WinUI3: Does WinUI3 Desktop app run in a sandbox?

Question

Hi,

I was trying to create a windows app in WinUI3 desktop app.

As WinUI3 lets us create applications in the UWP app model and Desktop app model, I read that the WinUI3 UWP app is a sandboxed application here we have to declare capabilities to get access to different system resources.

I was wondering does the WinUI3 desktop application run in a sandbox. I was not able to find Official documentation stating that the WinUI3 desktop app is a sandboxed app or not.

It would be of great help if you could point me to the right documentation

Thank you

Answer 1

Unpackaged WinUI apps are normal Win32 Desktop apps, so they don't run in a sandbox
Packaged WinUI apps use MSIX and MSDN says at Understanding how packaged desktop apps run on Windows :
Packages that you create for your desktop application are desktop-only, full-trust applications and are not virtualized or sandboxed. This allows them to interact with other apps the same way unpackaged desktop applications do.