How to install any software and troubleshooting

“To install, drag this icon…” no more! Homebrew Cask’s motto

There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly find out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter.

You will typically install software through an installer, a piece of software that installs a program on a computer, but there is more about it than just clicking Next, Next, and Finish.

1. First, you need to make sure your computer meets the system requirements of the program you want to install, e.g., minimum processor speed (e.g., 2 or more GHz), minimum RAM (e.g., 4GB), minimum free storage space, operating system (e.g. Windows 10/11), GPU (nVidia GeForce GTX 1050 or equivalent), etc.

   If you don’t have enough space, then you need to delete some files, directories and/or applications, and free up storage.

2. Sometimes, an old version of a program sitting on your machine may cause some issues. Then, you should uninstall it: Settings, Apps, Installed Apps. Besides, your anti-malware software can prevent software from installing. First, you should scan the installer file with your antivirus software and/or an online virus scanner like VirusTotal, then you could temporary disable your antivirus, firewall, or both to let the installation process take place.
3. Typically, right click on the installer file and select Run as administrator to start the installation. If you are asked whether to allow the program to make changes to the computer, click Yes to continue. Read the License Terms even though nobody really reads it anymore😉, tick the “I accept the terms of this agreement” checkbox, and smash the Continue button. Finally, click Finish to complete the installation.

   If you are running out of space in your main partition (C:), some application installers will allow you to choose a different install location. You could create a Program Files folder on your D drive and install these applications into this folder.

4. Sometimes, you need to enable developer mode -it allows you to install unsigned apps onto your computer-: Settings, Privacy & security, under Security, click on For developers, and enable Developer Mode.

If you can’t install a program:

• Restart your computer. Yes, that’s right.
• Open your Settings and navigate to Update & Security, Troubleshoot, Additional troubleshooters. Select Program Compatibility Troubleshooter and smash the “Run the troubleshooter” button.
• Check your App Recommendation Settings. Open your Settings and navigate to Apps, Advanced App Settings/Apps & features. Go to Choose where to get apps section from the right-hand pane and select the option Anywhere from the drop-down menu, so it will not block you from installing apps outside of the Microsoft Store.
• Besides, many apps need Microsoft .NET Framework (a proprietary development framework for building and running applications for Windows), Microsoft Visual C++ (an integrated IDE used to create Windows applications) or Java Runtime Environment (a software layer that runs on top of your operating system and loads Java applications for the JVM -Java Virtual Machine- to execute).
• Check if your Windows is 32 or 64 bits (x84 or x64): Settings, System, About, read the System type (it is typically “64-bit operating system”) under Device specifications. Then, download and install a 32-bit or 64-bit version of your program.
• Try to run the program in Compatibility mode. Right-click the application and select Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab, then check the Run this program in compatibility mode for: Select the version of Windows to use for your application in the drop-down menu (e.g., Windows 7 or Vista), and click on the Apply and OK buttons to execute these changes.
• Does your user account has administrator privilege? Settings, Accounts, Your info. Your should see the “Administrator” label under your user name/email. Another way of checking this is using the command prompt: open the Run dialog by typing Win+R, type cmd, and click OK. Type net user yourUserName and you will get all the information about your account. Check for the Local Group Memberships entry. If your account belongs to the Administrators group, it will have all the administration rights for installing, updating, or running any programs.
• If you still can’t install it, then you should read our article How to fix your computer.

Package managers

A package manager is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software. Upgrading is part of the management a package manager provides, so you can update all installed packages with a single command saving you a lot of time.

• Ninite is not a package manager, but it is one of the easiest, fastest ways to update or install software. You can update or install multiple apps at once. Another option is Patch My PC. It is a free, easy-to-use program to update or install a large list of programs on to your computer. RuckZuck is a software package manager for Windows, a quick way to install and update software. Npackd is a free package manager for Windows. It helps you to find, install, update, and uninstall software.  
• The Windows Package Manager Client or winget enables Windows’ users to discover, install, upgrade, and remove applications on Windows computers. It makes it very easy and convenient to install applications by running a single command. It is bundled with Windows 11 and modern versions of Windows 10 by default as the App Installer.

