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We have an application, that provides an updater via PackageManager.AddPackageByAppInstallerFileAsync - this works fine in combination with Windows 10, and Windows 11, when registering for application restart with RegisterApplicationRestart.
On Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2025 this way of automatically restarting an app after an update doesn't work, what's the expected way of restarting an application during an update?
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I want to confirm something first, what kind of project is your app? Is it a WinUI3 application or a desktop application just using PackageManager.AddPackageByAppInstallerFileAsync API?
Does the behavior that your app doesn't restart only happens on windows server?
AppSdk Packaged Desktop Application. So, wapproj with a WPF application.
Im registering with RegisterApplicationRestart, then performing the ForceTargetAppShutdown-Update and on Windows Client (10, 11) this successfully restarts the application, on Windows Server (2022, 2025) the application is shutdown, and never comes back.
Well, you could try AppInstance.Restart() method to see if that works in the WPF application. If not, you might take a look at the .NET method which could restart your app.
This doesn't work, as the AddPackageByAppInstaller-function won't install the update, if the application is in use, when not specifying ForceShutdownTargetApplication.
If you need some method that could restart the app when the app is closed. I have to say that currently there is no Windows Runtim API could make it. I'm not sure if there will be another solution that using PowerShell command.
The RegisterApplicationRestart should work on the windows server and the behavior you got might be an issue. If this is an urgent issue for you, I suggest that you might need to open a support ticket for this. Please contact our paid support at MS Support. You will get 1:1 support on that. Select Developer Tools -> Windows SDK -> Windows SDK for Windows 11 in the support page and you could contact the team. Please kindly note that your support ticket will be free if it is Microsoft's issue.
Hello,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!
If your app is a WinUI3 application, it is recommended to use AppInstance.Restart to restart your app programmatically. Like this:
AppRestartFailureReason restartError = Microsoft.Windows.AppLifecycle.AppInstance.Restart("restartArgsInput");
switch (restartError)
{
}
You could get more information here: Restart API
Thank you.
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