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JohnMcC1983's avatar
JohnMcC1983
Copper Contributor
Jul 17, 2023

Issue publishing App to ISS server

Hello.  

I have created an msixbundle and appinstaller and have the appinstaller successfully installing the APP when they are linked at a file level (contents of appinstaller below)

I am now trying to make the app available to everyone on the network by pushing the files to an IIS server.  Changing the contents of the appinstaller to:

When I access the appinstaller via the link: 
<a href='ms-appinstaller:?source=http://URL_TO_MY_SITE/MSIX_FOLDER/John.appinstaller'>Get the app</a>

 

I get the error:

 

Is there some sort of configuration on the ISS server that needs to be completed to allow everything to link up?


Thanks in advance

  • JohnMcC1983 

    First the bad news, then the not usable news, then the good news.

     

    Bad news: Microsoft disabled the appinstaller protocol handler by default due to a security incident.

     

    Not usable news: As noted in the update to this post https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/disabling-the-msix-ms-appinstaller-protocol-handler/ba-p/3119479 , you can download a file to change this default policy and use it to set a "local policy" (not GPO). But as the policy is a local policy it has to applied to the end-user system before you can use the external appinstaller file, so you might not be able to use this.

     

    Good news. You can now include the appinstaller file inside your package and just publish the MSIX file on the IIS server and they will get the updates. This is documented on this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/app-installer/how-to-embed-an-appinstaller-file

     

    IMPORTANT!!!!!

    If you choose to use the appinstaller file inside the package and you are making the package available outside of your company, PLEASE post two copies of the package, one with the AppInstaller file and one without it and let the customer choose whether or not to get updates automatically.  Most large companies want to control the flow up updates on all applications.

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