I am developing a Windows 8 app (Modern UI) and I was asking if I could get the 'executable' of the app to install and test it in other computers without submitting the app to the market.
I am using the visual studio 2012 ultimate, if it helps.
Thank you in advance.
Right-click the project and choose Store - Create App Package and deselect uploading to the store. This will create a folder with the package for your app and all dependencies. Use the powershell script, which is also located in the folder to install the app. Normally if you run it for the first time it will probably ask you to change your ExecutionPolicy, but then it will install the app.
You can sideload an application on another machine without requiring the application be in the Windows Store.
One way, mentioned by Kai in another response to this question, leverages a developer license on the targeted machine. Because this mechanism uses a developer license it's not a suitable method for distributing apps for several reasons:
The license states "You may use the developer license only for the purpose of developing, testing and evaluating apps"
A developer license has a 30 (or 90 day) limit, after which the user will be re-prompted to renew the license; that's not a suitable experience for a 'finished' app.
Acquiring the license requires an internet connection, so the app may not start if offline.
The approved mechanism for distributing applications to the end-user outside of the Windows Store is via Windows 8 Enterprise or by purchasing enterprise side-loading activation keys for devices not running Enterprise (like RT). Some information on this process can be found here and here.
Related
I would like to deploy a UWP package for enterprise. I have a Windows developer account but I don't want to publish it in Windows store or Enterprise store.
We have our URL to share the file, so the problem is when I try to install the Package in other PC the error 'Either you need a new certificate installed for this app package, or you need a new app package with trusted certificates' will occur.
Suggest the way to install it without publishing in store.
For your requirement, you could check Distribute LOB apps to enterprises document.
You have several options for distributing line of business (LOB) apps to your organization’s users using MSIX packages without making the apps broadly available to the public. You can use device management tools, configure an App Installer-based deployment, sideload the apps directly
And App Installer is suit for your scenario that double-clicking an .appinstaller file that installs the app package from a web server. For the detail steps you could refer to Installing Windows 10 apps from a web page document.
In both iOS and Android I noticed there is a process to privately sign apps before publishing it to their respective stores.
However, in the Windows 10 Universal App Process I haven't found this to be the case. How does Microsoft get away without requiring the developer to sign their app? Or does Visual Studio / dev.windows.com somehow take care of this behind the scenes?
When you generate an app package to upload to the Windows Store (typically via Visual Studio, I'm not actually sure if there's a command line alternative), it is signed by VS. The key is linked to your Windows Store Developer account, which is why you have to sign in to the correct dev account when building a release.
Edit: This is somewhat out of date (VS2012/Windows 8 era), but it goes into more detail (and talks about the alternatives to VS that do seem to exist - MakeCert and Pvk2Pfx): https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/jj835832%28v=vs.85%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
We have implemented a Windows 8 app. We tested the app by sideloading on both Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise. The app is working as expected when both the machines are connected to the domain. If both the machines are out of the domain, the app does not work and we receive the following error ‘This app can’t open. There’s a problem with app. Contact your system administrator about repairing or reinstalling it’. Also, in the event log the following error was displayed ‘Activation of the app 589f3680-7094-4066-92ee-75cd86b75bc1_5gyrq6psz227t!App for the Windows. Launch contract was blocked with error 0x80073CFC because its package is in state: Modified‘. We checked through on your sites and it is mentioned that Enterprise Sideloading key is mandatory for the app to work if the machine is not connected to the domain.
If we publish the app on Windows Store using ‘Targeted App Distribution’ method, do we still need to worry about the Enterprise Sideloading key or will the key be available when we will create a developer account on the Windows Center? Let us know.
Let us know if we are missing anything. Also, it will be helpful if you suggest any appropriate way as we need the Windows app to work without being connected to the domain.
Thanks
You could sideload the app if you have a developer license registered on the target machine. You can get a developer license via Visual Studio or with this powershell command:
Get-WindowsDeveloperLicense
However the developer license needs to be renewed every month.
See my answer here how to sideload an app:
sideload windows 8 apps to multiple devices?
I want to create Metro apps for Windows 8, and I have VS 2012, but I need a developer's license. If I use fake credentials, will I be able to later get a different developer's license with a different Microsoft account on the same computer?
If I can change it later, how?
The developer account you are entering can be as far as I know independent to the real account you will use for publishing your apps.
Every time you want to create app package for uploading you're entering your credentials, in case you want to develop under several different accounts, so yes, there should be no problem when using different account for "activating Windows 8 development" and for publishing your apps.
I may need to port a private application from android to windows phone 7.
The short answer at the moment is "No". However, if you have a developer account, you can unlock up to 3 phones and deploy your XAP directly to them. Also there are plans to allow companies to deploy apps directly to phones without going via the marketplace, though unfortunately no official dates for this yet.
There's no "official" way to do it, at least not for now. But Microsoft is in touch with developers who unlocked their phones to run home brew applications, to figure out how to make it available for developers, without prejudice the app market ecossystem.
there's a XAP installer that you could use to install on each phone manually but if you are targeting your app to an enterprise, the benefits of installing separate from the store might be outweighed by the overhead of installing each one.
On android you would just need to tick "allow unsigned apps" somewhere in the settings, unfortunately this isn't an option with windows phones. there's no .exe facility.