Specification: Parallel Installation#6295
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Specification for parallel package installation across multi-package operations (upgrade --all, import, configure). MSIX concurrent, MSI serialized, download-ahead scheduling with retry logic. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Trenly
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Jun 17, 2026
| - **Distributed installation** — For fleet management, schedule package downloads during off-peak hours and install during maintenance windows | ||
| - **Resume on reboot** — If a reboot interrupts a batch, resume remaining packages after restart | ||
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| ## Resources |
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This should also consider
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| > [!IMPORTANT] | ||
| > Downloads and MSIX installations can overlap — an MSIX install can begin as soon as its download completes, even while other downloads are still in progress. The serialized queue also starts as soon as its first package finishes downloading. The phases are logical, not strictly sequential. |
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Is this limited just to MSIX install overlap? Couldn't downloads overlap with any install?
| - Architecture: x64 | ||
| InstallerType: exe | ||
| InstallerUrl: https://example.com/app-setup.exe | ||
| SafeForParallel: true # Declares this installer is safe for concurrent execution |
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How is this validated on package submission? Just because a user declares it does not mean it is true - especially in the case where two EXEs could be trying to write to the same resources if they are not MSI-backed
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| | Setting | Default | Min | Max | Description | | ||
| |---------|---------|-----|-----|-------------| | ||
| | `maxConcurrentDownloads` | 5 | 1 | 20 | Parallel downloads | |
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Any setting for no limit? 0?
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| ### Schema Version | ||
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| Requires manifest schema version 1.29.0 for the `SafeForParallel` field. Parallel installation itself does not require schema changes — it works with existing manifests using installer type classification. |
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Remove version specfic information
| ### Validation Pipeline Impact | ||
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| - `SafeForParallel` is a new optional boolean field on installer entries | ||
| - Validation: if `InstallerType` is `msi` or `burn` and `SafeForParallel: true`, reject as invalid (these types are inherently unsafe for parallel execution) |
| ### Validation Pipeline Impact | ||
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| - `SafeForParallel` is a new optional boolean field on installer entries | ||
| - Validation: if `InstallerType` is `msi` or `burn` and `SafeForParallel: true`, reject as invalid (these types are inherently unsafe for parallel execution) |
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Needs to consider the effective installer type, not declared installer type to appropriately handle packages in Zip files
| - Progress display uses text status markers (✓ ● ○ ✗) alongside descriptions for screen readers | ||
| - Non-VT fallback ensures full accessibility without virtual terminal sequences | ||
| - JSON output mode (`--output json`) provides machine-readable progress events | ||
| - Summary line always includes text count (not just visual indicators) |
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Need to ensure redirected output is captured properly with no contamination
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| ## Abstract | ||
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| Enable parallel package installation in WinGet when multiple packages are being installed or upgraded simultaneously. This applies to `winget install` with multiple packages, `winget upgrade --all`, `winget import`, and `winget configure` flows. Packages are classified by installer type safety: MSIX packages can be installed concurrently (up to a configurable limit), while MSI/EXE packages that rely on the Windows Installer mutex are serialized. A dependency-aware scheduler maximizes throughput while respecting installer constraints. |
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Does this also affect winget download with multiple packages being able to be downloaded in parallel?
Win32 installers (including Inno, NSIS, portable) offer no platform-level parallel guarantees. Only MSIX has concurrent deployment support from the platform. All non-MSIX installers now use the serialized queue. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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📖 Description
Specification for parallel package installation in multi-package operations. When more than one package is being installed or upgraded — including
winget upgrade --all,winget import, andwinget configureflows — packages are scheduled across parallel and serialized execution lanes based on installer type safety:_MSIExecutemutex)Includes download-ahead scheduling, retry on mutex contention, dependency-aware ordering, and
SafeForParallelmanifest field for opt-in EXE parallelism.Authored with GitHub Copilot assistance.
🔗 References
Related Issues:
🔍 Validation
Spec document — no code changes to validate.
✅ Checklist
📋 Issue Type
Microsoft Reviewers: Open in CodeFlow