We’ve been hard at work improving the Microsoft Store experience in Intune in preparation for the Microsoft Store for Business and Education retirement. In November 2022, we released a new and improved Microsoft Store app management experience in Intune, leveraging Windows Package Manager, along with other improvements. You can learn more by reading Update to Endpoint Manager integration with the Microsoft Store on Windows or watching Updates to Windows App Management in Intune with Winget. Additionally, we discussed the new Store experience and answered customer questions in this video: Unpacking Endpoint Management: The future of app management in Intune.
While the new Microsoft Store integration and app type in Intune is not a replacement for the Microsoft Store for Business and Education, we know you may have questions about how you can prepare for the retirement. Additionally, you may need to know more about the new experience, such as how you can continue to access previously installed Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps. To continue deploying and assigning Microsoft Store apps, you will need to re-add your apps through the Microsoft Store app. Follow the instructions in the topic Add Microsoft Store apps to Microsoft Intune to re-add your Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps. For a demonstration on re-adding your apps, watch https://youtu.be/c534X9yMvDo. For additional guidance, see Troubleshooting the Microsoft Store and Microsoft Intune integration.
Keep reading to learn more about the stages of the Microsoft Store for Business and Microsoft Store for Education retirement and what to expect.
Stages of retirement
In April 2023 we will begin ending support for the Microsoft Store for Business experience in Intune. This will occur in several stages:
- On April 30, 2023, Intune will disconnect Microsoft Store for Business services. Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps will no longer be able to sync with Intune and the connector page will be removed from the Intune admin center.
- On June 15, 2023, Intune will stop enforcing online and offline Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps on devices. Downloaded applications will remain on the device with limited support. Users may still be able to access the app from their device, but the app will no longer be managed. Existing synced Intune app objects will remain to allow admins to view the apps that had been synced and their assignments. Additionally, you will longer be able to sync apps via the Microsoft Graph API syncMicrosoftStoreForBusinessApps and related API properties will display stale data.
- On September 15, 2023, Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps will be removed from the Intune admin center. Apps on the device will remain until intentionally removed. The Microsoft Graph API microsoftStoreForBusinessApp will no longer be available about a month later.
Note: The retirement of Microsoft Store for Business and Education was announced in 2021. When the Microsoft Store for Business and Education portals are retired, admins will no longer be able to manage the list of Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps that are synced or download offline content from the Microsoft Store for Business and Education portals. While the date is still being determined for the Microsoft Store for Business and Education retirement, the Microsoft Store for Business tab will be removed from the Microsoft Store in mid-May 2023 (as mentioned in MC543773).
For more information, see: Microsoft Store for Business and Microsoft Store for Education overview to learn more.
What happens to existing offline downloaded applications?
For now, nothing changes as the Microsoft Store for Business is still available to provide offline Store apps as needed. Once the Microsoft Store for Business does retire, however, some changes will be needed, but the exact changes involved are still in the design and development phase.
The capability to download packages from the Microsoft Store is available in version 1.8 of Windows Package Manager (WinGet) and should be used for offline apps moving forward. To learn more, read: Downloading Microsoft Store apps using Windows Package Manager.
What happens to existing Store app installations on devices?
In September, Microsoft Store for Business and Education apps will be automatically removed from Intune. Apps on the device will remain until intentionally removed.
If you’re using the Microsoft Store (new) app type in Intune, your apps won’t be impacted by the retirement of the Microsoft Store for Business and Education. For more information about adding Microsoft Store apps to Intune, please see Add Microsoft Store apps to Microsoft Intune.
Note: If you’re using the Microsoft Store (legacy) app type, we recommend re-adding apps with the new experience.
Common questions:
How will the Microsoft Store for Business and Education retirement affect users?
- When users access the Microsoft Store, they will only see publicly available apps.
How can I view all Microsoft Store for Business and Educations apps I’ve deployed?
- To easily view which Microsoft Store for Business and Educations apps have been deployed, in the Intune admin center, select Apps > All apps > Select Filter, choose “Windows” for Platform, and select only “Microsoft Store for Business” for App type, and then select Apply.
For a demonstration, watch our video on how to re-add your apps with the new experience: https://youtu.be/c534X9yMvDo
How do I add a Microsoft Store for Business and Education app that does not have an equivalent Microsoft Store app?
How will Autopilot and UWP app functionality be impacted?
- In March, we added the capability to deploy Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps from the new Microsoft Store app in system context. Additionally, the Enrollment Status Page (ESP) now supports the installation of Microsoft Store apps using the new Intune integration during Autopilot provisioning. Learn more about deploying Microsoft Store apps in Windows Autopilot by reading: https://aka.ms/Intune/Autopilot/Microsoft-Store-apps
How can an organization prevent users from accessing the public store using the Microsoft Store app?
- Organizations should use the “Show private store only” policy for the Group policy object or Intune. This policy hides the public store view for both Windows 10 and 11 devices. See Manage access to private store for more information.
Does WinGet need to be installed separately?
- No. Although WinGet provides the necessary functionality for the new Store integration in Intune, it doesn’t have to be installed separately. The necessary WinGet functionality is included as part of the Intune Management Extension, which is automatically installed on managed Windows endpoints, as needed by Intune.
What if I’m using Configuration Manager for Windows endpoint management?
- If you’re using Configuration Manager, then you’ll need to use co-management to deploy apps from the Microsoft Store. This gives you the added ability to leverage all the great functionality of Intune to manage your Windows endpoints, including the new Microsoft Store integration.
If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments or reach out to us on Twitter @IntuneSuppTeam.
Updates
5/4/2023: Added a video to demonstrate how to re-add apps with the new experience.
8/19/2024: Updated to include instructions for downloading offline apps.
