How to list all app/software/programs installed on Windows 11 using a Python script

Question

I develop a Python script to list all installed apps in my Windows 11 system. I would like to replicate the same results displayed in Settings > App > Installed Apps. Optionally, I would like to list apps installed not only for my user but in the entire system. Surfing the web, I found these four commands:

cmd1 = "Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
cmd2 = "Get-AppxPackage | Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
path = f"HKLM:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\*"
cmd3 = f"Get-ItemProperty -Path {path} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
path = f"HKLM:\\Software\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\*"
cmd4 = f"Get-ItemProperty -Path {path} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"

I develop a simple code to run these four commands sequentially:

def list_installed_apps(cmd: str): 
 # Run the PowerShell command and capture output
 result = subprocess.run(["powershell", "-Command", cmd], capture_output=True, text=True) 
 # Split the result into lines and filter out unwanted lines
 installed_apps = result.stdout.splitlines() 
 return installed_apps
##############################
# CMD 1 
##############################
cmd = "Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_1 = list_installed_apps(cmd)
# Find the index of the header line and column label boundaries
header_index = [i for i, app in enumerate(apps_1) if app.find("Version") != -1][0]
header = apps_1[header_index]
bound_1 = header.find("Version")
bound_2 = header.find("Architecture")
# Remove the header and any empty lines
apps_1 = [app.strip() for app in apps_1 if app.strip() and "Name" not in app]
apps_1 = apps_1[1:] #removes the line of -------
apps_1_ordered = [
 {"name": app[:bound_1], "version": app[bound_1:bound_2], "architecture": app[bound_2:]}
 for app in apps_1
]
##############################
# CMD 2
##############################
cmd = "Get-AppxPackage | Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_2 = list_installed_apps(cmd)
# Find the index of the header line and column label boundaries
header_index = [i for i, app in enumerate(apps_2) if app.find("Version") != -1][0]
header = apps_2[header_index]
bound_1 = header.find("Version")
bound_2 = header.find("Architecture")
# Remove the header and any empty lines
apps_2 = [app.strip() for app in apps_2 if app.strip() and "Name" not in app]
apps_2 = apps_2[1:] #removes the line of -------
apps_2_ordered = [
 {"name": app[:bound_1], "version": app[bound_1:bound_2], "architecture": app[bound_2:]}
 for app in apps_2
]
##############################
# CMD 3
##############################
path = f"HKLM:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\*"
cmd = f"Get-ItemProperty -Path {path} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_3 = list_installed_apps(cmd)
# Find the index of the header line and column label boundaries
header_index = [i for i, app in enumerate(apps_3) if app.find("DisplayVersion") != -1][0]
header = apps_3[header_index]
bound_1 = header.find("DisplayVersion")
bound_2 = header.find("Architecture")
# Remove the header and any empty lines
apps_3 = [app.strip() for app in apps_3 if app.strip() and "DisplayName" not in app]
apps_3 = apps_3[1:] #removes the line of -------
apps_3_ordered = [
 {"name": app[:bound_1], "version": app[bound_1:bound_2], "architecture": app[bound_2:]}
 for app in apps_3
]
##############################
# CMD 4
##############################
path = f"HKLM:\\Software\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\*"
cmd = f"Get-ItemProperty -Path {path} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_4 = list_installed_apps(cmd)
# Find the index of the header line and column label boundaries
header = apps_4[1]
bound_1 = header.find("DisplayVersion")
bound_2 = header.find("Architecture")
# Remove the header and any empty lines
apps_4 = [app.strip() for app in apps_4 if app.strip() and "DisplayName" not in app]
apps_4 = apps_4[1:] #removes the line of -------
apps_4_ordered = [
 {"name": app[:bound_1], "version": app[bound_1:bound_2], "architecture": app[bound_2:]}
 for app in apps_4
]
##############################
# SUM RESULTS OF ALL COMMANDS AND SAVE
##############################
all_apps = apps_1_ordered + apps_2_ordered + apps_3_ordered + apps_4_ordered
fileName = "" # SET YOUR NAME
with open(fileName, "w") as f:
 for app in all_apps:
 f.write(f"{app['name']} --- {app['version']} --- {app['architecture']}\n")

Unfortunately, this file content doesn't completely match the apps sorted in the settings. How can I obtain that list?

• Mippy: Have you tested what those commands actually output?
• eljamba: I compare the output of all of them with what I would like to achieve (the list in Settings). Each command returns a partial list, so I decide to sum all outputs. The list obtained is still incomplete. "Microsoft Visual Studio Code" and "Miniconda" do not appear in the file, just to make an example.
• buran: Check List of installed programs
• JonSG: In addition to @buran's recommendation you might check out calling win32 MsiEnumProductsEx() learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/msi/…

Answer 1

Thanks to @buran answer/link, I post here my entire code:

import subprocess, winreg
import pandas as pd
def remove_duplicates(data: list):
 # Create a set to store unique combinations of (name, version, architecture)
 seen = set()
 # Create a new list for unique elements
 unique_data = []
 # Iterate through the list of dictionaries
 for item in data:
 name = item["name"].strip()
 version = item["version"].strip()
 architecture = item["architecture"].strip()
 
