With a new edition of Windows 10 circulating halfway, many users prefer to cut their losses, adopt the diplomacy of Lieutenant Ripley, and start with a clean environment, but that requires installing all the software... again. So, do we follow the classic route and download the installers one by one, or do we seek the help of some application? In case you decide to go with option number two, the open source project Just Install comes to the rescue.
A couple of months ago we explored the virtues of Chocolatey as a software installer, however, judging by the general response, it's evident that users feel very uncomfortable with that platform, especially because of the previous adjustments required in PowerShell. Some interface alternatives are Silent Install Helper and RuckZuck, but if working from the console doesn't bother you, I think today we have something better. It's Just Install, an application we talked about for the first time in 2017, but which has continued receiving updates, and works wonderfully on the most recent versions of Windows.
How to install programs with Just Install
The official page offers an installation command with MSIExec, but that's not actually necessary: below there is a direct link to the Just Install executable, which we save in a temporary folder. The rest is just opening a system console with elevated privileges and typing “just-install” along with the name of the program we want to install.
The complete list appears with the command “just-install list”, or on the portal. At the time of writing, Just Install is compatible with 276 programs. Some haven't received all their updates (for example, Classic Shell must be replaced with Open Shell), but we know well that the latest is not always the best.
Now, what happens if we only want the installers instead of the whole automated process? Easy: Add the -d command before the program name. The files will be saved in the folder that Just Install creates in the temporary section of the operating system (normally C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Temp\just-install). Their names are encoded, but they can be recognized immediately thanks to their icons.
To finish, Just Install allows the installation of multiple programs at once. The manual method requires writing the names of each program one after the other, separated by a space. However, on the official page there is the possibility to customize the installation. Use the list to choose the software, and when you click the Download button you will receive an .exe ready to take care of the heavy lifting.
Just Install is free, open source, portable, and I must admit, easier to deploy than Chocolatey. If you have to set up multiple Windows installations frequently, this might help you save a lot of time.
(Editor's note: VirusTotal reports two false positives, but we haven't noticed anything unusual during our evaluation.)
Official website and download: Click here
