# chocolatey-community/boxstarter

Repeatable, reboot resilient windows environment installations made easy using Chocolatey packages

Repository: https://github.com/chocolatey-community/boxstarter
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/boxstarter
Homepage: https://boxstarter.org/
Language: PowerShell
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-07-02T11:14:35+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 63/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 90, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4370, "days_push": 62, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1365, forks 161 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:31.087816+00:00)

## What it is
Boxstarter is a PowerShell-based tool that automates repeatable, reboot-resilient Windows environment installations using Chocolatey packages. It handles pending reboot detection, automatic logon, remote deployments, and Windows configuration utilities.

## Use cases
- set up a new Windows machine with all my dev tools unattended
- install software on a fresh Windows install that survives required reboots
- provision a Windows VM repeatedly with the same configuration
- deploy packages to a remote Windows machine via PowerShell remoting
- run a setup script from a gist URL with no preinstalled software
- configure Windows Explorer settings and install apps in one script

## When to avoid
- you are on Linux or macOS - Boxstarter is Windows-only
- you need full configuration management with idempotent declarative state like Ansible or DSC
- your targets are non-Windows cloud instances or containers

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: deployment, configuration-management, package-manager, developer-tools
- domain: windows, self-hosted
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: chocolatey, reboot-resilient, windows-setup, powershell-remoting, environment-provisioning, automation, devops

## Member repositories
- chocolatey-community/boxstarter (main) score 63

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:31.087816+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:41:15.727104+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/chocolatey-community/boxstarter (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:31.087816+00:00, sha f21b489008fd)
  - homepage: https://boxstarter.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:58:40.267086+00:00, sha 0af8cd610f95)
  - site_page: https://boxstarter.org/installingpackages (fetched 2026-08-29T11:58:40.279134+00:00, sha 345987235960)
  - site_page: https://boxstarter.org/whyboxstarter (fetched 2026-08-29T11:58:40.276652+00:00, sha d9ad652b26f4)
  - site_page: https://boxstarter.org/weblauncher (fetched 2026-08-29T11:58:40.281461+00:00, sha b74e0315f961)
  - site_page: https://boxstarter.org/learn/weblauncher (fetched 2026-08-29T11:58:40.283438+00:00, sha ce54b7b468c0)
  - site_page: https://boxstarter.org/creatingpackages (fetched 2026-08-29T11:58:40.285188+00:00, sha 2cc527d8b428)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.