Microsoft’s web Store now lets you pick several apps and create a single installer that launches the Store app to download and install them all in one go. It’s a simple, Ninite‑style convenience feature aimed at saving time when setting up a new PC or reprovisioning a machine.
Multi‑app install is a convenience feature that bundles a selection of apps into one downloadable package so you can install them all with a single action. Instead of visiting dozens of individual app pages and clicking Install for each one, you check the apps you want, produce a single installer, run it, and let the system perform the rest. In Microsoft’s implementation on the web Store, that bundle doesn’t contain the apps themselves; it acts as a handoff that tells the Microsoft Store app which titles to download and install. The result is less clicking and fewer repetitive steps, which is especially useful when you’re setting up a new machine, reprovisioning a device, or simply trying to keep several PCs in parity.
On the web, the experience is deliberately visual and straightforward: you navigate to the multi‑app install page, browse curated categories such as Productivity or Tools, and check boxes next to the apps you want. As you select apps, they appear in a selected‑apps column for review, and when you’re ready you click the single Install button. The site then downloads a small executable that you run locally; that executable does not include app binaries but instructs the Microsoft Store app to download and install each title in the background. That separation means the Store handles package integrity, dependencies, and the usual update channels for every app you choose. For now Microsoft is rolling this out with a curated subset of popular apps and operational limits to keep the download process stable, rather than offering every app in the catalog at once.
Microsoft’s web multi‑app installer mirrors the convenience model popularized by services like Ninite, one click, one file, multiple installs, but it is limited to the Microsoft Store catalog and, initially, to a curated selection of titles. Compared with Ninite, which pulls installers directly from developers’ sites and covers many legacy desktop apps outside the Store, Microsoft’s approach prioritizes Store packaging and the security checks that come with it. Against winget and other command‑line provisioning tools, the Store’s web pack trades flexibility and scriptability for a point‑and‑click GUI that non‑technical users will find approachable. Winget remains the better choice for power users and IT pros who need scripting, offline repositories, or packages from multiple sources; Microsoft’s web flow fills the gap for people who prefer a web UI but still want the Store’s managed install behavior.
The biggest advantage of the web multi‑app installer is time savings: fresh setup and reprovisioning suddenly become much less tedious because a user can build and run a single installer instead of repeating install flows for dozens of apps. It also keeps the security and dependency management benefits of the Microsoft Store, so installs behave consistently with typical Store installs. The tradeoffs are worth noting: the feature is limited to a curated set of Store apps right now, so you can’t yet assemble fully custom bundles that include every possible title; the downloaded .exe doesn’t provide an offline bundle because the Store still fetches the app packages during installation; and the current workflow starts on the web and requires launching the Store app rather than being entirely contained inside the native Store UI. This feature is best for everyday consumers and small teams who want a GUI alternative to command‑line provisioning, particularly when the desired apps live in the Store and convenience beats full automation.
The Microsoft Store’s web multi‑app installer is a pragmatic addition that closes a usability gap for many Windows users. It won’t replace scriptable, power‑user tooling, but it gives mainstream users a fast, reliable way to populate a machine with trusted Store apps without the repetitive clicking that used to make fresh setups a chore.
