Unable to Associate UWP App with Microsoft Store in Visual Studio – Package.StoreAssociation.xml Not Generated

Question

Issue Summary:

I am experiencing a persistent issue with the Store Association process for a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app project in Visual Studio. Despite receiving a success notification stating that the project has been associated with the Microsoft Store, the Package.StoreAssociation.xml file is never generated, and I am unable to proceed with proper packaging, signing, and certification.

---

Project Context:

Platform: Unity UWP (XAML)

Target Platform: Universal Windows Platform

Architecture: x64

Visual Studio Versions Tried: 2022 (latest update), 2019, 2017

Unity Version: Tested multiple — project builds perfectly

Windows App Certification Kit fails with:

error 0x800B0100: The app package must be digitally signed for signature validation.

---

What I've Already Tried:

✅ Project is Fully Functional and Tested:

The Unity-generated Visual Studio solution builds, runs, and passes all manual checks.

✅ Visual Studio Versions:

  Tried across multiple versions (2022, 2019, 2017) with all required workloads installed.
  
     All versions behave the same — "association successful" message appears, but no `.xml` file is created.
     
     ✅ **Partner Center Setup:**
     
        App is properly created and registered in Partner Center.
        
           Correct publisher info is shown and matches the `appxmanifest`.
           
           ✅ **Manual Workaround Attempted:**
           
              I copied the `Package.StoreAssociation.xml` file from a previous working app, edited it, and placed it in the new project — this enabled packaging but still led to signature validation failure.
              
              ✅ **Network & Permissions:**
              
                 Network is stable.
                 
                    Logged in with correct Developer Account.
                    
                       Admin permissions are present on the system.
                       
                       ✅ **Clean Builds & Certificate Checks:**
                       
                          Removed all `bin`, `obj`, `.vs`, `.user`, and `AppPackages`.
                          
                             Attempted new store associations from scratch.
                             
                                Certificates are not expired.
                                
                                ✅ **Different Apps Behavior:**
                                
                                   Some UWP apps associate just fine — others don’t — indicating the issue is not universal or consistent per project or VS installation.
                                   

---

Assistance Needed:

Why is the Package.StoreAssociation.xml not being generated, even though the app is successfully associated?

Is there a hidden or internal condition that silently causes Visual Studio to skip file generation?

How can I manually trigger or force a Store Association XML generation that is valid for packaging and submission?

---