Windows Package Manager Winget Registry Keys

The Windows Package Manager (winget) utilizes specific Windows Registry keys primarily to enforce administrative policies, manage security constraints, and toggle core features across system installations. While individual user preferences are stored in a local JSON configuration file, enterprise-level configuration and policy control for winget are managed under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\PackageManagement\PackageInstaller registry key.

Primary Winget Registry Path

Administrative control and Group Policy configurations for winget are located at the following path in the Registry Editor (Regedit):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\PackageManagement\PackageInstaller

If the policies have not yet been configured via Group Policy or manual administration, this key may need to be created manually.

Key Registry Values and Controls

Under the PackageInstaller key, several DWORD (32-bit) values dictate how winget operates on the system:

• EnableWindowsPackageManager: Set to 1 to enable winget functionality or 0 to completely disable the Windows Package Manager execution on the machine.
• EnableWindowsPackageManagerCommandLineInterfaces: Controls access to command-line interactions for the package manager.
• EnableSettingsJSON: Controls whether users can edit their local settings.json file using the winget settings command. Setting this to 0 locks user-level configurations.
• EnableMSStoreSource: Set to 1 to allow winget to search and install packages from the Microsoft Store, or 0 to disable the Microsoft Store source repository.
• EnableDefaultSource: Controls the official community repository (winget source). Set to 0 to prevent installations from the public community catalog.
• EnableAdditionalSources: Set to 0 to block administrators or users from adding third-party or private winget sources.
• EnableHashOverride: Dictates whether users can bypass installer hash verification using the --ignore-security-hash command-line switch. Setting this to 0 enforces strict integrity checks.

User-Level Settings vs. Registry Policies

User-level configuration options (such as visual preferences, progress bar styles, and installation telemetry toggles) are not stored in the Windows Registry. Instead, they reside in a JSON file located at:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json

Any policies configured within the PackageInstaller registry key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE supersede user preferences defined in settings.json.