Set default install location for supported programs

[ageekhere]

The idea is to be able to set the default install location for programs that support custom install locations.
So instead of
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\
If you set the default to
D:\WinGet\Packages\
Then all supported installs will use that.

[Imron Reviady (imronreviady)]

You can actually do most of this already 🙂 There are two slightly different settings depending on what you're trying to move.

The path in your example:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages

is specifically the root for portable packages. You can change that in winget settings with:

{
  "installBehavior": {
    "portablePackageUserRoot": "D:/WinGet/Packages"
  }
}

There's also a more general setting:

{
  "installBehavior": {
    "defaultInstallRoot": "D:/Apps"
  }
}

That one is used when the package manifest has InstallLocationRequired. WinGet appends the package ID to the configured root, and an explicit --location still takes precedence.

So the small catch is that defaultInstallRoot isn't a magic override for every MSI/EXE installer. The package still has to support WinGet controlling its install location.

If your main goal is specifically moving everything currently landing under ...\WinGet\Packages, then portablePackageUserRoot is the setting you're looking for.