hands on Normally, when you install an application in Windows, it comes either from a direct download or as a single choice from the Microsoft Store. But what if you could install several different apps at the same time by creating a custom group?

A user called ChangeWindows on X [1]spotted a [2]page on the web version of the Microsoft Store that allows you to choose among 48 different apps, divided into six categories: Productivity, Creativity, Social, Entertainment, Tools & Utilities, and Personalization.

Check the boxes next to up to 16 apps you want, click the Install Selected button, and your browser downloads a single executable that installs them all. This capability is only available in the web version of the store, and not the app that lives on your Windows 11 taskbar.

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Multi-App Install in Microsoft Store - Click to enlarge

I chose six apps – Canva, Speedtest by Ookla, Instagram, Wallpaper by SuperFizz, ChatGPT, and Netflix – and, when I clicked the EXE file, it immediately opened the downloads page of the Microsoft Store app on my PC and started downloading and installing them simultaneously. Canva installed so quickly that I didn’t get it in the screenshot.

[4]

Installing multiple apps at once in Microsoft Store - Click to enlarge

The selection of apps available for multi-app install isn’t particularly comprehensive, but there are some big names on the list. The Productivity category contains Teams, Zoom, ChatGPT, OneNote, iCloud, and Dropbox. Creativity includes Canva, Photoshop, OBS Studio, and Audacity. Social has the apps for WhatsApp, Discord, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn, among other networks.

Entertainment is home to Spotify, Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV. Tools & Utilities plays host to Speedtest, USB installer Rufus, Nvidia Control panel, and more. Personalization is the least useful category as it’s filled with various wallpaper apps including Lively Wallpaper and Bing Wallpaper.

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Microsoft’s multi-app installer is reminiscent of a third-party multi-install tool called Ninite, which has about 120 apps across 15 different categories you can choose from.

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Ninite home page - Click to enlarge

However, Ninite doesn’t use the Microsoft Store to download apps for you, instead relying on a custom downloader/installer executable that it creates based on your choices.

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Ninite installing apps - Click to enlarge

Ninite has a very different and more extensive set of apps, including major web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, messaging tools such as Zoom, Teams, and even Trillian, and more popular free utilities such as VLC, Winamp, GIMP, and (my favorite app) Notepad++. Ninite also has .NET and Java runtimes of various versions and even archive tools such as 7-Zip and WinRAR.

It’s unclear how far Microsoft intends to take its multi-app install experiment. Clearly, there are advantages to having one executable for multiple apps. Perhaps you’re in IT and are deploying these apps onto multiple computers. Or maybe you just want to share your favorite apps with a friend or port them over to a new PC you bought. Whatever the case, Ninite is the superior choice right now, but Microsoft, with its firm grip on the app ecosystem, could make a much more robust multi-app offering if it chose to.

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We reached out to Microsoft for comment and to ask if it plans to expand its multi-app capability to more apps or into the desktop version of its store. We’ll update this article if we get a response. ®

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[1] https://x.com/ChangeWindows/status/1985987092376412330

[2] https://apps.microsoft.com/apppack?hl=en-US&gl=US

[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/05/store1.jpg

[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/05/store2.jpg

[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/16/microsoft_windows_features_help_productivity/

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/20/windows_11_more_dark_mode_dialogs/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/04/microsoft_windows_copilot_search/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/06/windows_keyboard_shortcuts_dashes/

[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/05/store3.jpg

[10] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/05/store4.png

[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQvXBV3L8mit-q54wJgLbgAAARU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/