Forum Discussion

e2bLou's avatar
e2bLou
Copper Contributor
Dec 13, 2022

Error "Error in parsing the app package." when running .appinstaller from a folder.

Greetings,

 

     Bear with me as I am new to MSIX.  I have an application that has one assembly and one winform exe application that uses the assembly.  I added a MSIX installer project to the solution, and using it as the start up, the application runs fine in debug mode.  In release mode after rebuilding everything, I  republish the MSIX as a sideload, so it can be placed on a shared folder later.  The publishing succeeds, but when I go to test it on another machine, I get the message "Error in parsing the app package."

 

       What exactly does this mean?  Are there any logs to look at? How do you troubleshoot this error being as cryptic as it is?

        I put together a stupidly simply windows app and built a MSIX file around that.  It works with no issues, even after making changes and republishing the MSIX installer.  Could the issue with the other project be the fact I have an assembly and an exe?  Could it be the NuGet packages that each are using?   Any assistance would be appreciated..

 

Thanks

5 Replies

  • TIMOTHY_MANGAN's avatar
    TIMOTHY_MANGAN
    MVP
    Dec 14, 2022
    On the machine with the problem, look in the Windows Event Log. "Applications and Services Logs"-->"Microsoft"-->"Windows" and at logs starting with "AppX*". Most likely the "AppxPackagingOM" Operational log will tell you what it didn't like in the AppXManifest.
    • e2bLou's avatar
      e2bLou
      Copper Contributor
      Dec 14, 2022

      TIMOTHY_MANGAN  I have looked in AppxDeployment, AppxDeployment-Server and AppxPackagingOM, but I do not see any events for the installer.  I even took the step of re-running it to see if any new entries would be entered, but I didn't see anything.  I am guessing whatever the issue is, it is occurring before it is able to log any event data...  Could it be some sort of permissions issue?

      • TIMOTHY_MANGAN's avatar
        TIMOTHY_MANGAN
        MVP
        Dec 14, 2022
        If there is nothing in those logs, it never got the MSIX package opened. If the .appinstaller file was OK and a permissions issue, I would expect your error to appear differently.

        You didn't specify how you were installing with the file. I assume PowerShell and you used the Add-AppXPackage with the -AppInstaller argument. I don't remember the minimum OS version for that, manye 21H1, but if the cmdlet doesn't have the -AppInstaller argument then that is your issue.

        Otherwise, the error looks like a syntax error in the .appinstaller file.

Resources