 # Create a tuple of the values for name, version, and architecture
 identifier = (name, version, architecture)
 
 # If this combination hasn't been seen before, add it to the result list and mark it as seen
 if identifier not in seen:
 seen.add(identifier)
 unique_data.append({"name": name, "version": version, "architecture": architecture})
 return unique_data
def list_installed_apps(cmd: str): 
 # Run the PowerShell command and capture output
 result = subprocess.run(["powershell", "-Command", cmd], capture_output=True, text=True)
 
 # Split the result into lines and filter out unwanted lines
 all_apps = result.stdout.splitlines()
 
 # Find the index of the header line and column label boundaries
 header_index = [i for i, app in enumerate(all_apps) if app.find("Version") != -1][0]
 header = all_apps[header_index]
 bound_1 = header.find("Version")
 bound_2 = header.find("Architecture")
 #bound_3 = header.find("Publisher")
 # Remove the header and any empty lines
 all_apps = [app.strip() for app in all_apps if app.strip() and "Name" not in app]
 all_apps = all_apps[1:] #removes the line of -------
 all_apps_ordered = [
 {
 "name": app[:bound_1], 
 "version": app[bound_1:bound_2], 
 "architecture": app[bound_2:], 
 #"architecture": app[bound_2:bound_3], 
 #"publisher": app[bound_3:]
 }
 for app in all_apps
 ]
 
 return all_apps_ordered
def list_installed_apps_from_registry(cmd: str): 
 # Run the PowerShell command and capture output
 result = subprocess.run(["powershell", "-Command", cmd], capture_output=True, text=True)
 
 # Split the result into lines and filter out unwanted lines
 all_apps = result.stdout.splitlines()
 
 # Find the index of the header line and column label boundaries
 header_index = [i for i, app in enumerate(all_apps) if app.find("DisplayVersion") != -1][0]
 header = all_apps[header_index]
 bound_1 = header.find("DisplayVersion")
 bound_2 = header.find("Architecture")
 #bound_3 = header.find("Publisher")
 # Remove the header and any empty lines
 all_apps = [app.strip() for app in all_apps if app.strip() and "DisplayName" not in app]
 all_apps = all_apps[1:] #removes the line of -------
 all_apps_ordered = [
 {
 "name": app[:bound_1], 
 "version": app[bound_1:bound_2], 
 "architecture": app[bound_2:], 
 #"architecture": app[bound_2:bound_3], 
 #"publisher": app[bound_3:]
 }
 for app in all_apps
 ]
 
 return all_apps_ordered
def query_registry(hive, flag):
 """
 Queries the registry for a list of installed software.
 Args:
 hive: a winreg constant specifying the registry hive to query.
 flag: a winreg constant specifying the access mode.
 Returns:
 A list of dictionaries, each containing the name, version, publisher, and
 architecture of a piece of software installed on the machine.
 """
 aReg = winreg.ConnectRegistry(None, hive)
 aKey = winreg.OpenKey(key=aReg, sub_key=r"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall",
 reserved=0, access=winreg.KEY_READ | flag)
 count_subkey = winreg.QueryInfoKey(aKey)[0]
 software_list = []
 for i in range(count_subkey):
 software = {}
 try:
 asubkey_name = winreg.EnumKey(aKey, i)
 asubkey = winreg.OpenKey(key=aKey, sub_key=asubkey_name)
 software['name'] = winreg.QueryValueEx(asubkey, "DisplayName")[0]
 try:
 software['version'] = winreg.QueryValueEx(asubkey, "DisplayVersion")[0]
 except EnvironmentError:
 software['version'] = ""
 # try:
 # software['publisher'] = winreg.QueryValueEx(asubkey, "Publisher")[0]
 # except EnvironmentError:
 # software['publisher'] = ""
 try:
 software['architecture'] = winreg.QueryValueEx(asubkey, "Architecture")[0]
 except EnvironmentError:
 software['architecture'] = ""
 software_list.append(software)
 except EnvironmentError:
 continue
 return software_list
##############################
# CMD 1 
##############################
cmd = "Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_1 = list_installed_apps(cmd)
##############################
# CMD 2
##############################
cmd = "Get-AppxPackage | Select-Object Name, Version, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_2 = list_installed_apps(cmd)
##############################
# CMD 3
##############################
path = f"HKLM:\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\*"
cmd = f"Get-ItemProperty -Path {path} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_3 = list_installed_apps_from_registry(cmd)
##############################
# CMD 4
##############################
path = f"HKLM:\\Software\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\*"
cmd = f"Get-ItemProperty -Path {path} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Architecture | Sort-Object Name"
apps_4 = list_installed_apps_from_registry(cmd)
##############################
# CMD5, CM6, CM7
##############################
apps_5 = query_registry(winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, winreg.KEY_WOW64_32KEY)
apps_6 = query_registry(winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, winreg.KEY_WOW64_64KEY)
apps_7 = query_registry(winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, 0)
##############################
# SUM RESULTS OF ALL COMMANDS
##############################
all_apps = apps_1 + apps_2 + apps_3 + apps_4 + apps_5 + apps_6 + apps_7
##############################################
# ELIMINATE DUPLICATES AND SORT BY NAME KEY
##############################################
# Output the unique list
all_apps_no_duplicates = remove_duplicates(all_apps)
all_apps_no_duplicates_sorted = sorted(all_apps_no_duplicates, key=lambda x: x["name"])