Skip to content

Download & install Software in Windows OS

Introduction

In this article, I am going to present a comprehensive list of essential tools and software commonly needed by developers in the IT industry. If you are using Window operating system, you can download and install the following software as per your requirements. It is recommended to use the choco tool for installation, but if you encounter any issues, you can also perform a direct install.

Note

Restart your computer when prompted or needed and also restart your terminal for every install before validate it.

Install Chocolatey

We will be using Chocolatey commands to install all the required software and developer tools.

What is Chocolatey?

Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that enables you to install, upgrade, and manage software packages from the command line. It functions similarly to package managers on Linux systems, such as apt or yum, and it can be utilized to install a wide range of software applications and libraries on Windows.

It is strongly recommended to use choco commands for searching and installing the required software instead of attempting manual installations using the provided links.

To use Chocolatey, you will need to have Windows PowerShell installed on your system. You can then install Chocolatey using a PowerShell command, and use it to install and manage packages from the command line.

Install Chocolatey

This is the first step you need to take before installing anything on the Windows OS.

To install Chocolatey on your Windows system, open a terminal window (such as PowerShell or Command Prompt) and run as Administrator with the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Reference - https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/choco/setup

Once the installation is finished, you can use the choco command to install, upgrade, and manage software packages using Chocolatey.

Verify the version installed 

choco --version

Install VS code

It is the most commonly used IDE, It is widely used for programming and supports various languages with extensive customization options.

Open Command Prompt (cmd) or PowerShell as Administrator and run:

choco install vscode

Verify the installation

code --help

# or

code --version


# Check for the latest version (available via choco)

choco info vscode

Upgrade VS Code to the latest version

choco upgrade vscode -y

Note: "Yes to all prompts" or "Automatically accept all confirmations."

VS Code Extensions

After install VS code, install the following extensions in vs code as per the need:

Azure CLI Tools
Azure Account
Azure Kubernetes Services
Kubernetes
Azure Terraform
C#
Bridge to Kubernetes
Dev Containers
Remote Development
Docker
Dotnet
Helm Intelligence
vscode-helm
Kubernetes – very helpful for debugging services in AKS 
PostgreSQL - get this from Microsoft 
PowerShell Extension- https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.PowerShell
MongoDB

You can install directly using the VS Code CLI:

code --install-extension ms-vscode.azurecli
# or
code --install-extension ms-vscode.azurecli --force

code --install-extension ms-vscode.azure-account
code --install-extension ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-aks-tools
code --install-extension ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools
code --install-extension hashicorp.terraform
code --install-extension ms-dotnettools.csharp
code --install-extension microsoft.k8s-bridge-to-kubernetes
code --install-extension ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
code --install-extension ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack
code --install-extension ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
code --install-extension formulahendry.dotnet
code --install-extension tht13.helm-intellisense
code --install-extension tim-koehler.vscode-helm
code --install-extension ms-vscode.mssql
code --install-extension ms-vscode.powershell
code --install-extension mongodb.mongodb-vscode

List All Installed Extensions

code --list-extensions

Install Git

Git is a version control system used for tracking changes in software projects. It allows multiple developers to collaborate on a project efficiently and helps manage different versions of the code.

choco install git -y

git --version

Upgrade Git to the Latest Version

choco upgrade git -y

Install Chrome

Chrome is a popular web browser developed by Google. It provides a fast and secure browsing experience and supports various web technologies.

choco install googlechrome  -y

Upgrade Google Chrome

choco upgrade googlechrome -y

Install Node JS

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows you to execute JavaScript code outside of a web browser.

choco install nodejs -y

node --version
# or
node -v
npm -v

Upgrade Node.js

choco upgrade nodejs -y

Install Docker

Docker is a platform that simplifies the process of creating, deploying, and running applications using containers.

choco install docker-desktop -y

docker --version
docker compose version

Upgrade Docker Desktop

choco upgrade docker-desktop -y

Install Azure CLI

Azure CLI is a command-line interface for managing and interacting with Microsoft Azure cloud services. It provides a convenient way to automate and control your Azure resources.

choco install azure-cli -y

az --version

Upgrade Azure CLI

choco upgrade azure-cli -y

Useful Commands

az account list --output table
az account show
az --help

Install Terraform

Terraform is an infrastructure-as-code tool used for provisioning and managing cloud resources. It allows you to define your infrastructure in code and automates the deployment and management of resources across different cloud providers.

choco install terraform -y

terraform --version

Upgrade Terraform

choco upgrade terraform -y

terraform -help

Install kubectl

kubectl is a command-line tool used to interact with Kubernetes clusters. It enables you to deploy, manage, and monitor applications running on Kubernetes.

choco install kubernetes-cli
For more information, please refer to the following link: - https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-windows/

# Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:
kubectl version
kubectl version --client

# use this for detailed view of version:
kubectl version --client --output=yaml

or 
kubectl version --output=json

#Verify kubectl configuration
kubectl cluster-info

Upgrade kubectl

choco upgrade kubernetes-cli -y

Install Lens

Lens is a popular Kubernetes platform that serves as a robust and advanced development and management environment for Kubernetes clusters. It provides a comprehensive graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies the management, monitoring, and interaction with Kubernetes resources and clusters.

choco install lens

lens --version

Upgrade Lens

choco upgrade lens -y

Install azure kubelogin

Azure Kubelogin is a tool that enables seamless authentication and access to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters using your Azure credentials.

choco install azure-kubelogin

Install Helm

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies the deployment and management of applications on Kubernetes clusters. It allows you to define and install applications using charts, which are packages of pre-configured Kubernetes resources.

choco install kubernetes-helm -y

helm version

choco upgrade kubernetes-helm -y

Install pgadmin4

pgAdmin is a graphical administration and development platform for PostgreSQL, a popular open-source relational database management system. It provides a user-friendly interface for managing databases, running queries, and monitoring server activity.

choco install pgadmin4 -y

Upgrade pgAdmin 4

choco upgrade pgadmin4 -y

Install PostgreSQL

To install PostgreSQL, you can use Chocolatey by running the following command from the command line or PowerShell:

choco install postgresql -y

Alternatively, you can choose to use the graphical installation wizard for PostgreSQL on Windows.

