Install Chef InSpec with a native installer

The Chef InSpec native installers provide an efficient way to install Chef InSpec 7 on Windows, Debian, or RPM-based Linux distributions. You can download and install the pre-built .msi, .deb, or .rpm packages using your existing package management tools, simplifying the deployment process for compliance automation.

Supported platforms

Chef InSpec is supported on the following platforms:

Windows x86-64
Linux x86-64

Prerequisites

This installation process has the following prerequisites:

Chef Automate isn’t installed on the target system.
Chef Workstation isn’t installed on the target system.
On Windows systems, tar is installed on the target system.
On Debian-based systems, the dpkg package manager is installed on the target system.
On RPM-based systems, the rpm and either the dnf or yum package managers are installed on the target system.
For Amazon Linux 2, use the rpm and yum package managers.
You have a valid Progress Chef license key.
The target system is connected to the internet.

Uninstall an older version of Chef InSpec

If an older version of Chef InSpec is already installed, uninstall it before installing a newer version to avoid package conflicts.

Uninstall on Debian-based distributions

sudo apt-get remove inspec

Verify that the package has been removed:

dpkg -l inspec

The command returns no output if the package is removed successfully.

Uninstall on RPM-based distributions

Using dnf:

sudo dnf remove inspec

For Amazon Linux 2 or systems using yum:

sudo yum remove inspec

Verify that the package has been removed:

rpm -qa inspec

The command returns no output if the package is removed successfully.

Uninstall on Windows

To uninstall using the Windows UI:

Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
Search for Chef InSpec.
Select Uninstall, then follow the on-screen prompts.

To uninstall from the command line, run the following command in an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt session:

msiexec /x inspec-ie-<version>-x64.msi /qn

Replace <version> with the version number of the currently installed package.

Install Chef InSpec

To install Chef InSpec, follow these steps:

Step 1: Download the Chef InSpec installer

Download the installer package from the Chef downloads page. Select Chef InSpec, then choose the target platform and version.

To download programmatically, use the following commands. Replace <VERSION> with the version number to install and <LICENSE_ID> with your Chef license ID.

Download the Debian-based installer

Using wget:

wget -O "inspec-ie-<VERSION>-linux.deb" "https://chefdownload-commercial.chef.io/stable/inspec/download?eol=false&license_id=<LICENSE_ID>&m=x86_64&p=linux&pm=deb&v=<VERSION>"

Using curl:

curl -o "inspec-ie-<VERSION>-linux.deb" "https://chefdownload-commercial.chef.io/stable/inspec/download?eol=false&license_id=<LICENSE_ID>&m=x86_64&p=linux&pm=deb&v=<VERSION>"

Download the RPM-based installer

Using wget:

wget -O "inspec-ie-<VERSION>-linux.rpm" "https://chefdownload-commercial.chef.io/stable/inspec/download?eol=false&license_id=<LICENSE_ID>&m=x86_64&p=linux&pm=rpm&v=<VERSION>"

Using curl:

curl -o "inspec-ie-<VERSION>-linux.rpm" "https://chefdownload-commercial.chef.io/stable/inspec/download?eol=false&license_id=<LICENSE_ID>&m=x86_64&p=linux&pm=rpm&v=<VERSION>"

Download the Windows installer

Run the following command in an elevated PowerShell session:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://chefdownload-commercial.chef.io/stable/inspec/download?eol=false&license_id=<LICENSE_ID>&m=x86_64&p=windows&pm=msi&v=<VERSION>" -OutFile "inspec-ie-<VERSION>-windows.msi"

Step 2: Install the package

Navigate to the directory containing the downloaded installer and run the appropriate install command for your platform.

Install on Debian-based distributions

sudo dpkg -i inspec-ie-<version>_amd64.deb

Replace <version> with the version number of the downloaded package, for example:

sudo dpkg -i inspec-ie-7.6.0-1_amd64.deb

Install on RPM-based distributions

Using rpm:

sudo rpm -Uvh inspec-ie-<version>.x86_64.rpm

Using dnf:

sudo dnf install ./inspec-ie-<version>.x86_64.rpm

For Amazon Linux 2 or systems using yum:

sudo yum install ./inspec-ie-<version>.x86_64.rpm

Replace <version> with the version number of the downloaded package, for example inspec-ie-7.6.0-1.el8.x86_64.rpm.

Install on Windows

Run the following command in an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt session:

msiexec /i inspec-ie-<version>-x64.msi /qn

Replace <version> with the version number of the downloaded package, for example inspec-ie-7.6.0-x64.msi.

Alternatively, double-click the .msi file and follow the on-screen installation wizard.

Step 3: Verify the installation

inspec version

The output displays the installed version of Chef InSpec, for example:

7.6.0

Upgrade Chef InSpec

To upgrade Chef InSpec to a newer version:

Uninstall the current version using the steps for your platform.
Download and install the new version using the steps for your platform.

Uninstall Chef InSpec

To remove Chef InSpec from your system, follow the steps in Uninstall an older version of Chef InSpec.