe: one self-contained executable with no runtime dependency. It's not an installer; run it directly from wherever you saved it. This is the native Win32 build.

On first run, ClutterCutter offers a one-click UAC relaunch so it can use the NTFS MFT fast path — see Scanning & performance.

SmartScreen / Defender: the binaries are currently unsigned, and ClutterCutter requests administrator rights and reads the raw NTFS volume — behaviour heuristic scanners may warn on. Choose More info → Run anyway. Authenticode signing (SignPath Foundation OSS program) is planned to remove this friction.

Enterprise / network deployment (MSI)

New in 0.11.0: the release also attaches ClutterCutter.msi, a Windows installer aimed at admins deploying ClutterCutter across a fleet — GPO software installation, SCCM, or Intune. It's a per-machine install.

Individual users don't need it — the portable ClutterCutter.exe or winget install is simpler. The MSI exists specifically for fleet-wide, network deployment.

msiexec /i ClutterCutter.msi /qn   # silent install (for GPO / SCCM / Intune)
msiexec /x ClutterCutter.msi /qn   # silent uninstall

The MSI:

• Installs ClutterCutter.exe (the portable Windows build) to Program Files\ClutterCutter\.
• Adds an all-users Start Menu shortcut.
• Registers in Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features), so it uninstalls cleanly.
• Performs a MajorUpgrade: deploying a newer MSI upgrades an existing install in place.

winget still installs the portable Windows build (the exe), not the MSI.

Linux

Download ClutterCutter-linux-x86_64.tar.gz from the releases page, extract it, and run the portable GUI — there's no installer:

tar -xzf ClutterCutter-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
./cluttercutter-gui

The tarball (x86_64) contains:

File	Notes
cluttercutter-gui	The portable GUI (eframe/egui).
cluttercutter-cli	Console tool for scanning from a terminal.

The Linux build is a portable eframe/egui frontend that shares the same Rust scan engine as Windows and offers the same features — drive cards, browse/drill-in with breadcrumb, Largest/Oldest files, search, the temp/cache view, and scan-any-folder. It scans with a portable std::fs walker; the faster NTFS-MFT fast path is Windows-only.

macOS

There's no prebuilt macOS binary in Releases, but the portable GUI builds from source on macOS — see Building from source:

cd rust
cargo run --bin cluttercutter-gui

Downloads at a glance

Download	Platform	Notes
ClutterCutter.exe	Windows 10 / 11 (x64)	Native Win32 GUI. Portable, self-contained, no runtime, no installer. The winget build.
ClutterCutter.msi	Windows 10 / 11 (x64)	Installer for admins / enterprise / network deployment (per-machine). Silent-install for GPO / SCCM / Intune. See Enterprise / network deployment.
ClutterCutter-linux-x86_64.tar.gz	Linux (x86_64)	Portable egui GUI (cluttercutter-gui) + cluttercutter-cli. Extract and run.

System requirements

• Windows: 10 / 11 (x64). Administrator is optional but recommended for the fast MFT scan path on NTFS drives.
• Linux: x86_64. Runs unprivileged, using the portable walker.