Get a list of installed programs in Windows

I’m in the middle of a transition from a pc to another, and I’d like to reinstall all the software I (probably) need.

I recently discovered that there is a way to get such a list without the need of third party software, using WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line). Here’s how.

• open a command prompt with administrative rights (“cmd” and Control+Shift+Enter)
• type wmic and press enter
• then type this command: /output:C:\swlist.txt product get name,version,installdate,description

This way you’ll obtain the complete list of what has been installed on your Windows environment… but do not forget that sometimes you use software that does not installs but instead runs directly – so probably this list will not be complete.

To get more insights on WMIC you can browse the command-line help with /? – or read articles like this one.