Windows Terminal can only be installed in user scope

[cheesecracker]

Brief description of your issue

Hello,

Currently, Windows Terminal can ONLY be installed in user scope. That means:

• If I run the command "winget install -e --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal", only current user can use the application
• If I run the command "winget install --scope machine -e --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal", a red error message is returned and the application is NOT installed

Windows Terminal is the only application I find to have this behaviour. Please tell me how to install it in machine scope, if possible.

Thanks

Steps to reproduce

Run the command "winget install --scope machine -e --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal"

Expected behavior

Application is installed in machine scope

Actual behavior

RED error message and the application is not installed

Environment

Windows Package Manager v1.1.13405
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. Tous droits réservés.

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.19044.1566
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.16.13405.0

[ItzLevvie]

This is the intended behavior of how MSIX apps are installed by default.

This applies to all MSIX apps—not just for Windows Terminal—as all MSIX apps are only installed for the current user even if you didn't install it through the Windows Package Manager.

If you would like to deploy an MSIX app system-wide instead of the current user, you could take a look at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/dism/add-appxprovisionedpackage?view=windowsserver2022-ps.

EDIT: See below.

[ghost]

If you would like to deploy an MSIX app system-wide instead of the current user

Nope. To this date, MSIX does NOT support "SYSTEM WIDE / PER MACHINE INSTALLATION" at all.

👉 Machine Wide Provisioning ( aka Add-AppxProvisionedPackage ) still installs/registers the app on per user basis.

See Feature Requests :

1. Add per-machine storage support to MSIX WindowsAppSDK#13
2. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/msix-feedback/machine-wide-provisioning-install-for-all-users/idi-p/1781716

[eabase]

@ItzLevvie
I'm not sure I understand this right. Can you reformulate why it is not possible to install via a specified scope , when indeed you have to command option --scope machine available?

I.e. What is the purpose of the --scope option then?

[florelis]

The --scope options does specify whether to install machine-wide or for the current user only. However not all applications support being installed in both scopes. In some cases, like Windows Terminal, it is because of the application's install technology not supporting it, like MSIX. It could also be that the publisher decides not to support both scopes, or simply that we don't have the right information in the package's manifest.

[cheesecracker]

This is the intended behavior of how MSIX apps are installed by default.

This applies to all MSIX apps—not just for Windows Terminal—as all MSIX apps are only installed for the current user even if you didn't install it through the Windows Package Manager.

I see. That's indeed sad (and lame). Installing applications in user scope but impossible in machine scope is retrograding to the 90's! And it's not suitable for enterprise environment. This software is thus ONLY good for individuals.

By curiosity: if the author did not choose MSIX, it could have been capable of being machine-wide?

[cheesecracker]

@denelon
So, you mean "both MSI and .exe-based installers can be both machine and user scope, while MSIX is specifically user scope only"? Did I get you right?

[denelon]

MSIX was designed to address several different concerns and behaves differently from a traditional .exe or .msi based installer. MSIX packages have a different lifecycle and when the intent is to be "installed" for each user on the system (the binaries aren't duplicated), but the virtual registry entries aren't created until the user interactively logs in. MSIX was designed to be installed and executed using a form of isolation or containerization.

https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/msix/overview

They can be installed "logically" machine-wide, but there is a subtle difference in mechanically how that is achieved.

[cheesecracker]

@denelon
OK, thanks for the detailed explanation. That's more than I expected. I really appreciate it.

Now, enough of the technical side. Back to the practical side / usefulness side of this matter. So I suppose there is NO WAY to install this application in machine-wide in company computers. That means the only solution for me is to abandon this application and try to find something similar, right?

Do people here have any suggestion of any alternative to this application, please?

[denelon]

We've been doing work to support WinGet in the system context. This is likely to be limited to the PowerShell module, and we will need to change the behavior used for installing MSIX packages in this scope. It is technically possible to have them available for users on their first login, but we will have to modify the Install-WinGetPackage in the system context to make this possible.

[cheesecracker]

A little sidenote:

I don't know if the following fact is related to this issue of the matter or not.

Windows Terminal installed from Microsoft Store is also user-wide only.