How To Install WinSCP Using PowerShell

Purpose of the Script

Automatically download and install the latest version of WinSCP.
Uses Microsoft’s Winget GitHub. repository to locate the official installer.
Performs a silent installation for all users.

# Define the GitHub API URL for the app manifests in winget-pkgs.
$apiUrl = "https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP"

# Fetch version folders then filter only version folders.
$versions = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $apiUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$versionFolders = $versions | Where-Object { $_.type -eq "dir" }

# Extract and sort version numbers to get the latest version.
$sortedVersions = $versionFolders | ForEach-Object { $_.name } | Sort-Object {[version]$_} -Descending -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$latestVersion = $sortedVersions[0]

Write-Host "Latest WinSCP version: $latestVersion"

# Get contents of the latest version folder to find the .installer.yaml file.
$latestApiUrl = "$apiUrl/$latestVersion"
$latestFiles = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $latestApiUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$installerFile = $latestFiles | Where-Object { $_.name -like "*.installer.yaml" }

# Download and parse YAML content to get the Url of the latest installer file.
$yamlUrl = $installerFile.download_url
$yamlContent = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $yamlUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$yamlString = $yamlContent -join "`n"
$installerUrls = [regex]::Matches($yamlString, "InstallerUrl:\s+(http[^\s]+)") | ForEach-Object { $_.Groups[1].Value }
$installerUrl = $installerUrls[1]

Write-Host "Downloading installer from: $installerUrl"

# Download the latest installer to the temp folder.
Invoke-WebRequest -UserAgent "Wget" -Uri $installerUrl -OutFile "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" 

# Start the install process.
Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" -ArgumentList '/SP- /SILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /ALLUSERS' -Wait

# Delete the downloaded installer file.
Remove-Item -Path "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Write-Host "WinSCP installation completed."

Step-by-Step Explanation

Below is a detailed explanation of what each part of the PowerShell script does. The script is designed to automatically install or update WinSCP on Windows computers.

1. Define the API URL

$apiUrl = "https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP"

Points to the WinSCP manifest folder in the winget-pkgs GitHub repository.
This folder contains subfolders for each version.

2. Get the list of available versions

$versions = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $apiUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$versionFolders = $versions | Where-Object { $_.type -eq "dir" }

Fetches all items in the folder (both files and folders).
Filters to only include directories, because each directory represents a WinSCP version.

# Output
PS C:\> $versionFolders

name         : 5.17.10
path         : manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/5.17.10
sha          : a8d38e8f59f4f231771c513f3057117c715b3731
size         : 0
url          : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/5.17.10?ref=master
html_url     : https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/tree/master/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/5.17.10
git_url      : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/git/trees/a8d38e8f59f4f231771c513f3057117c715b3731
download_url :
type         : dir
_links       : @{self=https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/5.17.10?ref=master;
               git=https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/git/trees/a8d38e8f59f4f231771c513f3057117c715b3731;
               html=https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/tree/master/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/5.17.10}

...

3. Extract and sort versions

$sortedVersions = $versionFolders | ForEach-Object { $_.name } | Sort-Object {[version]$_} -Descending -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$latestVersion = $sortedVersions[0]

Extracts folder names (version numbers).
Sorts them as version objects (not strings) in descending order.
Picks the latest version (first in the sorted list).

# Output
PS C:\> $sortedVersions
6.5.3
6.5.2
6.5.1
6.5
6.3.7
6.3.6
6.3.5
6.3.4
6.3.3
6.3.2
6.3.1
6.3
6.1.2
...

4. Get the .installer.yaml file for the latest version

$latestApiUrl = "$apiUrl/$latestVersion"
$latestFiles = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $latestApiUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$installerFile = $latestFiles | Where-Object { $_.name -like "*.installer.yaml" }

Looks inside the latest version folder.
Finds the *.installer.yaml file, which contains metadata about the installer (URLs, architecture, etc.).

# Output
PS C:\> $installerFile

name         : WinSCP.WinSCP.installer.yaml
path         : manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP.WinSCP.installer.yaml
sha          : 971056449f04584f754aeff182c0829813393f78
size         : 1777
url          : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP.WinSCP.installer.y
               aml?ref=master
html_url     : https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/blob/master/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP.WinSCP.installer.yaml
git_url      : https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/git/blobs/971056449f04584f754aeff182c0829813393f78
download_url : https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/master/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP.WinSCP.installe
               r.yaml
type         : file
_links       : @{self=https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP.WinSCP.inst
               aller.yaml?ref=master;
               git=https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/git/blobs/971056449f04584f754aeff182c0829813393f78; html=https
               ://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/blob/master/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP.WinSCP.installer.yaml}

5. Extract installer URLs from YAML to find the URL of the latest version

$yamlUrl = $installerFile.download_url
$yamlContent = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $yamlUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$yamlString = $yamlContent -join "`n"
$installerUrls = [regex]::Matches($yamlString, "InstallerUrl:\s+(http[^\s]+)") | ForEach-Object { $_.Groups[1].Value }
$installerUrl = $installerUrls[1]

Downloads the YAML file as raw text.
Extracts all InstallerUrl entries using regular expressions.
Picks the URL using an index number.

