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Rod-F
Iron Contributor
Aug 23, 2025

I'm not seeing what I expected to see with Windows Application Packaging

I'm following along in a YouTube video I found that covers MSIX. I've created a simple WPF app in .NET 9, which is just a Hello World app. Then I added the Windows Application Packaging project. Or at least that's what I'm trying to do. What I got was two new projects added to my VS solution. Given my app's name is MyApp, one of the new projects is called MyAppInstaller, and the other new app is called "MyAppInstaller (Package)". I was expecting to see only the MyAppInstaller project added. I'm wondering if I've done something wrong.

1 Reply

  • I believe the "MyAppInstaller" project is an unpackaged form, used for when you want to debug the software in Visual Studio.  The "MyAppInstaller (Package)" is for generating the MSIX Package.

    I have found that it is a tad easier to start a .Net 8/9 single app project by using the template "WinUI Blank App (Packaged with Windows Application Packaging Project" up front, rather than creating the project and then adding the WAP project.  With the former, VS does not expose a second project for the packaging, and you just use the "Package menu: Publish/Create App Packages" for the package build.  You can also debug the main project in VS this way.

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