1. To search for an application, open a terminal window and run winget appname, e.g., winget search LibreOffice.
2. Install applications: winget install LibreOffice.LibreOffice, winget install GIMP.GIMP, winget install ShareX.ShareX, winget install Microsoft.Powertoys.
3. Update an application (winget upgrade brave) or all the installed applications (winget upgrade ‐‐all)
4. Uninstall applications. First, get the list of installed apps (winget list), and then uninstall the unwanted applications (winget uninstall GIMP.GIMP).

Credits: Installing software with winget & automating installation with PowerShell by Doug Waldrom, https://dev.to/guitarzan/installing-software-with-winget-automating-installation-with-powershell-1pdf
Use: Start PowerShell as administrator, allow running scripts (Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process), and run the script (.\InstallSoftware.ps1)
Troubleshooting: Make sure that winget is on the PATH, run it once, and accept the license agreement that pops up.
Write-Output "Installing Apps"
$apps = @(
    @{name = "7zip.7zip" },
    @{name = "Dropbox.Dropbox" },
    @{name = "Google.Chrome" },
    @{name = "Greenshot.Greenshot" },
    @{name = "Inkscape.Inkscape" },
    @{name = "Microsoft.PowerShell" },
    @{name = "Microsoft.PowerToys" },
    @{name = "Microsoft.VisualStudioCode" },
    @{name = "Microsoft.WindowsTerminal" },
    @{name = "Notepad++.Notepad++" },
    @{name = "TimKosse.FileZilla.Client" },
    @{name = "VideoLAN.VLC" },
    @{name = "WinDirStat.WinDirStat" }
);
Foreach ($app in $apps) {
    $listApp = winget list --exact -q $app.name # $listApp saves all applications you have already installed.
    if (![String]::Join("", $listApp).Contains($app.name)) {
      # If the app is not already installed ($listApp does not contain $app.name)
        Write-host "Installing: " $app.name
        winget install -e -h --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements --id $app.name 
        # It installs the app, accepts the license agreement and avoid the prompt. -h runs the installer in silent mode, it suppresses all UI. -e uses the exact string in the query.
    }
    else {
        Write-host "Skipping: " $app.name " (already installed)"
    }
}

• Chocolatey is another Windows package manager. It allows you to install, update, and remove software in PowerShell quickly and safely.

1. Installation: Click on the Install Now button on its website. Start Windows PowerShell(Admin) and run the 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'))
   

2. Wait for a few seconds for the command to complete, and type choco or choco -?

     PS C:\Users\nmaxi> choco
     Chocolatey v1.1.0
     Please run 'choco -?' or 'choco  -?' for help menu.
   

3. Let’s install some software: choco install musicbee -y (it installs MusicBee). You can also install multiple programs all at once: choco install musicbee vlc 7zip -y
4. You can upgrade all your programs with only one command: choco upgrade all -y

• Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple (or your Linux distro) didn’t.

1. Install Homebrew:

   xcode-select --install # Install XCode's Command Line Tools
   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" # Install HomeBrew
   

   You need to add Homebrew’s executable directory to your PATH. If you are using ZSH (macOS Mojave and higher), you need to edit the file ~/.zshrc. Otherwise, you need to edit the file ~/.bash_profile:

    export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
   

   Then, you need to source these changes by reopening your terminal or typing: source ~/.zshrc (ZSH) or source ~/.bash_profile. You can execute the command echo $0 to determine your shell.

2. Let’s verify that homebrew is set up correctly: brew doctor

3. List all the packages you’ve installed: brew list

4. Install packages: brew install htop (resource manager); brew install visual-studio-code, brew install barrier.

5. Upgrade an existing package (brew upgrade htop) or all programs and packages (brew upgrade)

6. Remove an existing package: brew uninstall outguess

7. Homebrew Cask extends Homebrew and brings its elegance, simplicity, and speed to the installation and management of GUI macOS applications:

       brew install --cask \
       alfred \
       caffeine \
       cheatsheet \
       dropbox \
       google-chrome \
       rectangle \
       vlc
   

sudo softwareupdate -ia && sudo reboot updates your macOS, then reboots.

• Pacman is the package manager utility for Arch Linux and its derivatives.

