Windows Package Manager 1.12.440 Pre-release released
Microsoft has just released version 1.12.440 of its Windows Package Manager (winget). This new pre-release build is now available for testing.
One interesting feature added this go-round is the MCP server itself. So, users can actually run winget mcp to get help setting things up.
Elsewhere in the update, the App Installer component was given a refresh, moving away from WinUI 2 to WinUI 3. This also means they've updated their manifest validation process to v1.12. Along with standard improvements, this change brings support for new types of installers, like fonts as installers and introduces font install and uninstall operations.
They have also addressed some minor bugs. For instance, the tool no longer throws errors if a package manifest uses UTF-8 BOM encoding right at the top of the file. Another issue squashed was one where disabling developer mode during an upgrade meant removing the portable app from your system path entirely, which seems fixed now.
The App Installer itself has seen other tweaks: it's better about showing progress updates and handling installs that need extra permissions (elevation). Also, there are fixes for launching it on older Windows versions when the required runtime isn't present and for blocking activation attempts for MSIX apps needing OnLaunch updates in those builds. Another patch prevents App Installer from crashing mid-process if something goes wrong before it can finish opening.
Speaking of fonts, they've beefed up font handling within winget. Users can now install or uninstall fonts using manifests or package sources for their own user scope or system-wide. There's a sample font manifest available on GitHub in the winget-pkgs repo: https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/tree/master/fonts/m/Microsoft/FluentFonts/1.0.0.0. But just to be clear, this capability currently only works for fonts included as part of packages installed via Windows Package Manager.
If you're curious about the new font feature but don't need experimental stuff yet, or maybe it's not even your thing, know that it requires either a specific installer type or a .zip archive (for NestedInstaller fonts). And there's an entirely new source called winget-font designed to find available fonts. You can try searching with winget search font -s winget-font, but please don't get too fancy trying to submit your own public fonts just yet.
For those who do want to explore the experimental side, support still exists for related commands via a tweak in settings. By adding "experimentalFeatures": { "fonts": true } inside their winget.settings.json, users can enable listing installed font families and faces using winget font list. They've also added a new switch (--details) to that command.
Other noteworthy adjustments include some internal housekeeping, like updating version tracking for the client itself (to 1.12) and making sure Repair-WGPM handles COM objects properly. There was also an update ensuring signal handlers are properly unregistered during certain processes, plus support added for linking export units to packages in different folders.
Release Windows Package Manager 1.12.440
This is a preview build of WinGet for those interested in trying out upcoming features and fixes.
Release Windows Package Manager 1.12.440 ยท microsoft/winget-cli
