We have requirement to host LOB (Line of Business) app in an internal server (cannot upload it to Windows Store). Sideloading seems to be the way for it. However clients find it difficult to install by typing powershell commands. Is there any other way like download & install or double-tap install type of packaging for windows 8.1 apps?
I see at least 3 different solutions in my projects :
Create a custom MSI which run the powershell --> most common way
Use system center manager(http://blogs.technet.com/b/uktechnet/archive/2013/04/08/ways-to-deploy-modern-apps-for-windows-8-explained.aspx)
Use Intunes
Regards
You might give a try to the Business Store: it uses the same principles of the Store but you own the content deployed on it:
https://www.microsoft.com/fr-fr/business-store/
Related
Recently I have a question. If I write an UWP app and install into a Raspberry Pi with Windows IoT Core OS, is it possible that I set a automatic OTA update for my app inside the Raspberry Pi, just like normal UWP apps in Windows App Store do?
EDIT: Just for my apps, not for upgrading Windows OS (since it can be upgraded directly by Windows Update)
Great question.
I'd suggest looking at a higher level device management solution that can provide updates of any type to a device via an IoT event hub. This is still in preview but check out this Microsoft post on getting started with something like this:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/documentation/articles/iot-hub-device-management-get-started/
Since Windows IoT Core does not contain the Windows Store, it is impossible to enable automatic app updates like on your Windows 10 PC with the built-in tools. As far as I know you can only manually upload an app from your Pi's web interface, Visual Studio or maybe CMD/PowerShell/putty.
It seems that I can use ProcessLauncher function in UWP app and start a new exe binary (of course it has to be compiled for ARM platform) to do the job. See here: Windows Developer - ProcessLauncher.
But anyway, my RPi3 is still on the way right now, I can't prove if my app can really can let another exe binary (or PowerShell script) to upgrade itself. Hope it can~!
In endeavours as to learn C# and toy with the app-store-like approach too, I now have two applications;
Web TVGuide (WinRT with publically sealed exposed C# classed backed)
A WebTV Player (winforms + WebBrowser/ActiveX) and .
First intentions was to upload #1 (the WinRT) to appstore - and provide a link to #2, hosted on my private page...
But im wondering as to how i would go about merging the two projects under one solution in order to package them together as one. I am betting that this also would remove some of my requirements for WFC Service (IPC) communications.
Structure follows to give a little insight;
Can i 'launch' the WinRT TVGuide from my Windows.Forms application - without having to run two setup packages - and call via Process?
You could ease the future development by having both projects inside the same solution and move all the shared core code (if any) to a PCL project. However, the other plans you have won't really work.
Launching a WinRT application from a Windows Forms application is only possible if the app is already installed on the user's machine. If the application is available, you can launch it using the IApplicationActivationManager COM interface.
I think that your best bet is to count on users installing the WinRT app and then link to the Windows Forms application from an about page or something.
Here's a nice article detailing the use of IApplicationActivationManager:
Launching Windows Store Apps Programmatically
Edit: Upon further investigation, it looks like I might have been slightly wrong. There actually is a legit way to sideload Windows Store applications but it requires jumping through quite a few hoops. However, you should be able to install both the Windows Forms application and the WinRT application with your own installer and then launch the WinRT app like you wanted to.
Here are the quick steps for reference. For a detailed explanation, see Install a Windows 8 Modern UI app without the Windows Store.
Windows 8 and 8.1
Enable Allow all trusted apps to install group policy
Sign the app with a CA that is trusted on the target PC
Run a PowerShell command to install the application. For example Add-AppxPackage C:\app1.appx –DependencyPath C:\winjs.appx
In some cases, enterprise sideloading product keys need to be used. Check out the linked answer for more details on that one.
Windows 10
I also took a look at how it's done on Windows 10, and here are my findings. Microsoft has taken a more relaxed approach on sideloading apps to a Windows 10 installation. Differences to the earlier versions are the following:
You can unlock a device for sideloading using an enterprise policy, or through Settings
License keys are not required
Devices do not have to be joined to a domain
The requirements for sideloading are the following:
Devices need to be unlocked for sideloading (unlock policy enabled)
Certificate assigned to app
Signed app package
And finally here are the steps to take:
Turn on sideloading - you can push a policy with an MDM provider, or you can use Settings.
