WinForge

Automated Windows workstation provisioning & inventory tool One-click setup, driver management and software deployment for Windows endpoints.

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⚠️ Important — before you run it If WinForge fails to launch (or the App Installer / winget step errors out immediately), run Windows Update first and install all pending updates, then reboot. WinForge depends on a recent App Installer (winget) and an up-to-date .NET stack, which a long-unpatched Windows installation may be missing.

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Why this exists

Every time you set up a new Windows PC for a colleague — or reinstall one after a wipe — you run the same 30-minute ritual. Hunt down the manufacturer's driver utility. Accept five EULAs. Install Chrome, install 7-Zip, install Acrobat. Set the default browser. Copy the serial number into a ticket. Find the public IP for the firewall guy. Repeat next week on a different PC.

WinForge folds that ritual into a single PowerShell GUI. Plug the PC in, click through four tabs, and a workstation that used to take 2–3 hours of attended work is ready in roughly 15 minutes of mostly-unattended runtime.

It's vendor-aware (Dell, HP and Lenovo each get a different driver flow), idempotent (it won't reinstall what's already there), and resilient (every download has a browser fallback, every installer call has retry logic for "installer busy" errors). The whole thing is a single .ps1 file with no external dependencies — drop it on the desktop, double-click the .bat launcher, done.

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Screenshots

Device tab — hardware inventory with one-click clipboard copy	Updates tab — Windows Update and vendor-aware driver flow
Applications tab — corporate baseline catalogue	Common Apps tab — extra software for end-user customisation

The UI labels are currently in Italian. English localization is on the roadmap.

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What it does

Tab 1 — Device

Full hardware and network inventory, displayed in a DataGridView with per-row clipboard buttons (Segoe MDL2 icons that animate to a green check for 1.2 s on click).

Captured fields:

• Manufacturer, model, normalized vendor (Dell / HP / Lenovo / Generic)
• OS, CPU, RAM, total and free disk space
• BIOS serial number
• Hostname
• Private IP (loopback and well-known addresses filtered out)
• Public IP with fallback across 3 services (ipify, ifconfig.me, AWS checkip) and regex validation

A direct button to sysdm.cpl for domain / workgroup management.

Tab 2 — Updates

• Windows Update: shortcut to ms-settings:windowsupdate
• Vendor-aware driver flow:
  • 🟦 Dell → three dedicated buttons:
    • .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0 (Dell Command Update prerequisite): registry-based detection, silent install from Microsoft's official CDN if missing
    • Dell Command Update: opens the official Dell driver page with on-screen instructions
    • Dell SupportAssist: direct download from downloads.dell.com with MZ header validation, browser fallback on failure
  • 🟥 HP → installs HP Support Assistant via winget
  • 🟩 Lenovo → installs Lenovo System Update via winget + silent execution of /CM -search A -action INSTALL
  • ⚪ Generic → notifies the user that no managed driver channel exists for this hardware

Tab 3 — Applications

Corporate baseline catalogue with pre-checked items:

Default ON
Chrome, Firefox, 7-Zip, VLC, Acrobat Reader, Notepad++, TeamViewer, Visual C++ 2015+ Runtime, OpenVPN, Microsoft 365

Already-installed detection: cross-references winget list output (written to a temp file, polled with DoEvents so the UI stays responsive) with typical install paths. Apps already present are disabled and tagged [gia installata].

Installation: progress bar, colored status label (gold = working, lime green = OK, red = error), detailed log.

Special cases:

• TeamViewer → direct download from the official CDN + silent install (/S), browser fallback on error
• Microsoft 365 → curl.exe download from go.microsoft.com/fwlink, MZ header validation, browser fallback

Retry logic: when winget exits with code 1618 (ERROR_INSTALL_ALREADY_RUNNING), WinForge waits 20 seconds and retries up to 3 times.

Tab 4 — Common Apps

Less frequent software that's still handy to have one click away:

Via winget	Direct download
Malwarebytes, Thunderbird, GIMP, Apple Devices App	Transwiz (Windows), Transwiz (XP), Dike GoSign

Same detection + retry pattern as Tab 3.

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Requirements

• Windows 10 (1809+) or Windows 11
• PowerShell 5.1+ (preinstalled on Windows)
• Administrator privileges (UAC auto-elevation is built in)
• App Installer (winget) — already present on Windows 11. WinForge resolves the real path to winget.exe under Program Files\WindowsApps because the generic alias can fail with redirected stdout under elevated context
• Internet connection (for winget and vendor driver downloads)

No external dependencies, no extra PowerShell modules to install.

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Installation and usage

Option A — Run directly

# From PowerShell — UAC elevation will be requested automatically
.\WinForge.ps1

Option B — Double-click

Double-click WinForge.bat. It's a small launcher that calls PowerShell with -ExecutionPolicy Bypass on the adjacent .ps1 file.