Downloading PostgreSQL

Follow the installation wizard instructions to complete the PostgreSQL installation on your Windows system.

Note

Depending on your requirements, you may want to uncheck the option for Stack Builder during the installation process.

psql - Command-line tools

By default, the installer does not modify the system path. If you wish to use command-line tools like psql, you will need to manually add PostgreSQL to your system's path after installation.

Update Environment Variables

To update the system path and include PostgreSQL in it, add the following directory to your PATH variable:

C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\16\bin
Make sure to replace 16 with your specific PostgreSQL version if it differs.

Note

System restart is needed after the isntallation

verify the psql installation

psql --version

#output
psql (PostgreSQL) 16.1

Install argocd

Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes.

choco install argocd -y

argocd version

# output
argocd: v2.4.7+81630e6
  BuildDate: 2022-07-18T21:49:23Z
  GitCommit: 81630e6d5075ac53ac60457b51343c2a09a666f4
  GitTreeState: clean
  GoVersion: go1.18.3
  Compiler: gc
  Platform: windows/amd64
argocd-server: v2.5.2+148d8da

Upgrade Argo CD

choco upgrade argocd -y

Install SQL server

SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. It allows you to store, manage, and retrieve structured data efficiently.

choco install sql-server-management-studio

Install Azure Data Studio

Azure Data Studio is a cross-platform database tool for data professionals using the Microsoft family of on-premises and cloud data platforms on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

choco install azure-data-studio

Azure Storage Explorer

Azure Storage Explorer is a standalone application provided by Microsoft that allows users to interact Azure storage account services and making it easier to work with Azure Blob Storage, Azure Queue Storage, Azure Table Storage, and Azure Cosmos DB.

choco install microsoftazurestorageexplorer

Install RDCMan

RDCMan, short for Remote Desktop Connection Manager, is a free Microsoft Windows utility used to manage multiple remote desktop connections from a single application. It is particularly useful to connect and manage multiple remote servers, workstations, or virtual machines.

Key Features

  • Group RDP sessions for easy organization
  • Save credentials per group or server
  • Automatically reconnect dropped sessions
  • Session-wide actions like log off, disconnect, or reconnect
  • Custom display resolution and settings for individual servers

Option 1: Install via Chocolatey 

choco install remote-desktop-connection-manager

# To upgrade:
choco upgrade remote-desktop-connection-manager

Option 2: Manual Installation

Download RDCMan from the official Microsoft site or trusted repository: * Microsoft RDCMan Download Page

mRemoteNG

mRemoteNG (multi-Remote Next Generation) is an open-source. It supports multiple remote connection protocols, making it a powerful alternative to RDCMan with broader capabilities.

Key Features

  • Tabbed interface for managing multiple sessions
  • Support for a wide range of protocols - RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet, ICA, HTTP/HTTPS, RLogin, Raw Socket
  • Credential inheritance and secure storage
  • Connection tree and grouping for organization
  • Import/Export of configuration files

Option 1: Install via Chocolatey (Recommended)

choco install mremoteng

# To upgrade
choco upgrade mremoteng
Option 2: Manual Installation

Download Installer from the official site: * https://mremoteng.org/download

Install dotnet

Microsoft .NET 8.0 Runtime 8.0.10

choco install dotnet-8.0-runtime

Microsoft .NET 8.0 SDK 8.0.403

choco install dotnet-8.0-sdk
# verify the installation
dotnet --version

Install Python

Python is a popular programming language known for its simplicity and versatility. It is widely used for web development, data analysis, and scripting tasks.

choco install python

verify Pip installation

pip --version

Install WSL

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a feature of Windows that allows developers to run a Linux environment without the need for a separate virtual machine or dual booting. 

choco install wsl

wsl --help
// or
wsl --list --verbose

Install JQ

JQ is a lightweight and flexible command-line tool for processing JSON data. It provides various features to extract, manipulate, and transform JSON files efficiently.

choco install jq

Install MongoDB Compass

Install MongoDB Compass using Chocolatey 

choco install mongodb-compass -y
Check MongoDB Version

mongod --version

choco upgrade mongodb-compass -y

Install Postman

Postman is a popular API development and testing tool. It allows you to make HTTP requests, test APIs, and automate API workflows, making it easier to develop and debug APIs.

choco install postman -y

Upgrade Postman 

choco upgrade postman -y

Install Notepad++

choco install notepadplusplus -y
Verify Installation: 
notepad++

Windows Terminal

Allows us to access multiple command-line tools and shells in one customizable interface. It is an open-source project developed and maintained by Microsoft.

choco install microsoft-windows-terminal

Install Lightshot

Lightshot is a free program that offers a quick and easy way to capture a screen including basic editing tools.

I don't see brew commands to install this tool but you can install it manually from here:

Lightshot downloads

Manual Install

If you would prefer to install manually then here is the same list of software you can download and Install them manually

Additional Software

You may need these additional software to perform daily activities.