Trust the app - import the security certificate to the local device.
Install the app - use PowerShell to install the app package.
Take a look at this article for detailed steps on how to achieve app sideloading on Windows 10.
I need to know is there any way to publish traditional desktop applications to windows store. The link,
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/06/08/listing-your-desktop-app-in-the-store.aspx
says we cannot upload the desktop app, but we can give a url for the customers to download.
I need to know, is there any way to directly upload the exe (or whatever).
Microsoft works on a tool for this aka Project Centennial which is not available for public yet. Officially from here:
Your application should already run on Windows 10. To make it easier for you to distribute and monetize your application, we are developing "Project Centennial". This toolkit will enable you to package and publish your .NET and Win32 applications to the Windows Store. "Project Centennial" is expected to be available for public testing next year.
As mentioned by #vzayko, Project Centennial will be the bridge to use to get your classic Windows application into the Windows Store.
However, until the Windows classic app bridge is publicly available (which should be sometime this year), there is no way to submit your application to the Windows Store.
I am using a Nokia lumia630 device, which uses latest windows 10 insider preview build available.
i created a sample windows UWP application and took a build of the same.The output of the build is an Appx.
How can i install this Appx to my device? Anyone having any idea?
Deploying apps to Win 10 Mobile is a bit difficult when using the command line tool. A great alternative is the Device Portal that is available under the “For Developer” settings.Its available with the latest build.
Now You can connect to the device using a web browser and manage apps via the Apps page with no pairing/pin required. This seems to be an easy way of deploying apps than using command line.
Microsoft developed a command line tool called WinAppDeployCmd so you can deploy an Universal Windows app from a Windows 10 machine to any Windows 10 Mobile device via USB or WiFi (since they're on the same subnet). That's a perfect solution if you doesn't have Visual Studio, the app source code or you're under a Hyper-V Virtual Machine.
Basically you will need:
Windows 10 SDK
Generate the .appx package (PC)
Enable the developer mode (Mobile)
Turn on the discovery mode (Mobile)
Get the code to pair devices (Mobile)
Get mobile IP address using WinAppDeployCmd tool (PC)
Run command (PC)
The command will look like this
WinAppDeployCmd install -file “<path>” -ip <ip> -pin <pin>
The tool can be found at C:\Arquivos de Programas (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86\WinAppDeployCmd.exe
You can find a detailed step-by-step tutorial here
Visual Studio allows you to directly deploy an app to a windows phone. You need to register your windows phone as a development phone with Microsoft. Once this is done, you could use visual studio to do this for you. Not sure if you can deploy windows 10 apps to your phone at the moment. Try this link and see:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/ff769508%28v=vs.105%29.aspx Remember to Upvote if this helps.
You can register your Windows Phone 10 in developer mode. Follow these steps and you can achieve your goal.
When you use device portal like mentioned in the answers above, some might get the following error
"Failed to start deployment. Failure text: Package failed updates, dependency or conflict validation. (0x80073cf3)"
To fix this:
Add the dependencies found under "Dependencies/ARM" folder.Add it here.
I had to add following dependencies to make it work:
Microsoft.NET.CoreRuntime.1.0.appx
Microsoft.VCLibs.ARM.Debug.14.00.appx
I currently have a VS Solution with 2 projects: a WPF application and a Windows Service.
Now, I have managed to get ClickOnce working in installing my WPF application, but I also want a Windows Service to be installed (the one in the project) during this installation.
I have found ways how to programmatically start a windows service with C# code, but is there any way to incorporate this in my ClickOnce installation (because I need ClickOnce's benefit of automatic updates and such)?
I don't think you can deploy a windows service via ClickOnce in a normal fashion.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/thread/1bb64760-9622-4ca6-a1a6-3ce53e641f21
ClickOnce deploy a Windows Service?
Please check DDay Update library it might give you ClickOnce stuff for updates, but first install you've got to do using another too.
Can you execute a process during the ClickOnce install? You might be able to write the service using Topshelf and then execute MyService.exe /install from ClickOnce.