Option C — Recommended IT technician workflow

1. Run WinForge.bat on a freshly imaged PC
2. Device tab → copy the serial number and IPs into the ticket / CMDB
3. Updates tab → on Dell, run the three buttons in order; on HP/Lenovo, one click is enough
4. Applications tab → "Check installed", then "Install selected"
5. Common Apps tab → optional, based on end-user needs
6. Final reboot → workstation ready for handoff

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Architecture

WinForge is a single-file PowerShell script (~1080 lines) organised into logical sections:

WinForge.ps1
├── UAC auto-elevation
├── Get-WingetPath           → resolves the real path of winget.exe via Get-AppxPackage
├── File logging             → Desktop\WinForge_install_log.txt
├── Hardware detection       → CIM/WMI
├── Connectivity check       → retry loop with retry/cancel dialog
├── winget sources update    → 30 s timeout, non-blocking
├── Windows Forms UI (dark theme, multi-tab)
│   ├── Tab Device           → DataGridView with animated clipboard buttons
│   ├── Tab Updates          → vendor-specific logic (3 buttons for Dell)
│   ├── Tab Applications     → winget + custom handlers + shortcuts + 1618 retry
│   └── Tab Common Apps      → winget + direct downloads for custom software
└── Self-cleanup on exit

Notable technical choices

• Get-WingetPath: resolves the real path of winget.exe under Program Files\WindowsApps via Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller. The generic alias can fail when stdout is redirected in an elevated context — this avoids a class of subtle "winget not found" errors
• DoEvents polling instead of Start-Job: the UI stays responsive during long winget calls without the marshalling complications of cross-runspace job communication
• Exit code 1618 retry logic (ERROR_INSTALL_ALREADY_RUNNING): when the Windows Installer service is busy with another package, WinForge waits 20 s and retries up to 3 times — handles the "installer busy" race condition that affects any batch installer
• MZ header validation on binaries downloaded via curl.exe: if the first two bytes aren't 4D 5A, the file isn't a valid PE executable → falls back to opening the vendor's download page in the browser
• TLS 1.2 forced on every WebClient call for compatibility with modern endpoints
• DataGridView with animated clipboard cells: the copy icon (Segoe MDL2 0xE8C8) switches to a green check (0xE73E) for 1.2 s after a click, via a one-shot System.Windows.Forms.Timer
• "Single-page with view router" pattern: a hidden TabControl (header height set to 1 px) is driven by side-menu buttons that set SelectedIndex. The result feels like a real dashboard while staying within plain Windows Forms
• Partial idempotency: detected installs are disabled and tagged [gia installata] to prevent redundant work, even across reruns within the same session
• Self-cleanup: a detached cmd process with timeout 2 removes C:\WinForge\ after exit — a PowerShell script can't delete itself while it's running, so a separate process is the only reliable way

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Log

Every operation is timestamped and written to:

%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\WinForge_install_log.txt

Example:

2026-05-23 14:22:01 === Installer started ===
2026-05-23 14:22:08 winget updated
2026-05-23 14:24:15 Runtime install started
2026-05-23 14:25:02 .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0 installed
2026-05-23 14:26:48 Dell Command Update download page opened in browser
2026-05-23 14:28:11 Installing: Google.Chrome
2026-05-23 14:28:34 winget Google.Chrome exit=0
2026-05-23 14:29:30 Shortcut created: Google Chrome
2026-05-23 14:31:12 Exit 1618 on Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64, retry 1
2026-05-23 14:31:55 winget Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64 exit=0

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Troubleshooting

WinForge fails to launch, or closes immediately

This is almost always a Windows-Update issue. WinForge relies on winget (App Installer) and a working .NET runtime stack — on a long-unpatched Windows installation, one or both can be missing or broken.

Fix:

1. Open Settings → Windows Update
2. Click Check for updates and install everything pending (including optional and driver updates)
3. Reboot the PC
4. Re-launch WinForge.bat

If the issue persists after a fully patched Windows:

• Open the Microsoft Store, search for App Installer, and click Update
• Verify winget --version from a regular PowerShell window returns a version
• Check the log at Desktop\WinForge_install_log.txt for the last entry before the crash

"winget.exe not found" error dialog at startup

The App Installer package isn't installed. Install it from the Microsoft Store (direct link) or via PowerShell:

Add-AppxPackage -RegisterByFamilyName -MainPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe

SmartScreen warning on first run

WinForge is not code-signed yet. On first launch, Windows SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway. This is on the roadmap.

Some apps stay unchecked after "Check installed"

The detection cross-references winget list output with hardcoded install paths. If you installed an app to a non-standard location, the path check fails. You can still tick the box manually — winget itself is idempotent and will recognise the existing install.

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Roadmap

• Extract the app catalogue into an external JSON file
• POST log to a central reporting endpoint
• English localization of the UI (currently Italian only)
• Code signing to avoid SmartScreen warnings
• OEM bloatware removal module
• Preset profiles (Office worker / Developer / Kiosk)

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License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

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Author

Lorenzo Boschi Built as an operational tool for provisioning Windows workstations in SOHO and SMB environments.

Pull requests and issue reports are welcome.