The following instructions in this information & reference article works in Windows PowerShell or Windows Terminal. Depending on whichever you have available when you right-click the Start Menu. (When launching, open the version that is listed with (Admin).
Why Use Windows PowerShell For This?
There is of course the more obvious route of using the graphical interface on Windows and viewing this list within Control Panel. However, Control Panel may not be available if you are experiencing certain problems with the computer. This method works when Windows is unable to open properly.
Also, in the past, corrupt programs don’t always show themselves within the Control Panel / Add Remove Programs window.
Reasons For Requesting A View Of All Installed Programs
Maybe you attempted to uninstall a program but the setup wizard failed half-way. You might want to check if it was uninstalled. Or maybe you are worried that an unwanted application has installed itself on your system.
This is also a great method of running an audit on your computer to optimize the system’s speed and performance. You will likely discover some old software that you had forgotten all about. Or printer software that is still installed from a printer that you binned 3 years ago!
List All Programs (By Date) Using PowerShell
We are going to use the “Get-ItemProperty” cmdlet in Windows PowerShell which is used to retrieve the properties of a specific item or items.
It’s worth noting that the “Get-ItemProperty” command line will not be recognized in Command Prompt. This must be used within PowerShell or Terminal consoles.
Run Both Versions 32 & 64
There are two checks to do. This has to be run within the 64bit program environment and it’s also worth running the 32bit version as well. (Even although your computer runs on 64, there is a 32 environment which some applications use).
Paste the embedded code below into Windows PowerShell.
The 64 Version
Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, InstallDate | Sort-Object InstallDate
The 32 Version
Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, InstallDate | Sort-Object InstallDate
The results will list sorted by date.
How To Launch Windows Terminal as an administrator from the Command Prompt
This command may be useful if the operating system fails to load properly, but you are able to open Command Prompt.
From Command Prompt, the following command line will launch Windows Terminal (Admin).
start cmd /k wt
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