Winstow is a Windows-native symlink farm manager inspired by GNU Stow. It helps you manage your dotfiles, configuration files, and software packages by creating symbolic links from a central stow directory to a target directory (typically your home directory).
Features:
Windows-Native: Built specifically for Windows with proper symlink support
GNU Stow Compatible: Familiar interface if you've used GNU Stow
Directory Folding: Intelligent directory symlinking reduces link count
Conflict Resolution: --adopt and --override for handling existing files
Pattern Matching: --ignore and --defer for flexible file management
Configuration Files: Set defaults with .winstowrc
Small & Fast: Single ~600KB binary
Safe: Dry-run mode to preview changes before applying
Yes. Winstow is free and open-source software released under the MIT license.
What is the latest version of Winstow?
The latest version is 0.3.0.
Is it safe to download Winstow?
The download button links to the official installer published on github.com, the same file Windows Package Manager installs. You can verify the downloaded file by comparing its SHA-256 checksum with 7396a218d2380de760f54b5ec943799f61c8c84a4a1a69441e09fca258ab0a3f.
Which Windows versions does Winstow support?
Winstow runs on Windows and is available for 64-bit (x64) systems.
How do I uninstall Winstow?
Open Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Winstow and select Uninstall. From the command line, run winget uninstall --id=MathiasCodes.Winstow -e.
Is there a portable version of Winstow?
Yes. Winstow is available as a portable ZIP archive (winstow-v0.3.0-windows-x64.zip, 64-bit (x64)) that runs without installation. Copy it to any folder or USB drive and run it from there.
Alternatives to Winstow
Other System Utilities programs for Windows from different developers.
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