First published on TechNet on Mar 13, 2017
Priya Ravichandran | Sr. Program Manager, Intune
Several months ago, we released a new version of the Company Portal specifically designed for Windows 10. Since then, we’ve had a few questions on the best way to deploy the app. In this post, we walk through the different ways you can deploy the Windows 10 Company Portal app.
There are three options for a fresh deployment of the Company Portal app. The first 2 options will enable automatic updates from the store while the third option will require manual deployment of app updates.
1. Directly download the app from the Store.
Direct your users to download the Company Portal app directly from the Store.
2. Deploy via the Windows Store for Business with Microsoft Intune.
If you use Microsoft Intune to manage apps purchased from the Windows Store for Business, you can similarly deploy the Company Portal app .
Deploying in this mechanism will ensure that all the app dependencies are also deployed without any additional admin intervention. Subsequent updates to the apps are also automatically deployed to users. You can also refer to this blog entry for a visual walkthrough on deploying the Company Portal app this way.
Note: If you would like to start using Microsoft Intune to manage apps purchased from the Windows Store for Business, read the article for the list of prerequisites needed to set up the connection between the accounts.
3. Deploy directly via Intune.
You can manually deploy the new Company Portal app directly from Intune, even if you haven’t integrated Intune with the Windows Store for Business. Note: This option will require deploying manual updates each time an app update is released.
a. Place the Company Portal package into C:\Company Portal. Create a Dependencies subfolder in this location as well.
b. Place the nine dependencies packages in the Dependencies folder.
If the dependencies are not placed in this format, Intune will not be able to recognize and upload them during the package upload, causing the upload to fail with the following error.
See Deploying an appxbundle with dependencies via Microsoft Intune MDM for more information about how Intune handles dependencies for Universal apps.
If your users have already installed the Windows 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1 Company Portal apps from the Store, then they should be automatically updated to the new version with no action required from you or your user. If the update does not happen, ask your users to check that they have enabled auto-updates for Store apps on their devices.
Our recommended migration path is to delete the deployment for the Windows 8.1 Company Portal app by setting the deployment action to “Uninstall”. Once this is done, the Windows 10 Company Portal app can be deployed using any of the options we described earlier in this post.
If you need to sideload the app and deployed the Windows 8.1 Company Portal without signing it with the Symantec Certificate , follow the steps in the deploy directly via Intune section detailed earlier in this post to complete the upgrade.
If you need to sideload the app and you signed and deployed the Windows 8.1 Company Portal with the Symantec code-signing certificate, follow the steps later in the post below.
Our recommended migration path is to delete the existing deployment for the Windows Phone 8.1 Company Portal app or the Windows 8.1 Company Portal app by setting the deployment action to “Uninstall”. Once this is done, the Windows 10 Company Portal app can be deployed using any of the options we described earlier in this post.
Otherwise, the Windows 10 Company Portal app needs to be appropriately updated and signed to ensure that the upgrade path is respected.
If the Windows 10 Company Portal app is signed and deployed in this way, you will need to repeat this process for each new app update when it is available in the store. The app will not automatically update when the store is updated.
Here’s how you sign and deploy the app in this way:
Parameter | Description |
InputWin10AppxBundle | The path to where the source appxbundle file is located |
OutputWin10AppxBundle | The output path for the signed appxbundle file. |
Win81Appx | The path to where the Windows 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1 Company Portal (.APPX) file is located. |
PfxFilePath | The path to Symantec Enterprise Mobile Code Signing Certificate (.PFX) file. |
PfxPassword | The password of the Symantec Enterprise Mobile Code Signing Certificate. |
PublisherId | The Publisher ID of the enterprise. If absent, the 'Subject' field of the Symantec Enterprise Mobile Code Signing Certificate is used. |
SdkPath | The path to the root folder of the Windows SDK for Windows 10. This argument is optional and defaults to ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Windows Kits\10 |
Hopefully this post is helpful in describing all the different ways you can deploy Windows 10 Company Portal app.
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