Get list of installed applications from Windows command line

Solution 1:

If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7 and you didn't want install additional software, you can:

Open a command-line window (Windows + R, CMD.EXE)
Type wmic (Enter)
Type product get name (Enter)

Solution 2:

PsInfo from Microsoft/Sysinternals can list all the installed software if you use the -s flag when you run it. You can also use -c to output it as a csv file to use in Excel for example.

C:\> psinfo -s > software.txt
C:\> psinfo -s -c > software.csv

Solution 3:

A PowerShell script to list them:

$loc = Get-ChildItem HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

$names = $loc |foreach-object {Get-ItemProperty $_.PsPath}

foreach ($name in $names)
{
    Write-Host $name.Displayname
}

Not exactly command line, but for this purpose I personally use CCleaner's uninstall tool, and you can export the list of installed software to a text file:

Alt text

Solution 4:

Not exactly command line either, but trusty old SIW will do the job as well. Highlight Applications, right click → Export To → CSV, HTML, TXT or XML:

Alt text

SIW is freeware and portable, and installation isn't required.

Solution 5:

To add to MicTech's solution - use wmic and capture the list of installed software to a file:

Open a command-line window (Windows + R, CMD.EXE)

wmic /OUTPUT:my_software.txt product get name