# Output
PS C:\> $installerUrl
https://sourceforge.net/projects/winscp/files/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP-6.5.3-Setup.exe/download

6. Download the installer

Invoke-WebRequest -UserAgent "Wget" -Uri $installerUrl -OutFile "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe"

Downloads the installer to the Windows temp folder ($Env:Temp)

7. Install WinSCP silently

Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" -ArgumentList '/SP- /SILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /ALLUSERS' -Wait

Runs the installer in silent mode, no user interaction.

8. Clean up the installer and notify to user

Remove-Item -Path "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Write-Host "WinSCP installation completed."

Deletes the installer after installation to keep the system clean.
Outputs a message to confirm the installation status.

How to install using PowerShell

To install the app, simply open PowerShell as an administrator, copy the code snippets below, paste them into the PowerShell window, and press .

# Define the GitHub API URL for the app manifests in winget-pkgs.
$apiUrl = "https://api.github.com/repos/microsoft/winget-pkgs/contents/manifests/w/WinSCP/WinSCP"

# Fetch version folders then filter only version folders.
$versions = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $apiUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$versionFolders = $versions | Where-Object { $_.type -eq "dir" }

# Extract and sort version numbers to get the latest version.
$sortedVersions = $versionFolders | ForEach-Object { $_.name } | Sort-Object {[version]$_} -Descending -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$latestVersion = $sortedVersions[0]

Write-Host "Latest WinSCP version: $latestVersion"

# Get contents of the latest version folder to find the .installer.yaml file.
$latestApiUrl = "$apiUrl/$latestVersion"
$latestFiles = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $latestApiUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$installerFile = $latestFiles | Where-Object { $_.name -like "*.installer.yaml" }

# Download and parse YAML content to get the Url of the latest installer file.
$yamlUrl = $installerFile.download_url
$yamlContent = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $yamlUrl -Headers @{ "User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)" }
$yamlString = $yamlContent -join "`n"
$installerUrls = [regex]::Matches($yamlString, "InstallerUrl:\s+(http[^\s]+)") | ForEach-Object { $_.Groups[1].Value }
$installerUrl = $installerUrls[1]

Write-Host "Downloading installer from: $installerUrl"

# Download the latest installer to the temp folder.
Invoke-WebRequest -UserAgent "Wget" -Uri $installerUrl -OutFile "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" 

# Start the install process.
Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" -ArgumentList '/SP- /SILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /ALLUSERS' -Wait

# Delete the downloaded installer file.
Remove-Item -Path "$env:TEMP\WinSCP-latest.exe" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Write-Host "WinSCP installation completed."

Installing using a PowerShell script

Alternatively, you can create a PowerShell script using the code snippet above. For instance, I’ve created and save a script at “C:\Scripts\install.ps1″.

Next, open PowerShell (or Terminal) as an administrator and execute the PowerShell script using either the call operator or dot notation.

& "C:\Scripts\install.ps1"

# Output
PS C:\> & "C:\Scripts\install.ps1"
Latest WinSCP version: 6.5.3
Downloading installer from: https://sourceforge.net/projects/winscp/files/WinSCP/6.5.3/WinSCP-6.5.3-Setup.exe/download
WinSCP installation completed.

PowerShell execution policy

In some cases, when trying to run a PowerShell script from the PowerShell console, you received this error message: “File cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system” or “The file is not digitally signed. You cannot run this script on the current system“

Root cause: The Windows PowerShell execution policy is designed to block untrusted scripts from impacting your Windows client environment. These policies act as security settings that define the trust level for scripts executed in PowerShell. On client operating systems, the default execution policy is set to Restricted, which stops Windows PowerShell commands and scripts from running.

To fix the issue, adjust the execution policy by running the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

You’ll encounter a security risk warning. Enter “A” when prompted to continue.

PS C:\> Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Execution Policy Change
The execution policy helps protect you from scripts that you do not trust. Changing the execution policy 
might expose you to the security risks described in the about_Execution_Policies help topic at
https:/go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170. Do you want to change the execution policy?
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "N"): A
PS C:\>
PS C:\> Get-ExecutionPolicy
RemoteSigned

Use Cases

Automated software deployment
Scheduled automatic updates
Silent install for non-technical users
Alternative to winget or manual downloads

How To Install WinSCP Using PowerShell

Table of Contents

Purpose of the Script

Step-by-Step Explanation

1. Define the API URL

2. Get the list of available versions

3. Extract and sort versions

4. Get the .installer.yaml file for the latest version

5. Extract installer URLs from YAML to find the URL of the latest version

6. Download the installer

7. Install WinSCP silently

8. Clean up the installer and notify to user

How to install using PowerShell

Installing using a PowerShell script

PowerShell execution policy

Use Cases

How To Install Lightshot Using PowerShell

How To Install Opera Browser Using PowerShell

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