Dev Blogs
An application can be directly activated by calling IApplicationActivationManager::ActivateApplication() with its Application User Model ID, also known as AppUserModelId or AUMID. For example, let's use a package with this fragment: This package's full name is . The suffix is the publisher ID derived from the package's publisher. Its packag...
We recently discussed External Location and how it lets Windows find files referenced in but installed by some other (not-MSIX) installer. Many people call this kind of package a "Sparse package". Many even think sparse packages are the important feature, and External Location is a minor implementation detail. But...what is a sparse package? Fi...
We previously determined how to programmatically retrieve a packaged process' package and application identity. Now let's find MSIX package identity using existing tools. TASKLIST.EXE Using the packaged app from our previous example, we know the "image name" (aka executable filename) and that its PID (process ID) is 7664. lists packaged proces...
Overheard in a recent conversation: Enterprise Administrator: "The ***redacted*** application is awesome, but it really should be an MSIX package." Microsoft Developer: "Ummm, it already is." That sparked another question: How can you tell if an application is packaged or unpackaged? Turns out there's a few simple w...