Ninite Is the Best Way to Bulk Install Windows Programs on A New PC

Are you tired of having to navigate to a dozen different download pages after purchasing a new computer, just to install the software you want to use? If so, Ninite is the answer to your problems.

What is Ninite?

If you’ve never heard of Ninite, it’s basically a website that generates a custom installer to allow you to batch install specific programs.

Ninite offers a fairly extensive list of programs and utilities to include in your installer. From Chrome to Zoom, Discord, Java, LibreOffice, Visual Studio Code and even Steam and Epic Games Launcher.

One of Ninite’s best features is that you only have one elevated prompt to approve to install dozens of programs at once. This, along with just one website to visit and just one download to save, are my favorite parts of Ninite.

Credit: Ninite

Operating system

Windows

Brand

Ninite

Price

Free

Ninite is an easy-to-use website that lets you bulk download applications for Windows using a single custom installer. Ninite always extracts the latest version of each software, so you can reuse a Ninite installer multiple times and never have to worry about outdated programs. Plus, it’s completely free.

How does Ninite work?

To use Ninite, visit the Ninite website and check the box next to each program you want to install. Ninite has bots that ensure installers are always up to date automatically, so you don’t have to worry about using outdated software.

Ninite offers over 125 software programs for you to choose from. Categories range from web browsers, developer tools, games, online storage (like Dropbox and Google Drive), Java, multimedia applications and much more. I usually find almost any software I want to install on a new computer available on Ninite, leaving me with only a handful of programs to install manually.

After selecting all the software you want to install, click the blue “Get Your Ninite” button at the bottom of the page. This will download your custom installer. Then simply run the installer, grant it elevated permissions and your software will install automatically.

How to Streamline PC Deployments with Ninite

A big part of Ninite is that the installer you create will always work and will always extract the latest versions of the software you selected. This means you can generate an installer with your must-have programs for a new system and simply keep that installer file.

It’s a small file and never becomes obsolete. In fact, that’s exactly what we did at the computer repair job I worked at.

At the store we would have a few different Ninite installers on our USB drives. One of them would be virus removal. This installer would easily install the virus scanning and removal tools we used in the store, without having to juggle multiple installation files or deal with outdated software.

We also had a new PC installer file that lived on all of our Windows installer USB drives. This installer would install programs like Chrome, TeamViewer (for remote assistance), and some other software on the computer.

It was nice to be able to just install Windows and then run the Ninite installer to get Chrome up and running, instead of having to launch Edge, download Chrome, and then install.

At home, I use Ninite to speed up new PC deployments. I’m constantly reviewing hardware or simply rebuilding an existing system with a fresh install of Windows. So when I do this, I use Ninite to install programs like 7Zip, Chrome, Discord, iTunes, VLC, Audacity, FileZilla, WinDirStat, Google Drive, Visual Studio Code, Steam, IrfanView and much more in just a few short clicks.

I hope Ninite adds more programs over time. The list has grown significantly over the years, but it would be great to automatically install software like Adobe Creative Cloud, the EA Windows app, Slack, Asana, Telegram, Canva, and even programs like Plex or ChatGPT.

One thing I really wish Ninite would do is give me the option to provide my own install links (like the download link to Plex or Slack) and download it automatically for me. Although Ninite wouldn’t necessarily be able to guarantee that the software is always the latest version, creating my own complete installer containing all the programs I want on a new computer would be extremely convenient, even if I had to update a few applications after the fact.

Overall, Ninite is one of those programs that I don’t even remember how I found, but I’m so glad I did. Ninite makes new PC deployments much simpler and I couldn’t imagine not using it at this point.