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Windows-8 (Metro) Apps can be installed using "sideloading", bypassing the Windows store in enterprise environments.

In principle this is easy: Once you enabled sideloading (which is automatically done when a Win8-machine joins a domain), you can install a signed appx-Package through PowerShell with the "Add-AppxPackage" command. But there is a catch: The App is only installed for the user who executes the command and there is no "-Credentials" parameter!

I can probably solve that problem in my specific scenario, where I deploy a self-developed app through TFS build to a virtual machine with a fixed demo user (by using remote powershell in combination with "Add-Job", which does take a credential parameter and because I know the given username and the password).

But that is not true in an enterprise environment, where I want to distribute my App to thousands of users. Cracking all their passwords seems a bit over the top, so what would be the "correct" way to do this? I can't find any useful information from Microsoft about this, but maybe one of you already ran into this problem and solved it?

MDMarra
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TToni
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    Not sure why this was VTC as off-topic. By my reckoning, it's perfectly on-topic for SF. – EEAA Oct 22 '12 at 17:59

2 Answers2

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It is still early days but the options you have so far are:

  1. Deploy with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 SP1 (currently in beta due early 2013). See:
  2. Deploy with Windows Intune cloud service (version 4, due early 2013) as an alternative to using SCCM. See:
  3. Use PowerShell cmdlets. These could be used in a login script to deploy applications to a user. See:
  4. Wrap the .appx in a MSI for side loading and deploy via GPO. I have only seen the InstallShield one, but presumably all the MSI packing vendors will provide options in the future. See:
  5. Use Windows Image servicing to deploy the apps into an image. See:

Also as general reference see these:

Hope that helps.

Bernie White
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  • Thanks for the great answer, Bernie! I didn't know about the SCCM path, but it's logical of course. I don't like login scripts very much but they are always handy as a last resort. And it seems I overlooked the online option of dism, which might be useful for my current scenario. Thanks again! – TToni Oct 23 '12 at 06:15
  • Is this also applicable currently for windows 10 apps/devices? – AbsoluteSith Aug 16 '16 at 18:42
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System Center Configuration Manager 2012 will support Windows 8 when SP1 ships (it's currently in CTP, due for release early 2013), and apparently will allow distribution of Windows 8 apps.

Chris McKeown
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