Updating apps used to be a hassle in Windows because you needed to open each app manually, check for any available updates, and then click a button if one was available. This manual process takes too long and can even cause you to ignore or postpone important updates. However, did you know that you can configure Windows to automatically update all your installed apps on schedule?
In case you don’t know, Windows 11 includes a built-in package manager called winget that only lets you install, update, and remove applications with a single-line command. We can use the task scheduler to run the winget upgrade command on schedule to auto-update installed apps in Windows 11.
The entire process is pretty straightforward. This tutorial shows you how to do it in simple steps. Let’s get started.
Before You Begin
- You need administrator rights to follow the below steps.
- If you are using Windows 10, you can follow the same steps after installing winget on your computer.
Auto Update Apps in Windows 11
- Open the Notepad app.
- Paste the following command in it.
winget upgrade --all --include-unknown
- Press “Ctrl + Shift + S” to open the “Save as” dialog.
- Go to the folder where you want to save the file.
- Enter “WingetAppUpgrade.ps1” in the “File Name” field.
- Select “All Files” from the “File Type” dropdown menu.
- Click “Save“.
- Close the Notepad window.
- Press the Start button.
- Search and open “Task Scheduler“.
- Click the “Create Basic Task” option.
- Enter “Winget Auto App Update” in the “Name” field and click “Next“.
- Select the task frequency and click “Next“.
- Set the recurring frequency and click “Next“.
- Select “Start a program” and click “Next“.
- Enter “powershell.exe” in the “Program/script” field.
- Enter the following command in the “Add Arguments” field while replacing the dummy path with the path to the PowerShell script file you saved earlier.
-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Path\To\WingetAppUpgrade.ps1"
- Click “Next“.
- Select the “Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish” checkbox and click “Finish“.
- Under the “General” tab, select the “Run with highest privileges” checkbox and click “OK“.
- With that, the scheduled task is created.
- From now on, Windows automatically updates all your apps on schedule.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
First, we need to create the script required to auto-update apps. To do that, open the “Notepad” application by searching for it in the Start menu.

In the Notepad window, paste the following command:
# Winget Upgrade Script
winget upgrade --all --include-unknown

Next, press the “Ctrl + Shift + S” shortcut to open the “Save As” dialog. In it, go to the folder where you want to save the file, enter “WingetAppUpgrade.ps1” in the “File Name” field, select “All Files” from the “File Type” dropdown menu, and click the “Save” button. This action saves the script file to the chosen folder.

Once the script is saved, we can proceed to create a scheduled task that executes the script on schedule so that winget can auto-update apps. To do that, press the Start button, search for “Task Scheduler” and click “Open“.

In the “Task Scheduler” window, click the “Create Basic Task” option on the right sidebar.

Enter “Winget Auto App Update” in the “Name” field and click “Next“. If you want, you can enter a meaningful note in the “Description” that can help you understand what the task does in the future.

Here, select the frequency at which the task runs. For example, I want to auto-update my apps weekly. So, I selected the “Weekly” option.

Now, select the recurring frequency and click “Next“. For example, I want the task to run on Monday once every week. So, I entered “1” in the “Recur every” field and selected the “Monday” checkbox.

Select the “Start a program” option and click the “Next” button.

Type “powershell.exe” in the “Program/script” field and enter the following command in the “Add Arguments” field. Click “Next” to continue. Don’t forget to replace the dummy path with the actual path to the script we created earlier.
Note: You can copy the file path by right-clicking on the file and selecting the “Copy as path” option.
-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Path\To\WingetAppUpgrade.ps1"

In this window, select the “Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish” checkbox and click “Finish“.

In the Properties window, go to the “General” tab, select the “Run with highest privileges” checkbox, and click the “OK” button.

That is it. With that, you are done creating the scheduled task. From now on, Windows will automatically run the command to auto-update apps on your computer.

Wrapping Up — Automatically Updating Apps in Windows 11
As you can see, while you have to use both Task Scheduler and winget package manager to auto-update apps in Windows 11, it gives the flexibility to set up the auto-update time and frequency as you need. You are not limited to some predetermined time or event.
One thing to keep in mind with this method is that there is a chance that some of your apps might not update automatically. This happens when the app is not available in the winget repository.
The good thing is, a vast majority of applications are available via the winget repository. For applications that are not available, you can update them manually. So, there are no worries for the most part.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.