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.
How do I deploy the new Company Portal app on Windows 10 devices that currently do not have any version of the Company Portal app deployed?
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 .
- Log in to your account in the Windows Store for Business and acquire the online license of the Company Portal app.
- In the Intune admin console, on the Windows Store for Business page, select Sync Now to synchronize the apps you've purchased from the Store with Intune.
- In the Apps workspace, choose Apps > Volume-Purchased Apps to view the apps you can deploy, and to verify that your purchased apps – including the Company Portal app - were imported correctly.
- Select the Company Portal app and deploy it as a required app to the desired set of target users.
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.
- Log in to your account in the Windows Store for Business and acquire the offline license version of the Company Portal app.
- Once the app has been acquired, select the app in the Inventory page.
- Select Windows 10 *all devices* as the Platform , then the appropriate Architecture and download. An app license file is not needed for this app.
- Download all the packages under “Required Frameworks”. This must be done for x86, x64 and ARM architectures – resulting in a total of 9 packages as shown below.
- Before uploading the Company Portal app to Intune, create a folder (e.g., C:\Company Portal) with the packages structured in the following way:
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.
- Return to Intune, then upload the Company Portal app as a new app. Deploy it as a required app to the desired set of target users.
See Deploying an appxbundle with dependencies via Microsoft Intune MDM for more information about how Intune handles dependencies for Universal apps.
How do I update the Company Portal on my users’ devices if they have already installed the older apps from the store?
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.
How do I upgrade my sideloaded Windows 8.1 Company Portal app to the Windows 10 Company Portal app?
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.
How do I upgrade my signed and sideloaded Windows Phone 8.1 Company Portal app or Windows 8.1 Company Portal app to the Windows 10 Company Portal app?
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:
- Download the Microsoft Intune Windows 10 Company Portal App Signing Script. The script is available here: https://aka.ms/win10cpscript .
This script requires the Windows SDK for Windows 10 to be installed on the host computer. To download the Windows SDK for Windows 10, visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=619296 .
- Download the Windows 10 Company Portal app from the Windows Store for Business.
- Run the script with the input parameters detailed in the script header to sign the Windows 10 Company Portal app (extracted below).
Note, dependencies do not need to be passed into the script. These are only required when the app is being uploaded to the Intune Admin Console.
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
- The script will output the signed version of the Windows 10 Company Portal app when it has finished running. You can then deploy the signed version of the app as an LOB app via Intune, which will upgrade the currently deployed versions to this new app.
Hopefully this post is helpful in describing all the different ways you can deploy Windows 10 Company Portal app.