Restore winget + Windows Terminal without Microsoft Store and Install Claude Code

I wanted to install Claude Code on a Windows 11 PC. Node.js was needed, and winget seemed like the easiest way to get it — so I ran winget --version. “'winget' is not recognized as an internal or external command.” Opening Microsoft Store returned “You'll need a new app to open this ms-windows-store link”. Runningwsreset.exe produced the same result. The Store simply did not exist on this machine. With winget, Windows Terminal updates, and Claude Code all blocked, I manually installed three dependency packages to restore winget and ultimately get Claude Code running. Here's the full process.

Diagnosing the initial state

Before attempting any fixes, I took stock of the situation. Diving in blind often makes things worse.

Checking Windows activation

Settings → System → Activation confirmed the machine was genuinely activated. This ruled out a licensing issue. The broken Store was a separate problem.

Store status

# Run → wsreset.exe
# Result: "You'll need a new app to open this ms-windows-store link"
# The Store app itself is not present on the system

winget status

# In PowerShell
winget --version
# Result: 'winget' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
#         operable program or batch file.

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller
# Result: (no output) — completely absent

Step 1: Download the three dependency packages

Installing winget (App Installer) requires two prerequisite packages to be in place first. The order matters — installing App Installer before the dependencies will fail.

Download VCLibs

Paste the following URL directly into your browser's address bar to trigger the download immediately.

https://aka.ms/Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx

Download UI.Xaml 2.8

Go to NuGet and search for Microsoft.UI.Xaml. Select version 2.8.x and click “Download package” on the right side. A .nupkg file will download.

https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.UI.Xaml/

Download App Installer

https://aka.ms/getwinget

This downloads an .msixbundle file. The filename will look likeMicrosoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle. Save all three files to your Downloads folder.

Step 2: Handling .nupkg files

A .nupkg file is a ZIP archive. Renaming the extension to .zip allows you to extract it normally.

Step 3: Install packages via PowerShell

Open PowerShell as Administrator. Right-click the Start button → select “Windows PowerShell (Admin)” or “Terminal (Admin)”.

cd $env:USERPROFILEDownloads

# 1. UI.Xaml first
Add-AppxPackage .Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.appx

# 2. VCLibs
Add-AppxPackage .Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx

# 3. App Installer (winget)
Add-AppxPackage .Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

Expected results

Verify the installation

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller

# Sample output:
# Name              : Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller
# Publisher         : CN=Microsoft Corporation, ...
# Architecture      : X64
# ResourceId        :
# Version           : 1.27.470.0
# ...

If a version number appears in the output, App Installer is installed. But there's one more hurdle.

Step 4: Fix the winget PATH issue

Even after App Installer is installed, winget --version may still fail. The package is installed but has not been registered in the system PATH yet.

winget --version
# Still: 'winget' is not recognized as an internal or external command.

Run winget via its direct path

Locate and run the winget executable directly. It lives inside C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\.

# Adjust the version number to match your installation
$wg = "C:Program FilesWindowsAppsMicrosoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.27.470.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwewinget.exe"
& $wg --version
# Output: v1.12.470

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller | Select-Object Version, InstallLocation

Reboot to register PATH

Rebooting the PC usually resolves the PATH issue automatically. After rebooting, open a new PowerShell window and try winget --version again. If it still fails, continue using the direct path approach via the $wg variable.

Step 5: Install Windows Terminal + PowerShell

Once winget is working, the rest is straightforward. Install the latest Windows Terminal and PowerShell 7.

# When winget is on PATH
winget install --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal -e
winget install --id Microsoft.PowerShell -e

# When PATH isn't set yet (use the $wg variable)
& $wg install --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal -e
& $wg install --id Microsoft.PowerShell -e

Once installation is complete, running a full upgrade sweep is a good idea.

winget upgrade --all

The newly installed Windows Terminal supports tabs, pane splitting, and GPU-accelerated rendering. With that in place, move on to installing Claude Code.

Installing Claude Code

Claude Code is an npm package. Start by installing Node.js.

Install Node.js

winget install --id OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS -e

After installation, close and reopen the PowerShell window for PATH changes to take effect.

node --version
# v22.x.x or v24.x.x

npm --version
# 10.x.x

Install Claude Code

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Verify
claude --version

First launch

# Navigate to your project folder
cd C:UsersAdministratorProjectsmy-project

# Start Claude Code
claude

On the first run, you'll be prompted to log in to your Anthropic account. A browser window opens, and once authentication completes, you're ready to use Claude Code directly in the terminal.

Lessons learned

Here are the sticking points I hit along the way, summarized as reference cards.

Full procedure summary

Wrap-up

Restoring winget without the Store is not well documented. Microsoft's official GitHub does cover the procedure, but the .nupkg extraction step and the PATH issue are things you only learn by running into them.

The core is simple: App Installer requires three files installed in the correct order.The VCLibs error can be ignored, and if winget isn't on the PATH, run it via its direct path. A reboot fixes most of it.

If you're curious about the workflow after Claude Code is installed, check out the real-world development workflow using just one terminal. For running Claude Code on a remote SSH server without interruptions, see the tmux session management guide.