PowerShell module not working in system context

[Mmate99]

Relevant area(s)

WinGet CLI, PowerShell Module

Relevant command(s)

No response

Brief description of your issue

Since the December update (v1.12.440), the Get-WinGetPackage command no longer works when executed in SYSTEM context. The process exits immediately with exit code 1 and does not export or return the list of installed packages. The same command works correctly when run in a user context.

Steps to reproduce

Run the Get-WinGetPackage in system context.

Expected behavior

The command should work as before in system context.

Actual behavior

The process exits with code 1.

Environment

Windows Package Manager v1.12.440
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.22631.5909
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.27.440.0

Winget Directories
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\DiagOutputDir
User Settings %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
Portable Links Directory (User) %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
Portable Links Directory (Machine) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
Portable Package Root (User) %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root (x86) C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
Installer Downloads %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
Configuration Modules %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Configuration\Modules

Links
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privacy Statement https://aka.ms/winget-privacy
License Agreement https://aka.ms/winget-license
Third Party Notices https://aka.ms/winget-3rdPartyNotice
Homepage https://aka.ms/winget
Windows Store Terms https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/storedocs/terms-of-sale

Admin Setting State
--------------------------------------------------
LocalManifestFiles Disabled
BypassCertificatePinningForMicrosoftStore Disabled
InstallerHashOverride Disabled
LocalArchiveMalwareScanOverride Disabled
ProxyCommandLineOptions Disabled
DefaultProxy Disabled

[Mmate99]

The error output from the PS module:

Line |
 2 | Get-WinGetPackage
 | An error occurred while connecting to the catalog

[JohnMcPMS]

I'm not seeing the issue, so there is likely something more specific to your setup going on:

PS C:\Windows\System32> whoami
nt authority\system
PS C:\Windows\System32> get-command get-wingetpackage

CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Cmdlet Get-WinGetPackage 1.12.440 Microsoft.WinGet.Client

PS C:\Windows\System32> get-wingetpackage

Name Id
---- --
Git Microsoft.Git
...

Logs for this should go to %TEMP%\WinGet\defaultState\ for the SYSTEM user. On my machine that is C:\Windows\Temp\WinGet\defaultState.

[Mmate99]

Thanks for the info! Managed to figure out what caused the issue, an older PS module version was installed on my machine (1.11.460) with the new winget version. After updating the PS module the issue was solved.

[akos-szego]

JohnMcPMS could you please clarify if using either WinGet CLI or the related PS module is supported from the SYSTEM user running in Session 0 (as usually services do)? We (and probably others, too) need a definitive statement since in case it's not supported, it can break at any time. In turn it doesn't make sense to build any automated management solution on top of it. Thanks!

[JohnMcPMS]

@JohnMcPMS could you please clarify if using either WinGet CLI or the related PS module is supported from the SYSTEM user running in Session 0 (as usually services do)? We (and probably others, too) need a definitive statement since in case it's not supported, it can break at any time. In turn it doesn't make sense to build any automated management solution on top of it. Thanks!

The CLI is not supported from SYSTEM at all, as one cannot register the MSIX package for the SYSTEM user.

The PS module is supported for SYSTEM use in session 0. When running as system it does not have a dependency on the MSIX package.

Note that individual package functionality is not guaranteed in SYSTEM contexts. This is to say, not every package can be installed successfully when running as SYSTEM. winget-pkgs does not validate that flow during ingestion.

Poking Demitrius Nelon (@denelon) in case my developer messaging abilities are poor.

[akos-szego]

Thanks for the clarification.

[blackops786187]

I am running windows 11 25h2 with powershell 5.1. I used psexec to open powershell as system and then installed the winget cli module. However all the commands are giving me this error

Is this module not supported in powershell 5.1 when running under the system context? It seems if i just run it as the standard user under powershell 5.1 the package installs without issue so it seems to be specific to the system context

Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 5.1.26100.7462
PSEdition Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion 10.0.26100.7462
CLRVersion 4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion 3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.3
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1


PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Install-WinGetPackage -ID git.git -Scope System -Mode Silent -Force
PSMessageDetails :
Exception : Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Engine.Exceptions.WindowsPowerShellNotSupported: This cmdlet is not supported in Windows PowerShell.
 at Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Engine.Commands.Common.ManagementDeploymentCommand..ctor(PSCmdlet psCmdlet)
 at Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Engine.Commands.Common.FinderCommand..ctor(PSCmdlet psCmdlet)
 at Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Engine.Commands.Common.PackageCommand..ctor(PSCmdlet psCmdlet)
 at Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Engine.Commands.Common.InstallCommand..ctor(PSCmdlet psCmdlet)
 at Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Engine.Commands.InstallerPackageCommand..ctor(PSCmdlet psCmdlet, String override, String custom, String location,
 Boolean allowHashMismatch, Boolean force, String header, PSCatalogPackage psCatalogPackage, String version, String log, String id, String name,
 String moniker, String source, String[] query, Boolean skipDependencies)
 at Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Commands.InstallPackageCmdlet.ProcessRecord()
 at System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessor.ProcessRecord()
TargetObject :
CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Install-WinGetPackage], WindowsPowerShellNotSupported
FullyQualifiedErrorId : RuntimeException,Microsoft.WinGet.Client.Commands.InstallPackageCmdlet
ErrorDetails :
InvocationInfo : System.Management.Automation.InvocationInfo
ScriptStackTrace : at <ScriptBlock>, <No file>: line 1
PipelineIterationInfo : {}

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> WHOAMI
nt authority\system```