1. To install a single package or list of packages, including dependencies: pacman -S package_name1 package_name2 …, e.g., pacman -S barrier

2. To remove a package and its dependencies which are not required by any other installed package: pacman -Rs package_name

   pacman -R package_name, without “s”, leaves all of the package dependencies installed.

3. System Update, it updates all packages on the system: sudo pacman -Syu, sudo reboot

4. Reflector is a Python script which can retrieve the latest mirror list from the Arch Linux Mirror Status page. It filters the most up-to-date mirrors, sorts them by speed, and overwrites the file /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:

       sudo pacman -S reflector # Install Reflector
       sudo reflector --verbose --country 'Spain' --latest 5 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
   

5. Search for a package: pacman -Ss package_name, e.g., pacman -Ss archey

   If you are looking for a package that already exists in your system: pacman -Qs package_name, e.g., pacman -Qs nautilus

6. Cleaning the package cache: sudo paccache -r.

   sudo pacman -S pacman-contrib # Automatically cleaning the package cache sudo systemctl enable paccache.timer

7. Configuring PacMan: sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf

     Color # It adds color to the Pacman Package Manager
     ILoveCandy # Pac-Man loves candy
     [multilib]
     include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Uncomment the multilib repository to run 32-bit application on your 64-bit systems.
   

8. Troubleshooting, update your keyring: pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring && pacman -Su

• The Arch User Repository (AUR) is a community-driven repository for Arch users. There is a huge number of packages available in the Arch User Repository and there are also many AUR helpers that make using the AUR really easy. Yay is a popular AUR Helper written in Go.

1. First, we need to download the git package: sudo pacman -S git
2. Then, we clone the yay git repository:

   git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
   

3. Next, we navigate into the yay folder: cd yay
4. Finally, we build and install the package: makepkg -si
5. Install a package: yay -S package_name.
6. Remove a package and its dependencies: sudo yay -Rns package_name
7. Upgrade all the packages on your system: sudo yay -Syu
8. Search for a package: yay -Ss foo

• One of the most popular AUR helper program is Yay. An alternative is Paru.

1. Installation:

   sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel # These packages are needed for building packages from source.
   git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git # Let's clone Paru repository.
   cd paru
   makepkg -si # Finally, we build and install Paru
   

2. Install a specific package:

   paru -S sddm-sugar-dark 
   paru -S sddm-theme-sugar-candy-git
   paru -S archlinux-tweak-tool-git
   

Troubleshooting Pacman

user@pc:~$ sudo pacman -Syyu
:: Synchronizing package databases...
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace wxgtk-common with extra/wxwidgets-common? [Y/n] n
:: Replace wxgtk3 with extra/wxwidgets-gtk3? [Y/n] y
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: wxwidgets-gtk3 and wxgtk3 are in conflict. Remove wxgtk3? [y/N] y
error: unresolvable package conflicts detected
error: failed to prepare transaction (conflicting dependencies)
:: wxwidgets-gtk3 and wxgtk3 are in conflict

Widgets 3.2 provides a Qt frontend in addition to the GTK3 one, so packages have been renamed from wxgtk- to wxwidgets-. The GTK2 frontend is no longer provided. If you have wxgtk2 installed, the upgrade will fail with: error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies) :: removing wxgtk-common breaks dependency ‘wxgtk-common’ required by wxgtk2

Solution: sudo pacman -Rcns wxgtk2 It removes wxgtk2 and all its dependencies, then you should update the system.

pipx, install and Run Python Applications in Isolated Environments

pipx is a tool to help you install and run end-user applications written in Python. pipx is made specifically for application installation, as it adds isolation yet still makes the apps available in your shell: pipx creates an isolated environment for each application and its associated packages.

    sudo pacman -S python-pipx # Install pipx (Arch)
    pipx install package_name # installing Python packages as CLI tools
    pipx run pycowsay Moo! # Run applications with pyth
    pipx upgrade package_name # Upgrade a package
    pipx uninstall package_name # Uninstall a package

This is the key to remember, pipx run downloads and runs Python apps in a one-time, temporary environment, leaving your system untouched afterwards. This can be handy when you need to run the latest version of an app, but don’t necessarily want it installed on your computer.