Installation

Installation

Prerequisites

• PowerShell 7.0+ — download
• Windows 10/11 with administrator access
• winget (built-in on Windows 11; install "App Installer" from the Microsoft Store on Windows 10)

Quick start

Clone and run with administrator privileges:

git clone https://github.com/gsjonio/winforge.git
cd winforge
sudo .\setup.ps1

If sudo is not available, use the fallback launcher:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File ".\setup.ps1"

Run a specific group

sudo .\setup.ps1 -Group base       # install the 5 essential programs
sudo .\setup.ps1 -Group optimize   # apply the system optimizations
sudo .\setup.ps1 -Group shell      # Oh My Posh + Fira Code

Valid groups: base, dev, gaming, system, optimize, customize, shell. Omit -Group to run them all. See Groups Reference.

Command reference

setup.ps1 parameters:

Parameter	Values	Default	Purpose
-Group	base, dev, gaming, system, optimize, customize, shell, restore	all except restore	Run one group; omit to run all (never restore).
-Profile	safe, desktop, gaming	safe	How aggressive optimize is (cumulative).
-SkipElevation	switch	off	Skip the admin check (testing only).
-WhatIf	switch	off	Preview state-changing actions without applying (used by restore).

How installation works

For each program, winforge tries methods in order and stops at the first success:

1. Winget (primary)
2. Chocolatey (installed automatically if needed)
3. Custom installer URL (last resort)

Detection is idempotent — already-installed programs are detected (via executable, package manager, winget, or registry) and skipped, so re-running setup.ps1 is safe.

Verify before installing

Check what is already present without installing anything:

.\tools\validate.ps1              # all groups
.\tools\validate.ps1 -Group dev -ShowDetails

See Troubleshooting if you hit UAC, execution policy, or winget errors.