Enterprise guide to installing modern apps on Windows Embedded 8 Industry

Article
09/18/2013

9/16/2013

Microsoft

August 2013

Summary

Helps you understand how to install, inventory, and remove Windows 8 apps on a device running Windows Embedded 8 Industry (Industry 8).

Activate sideloading and provisioning.
Install Windows 8 apps.
Provision Windows 8 apps.
Remove installed and provisioned Windows 8 apps.
Inventory installed and provisioned Windows 8 apps.

Applies To

Windows Embedded 8 Industry (Industry 8)

Introduction

Windows Embedded 8 delivers the reliability and familiarity you trust, along with new and intuitive way for your users to interact with their specialized devices. One such way is using new Windows 8 apps, which provide a clean and modern design with a rich, interactive experience. Windows 8 apps are based on the Windows Runtime API and differ from traditional desktop apps in their design and in the ways users can interact with them on devices running Windows Embedded 8. Traditional (Win32) desktop applications can still run and be deployed on the Windows Embedded 8 family of products the same as before; however, additional steps are required for new Windows 8 apps and those steps are the main focus of this paper.

Windows Embedded 8 Industry (Industry 8) combines the power, innovation, and security of Windows 8 with features for enabling commercial device applications through a set of capabilities specifically designed for embedded systems, which provide the essential lockdown features for a consistent and predictable user experience. Industry 8 also supports and extends the value of your existing Windows line-of-business (LOB) solutions through application compatibility using the same tool chain used for your desktop applications.

Enterprises can take control and add LOB applications deployed to embedded devices, giving them the ability to ensure compliance and create consistent user experiences that traverse multiple platforms seamlessly.

You can install and run Windows 8 apps on devices running Industry 8. However, Industry 8 does not support the Windows Store client and users cannot use the Windows Store to download and install apps on devices running Industry 8.

Enterprise customers can install Windows 8 apps on Windows Embedded 8 devices by using either sideloading or provisioning.

Sideloading

Sideloading, available in both Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, enables you to install apps directly to a device without going through the Windows Store. LOB apps do not need to be certified by Microsoft but they must be signed with a certificate chained to a trusted root certificate. Windows 8 apps must by cryptographically signed and can be installed only on computers that trust the signing certificate.

There are two ways to sideload applications: by activating a device with a product activation key or by joining the device to the domain.

Enable sideloading

You can enable sideloading on a device running Industry 8 by joining the device to a domain. Industry 8 has built-in features that enable enterprise sideloading on domain-joined devices, allowing you to manage and deploy Windows 8 apps easily through a policy setting.

Learn more about product activation at Review Available Activation Models.

To enable sideloading on a device running Industry 8 that is not domain-joined, you must use a product activation key or a Volume Licensing Multiple Activation Key (MAK).

How to enable loading of new Windows 8 apps on Industry 8	Windows Embedded 8 Pro	Windows Embedded 8 Standard (Standard 8)	Windows Embedded 8 Industry Professional (Industry 8 Professional)	Windows Embedded 8 Industry Enterprise (Industry 8 Enterprise)**
Activate sideloading key*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Join to a domain	No	No	No	Yes

* Sideloading key available through Volume Licensing.

** Enterprise edition available only through Volume Licensing.

Activate a sideloading product key on non-domain-joined devices

Before deploying your LOB app, you must first activate the sideloading product key on the non-domain-joined device running Industry 8.

Note

An app tile on the Start screen with an X in the lower-right corner indicates that the app is not running. To enable the app to run, allow all trusted applications to install or activate a sideloading product key.

To activate a sideloading product key

On the Industry 8 device, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following to add the sideloading product key, replacing <sideloading product key> with the 25-digit key to enable sideloading on the device:
```
slmgr /ipk <sideloading product key>
```
A Windows Scripting Host dialog box will be displayed as the activation is attempted and, when the activation is successful, it will indicate "Product activated successfully."
Type the following at the command prompt to add the sideloading activation GUID to the device:
```
Slmgr /ato ec67814b-30e6-4a50-bf7b-d55daf729d1e
```
Note

This activation GUID is not the same as the sideloading product key and must be entered exactly as shown.

For more information on Slmgr.vbs, see Slmgr.vbs Options.

Sideloading product keys can be obtained at the Volume Licensing Service Center. See Welcome to the Volume Licensing Service Center.

Setting Group Policy for sideloading on domain-joined devices

Before sideloading LOB apps to an Industry 8 device, you must join the device to an Active Directory domain and enable the Allow all trusted applications to install Group Policy setting.

To set Group Policy for sideloading

On the device running Industry 8, on the Start screen, type Edit Group Policy and click Settings, then select the Edit Group Policy setting from the search results.
Under Local Computer Policy in the left pane, click to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, click Windows Components, then click App Package Deployment.
Double-click the Allow all trusted apps to install setting.
In the Allow all trusted apps to install window, click Enabled, and then click OK.

Alternatively, from Windows PowerShell, the following cmdlets can be used to allow trusted applications:

New-Item HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx
New-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx -Name AllowAllTrustedApps –Value 1

To add an app to a device running Industry 8 using a Windows PowerShell cmdlet

You can install an app package (.appx) on a per-user basis by using the Add-AppxPackage PowerShell cmdlet. There is no limit to the number of LOB apps you can add for each user.

To add an .appx file, type the following from a Windows PowerShell prompt, replacing <app file> with the full path of the app file and <dependency app file> with the full path of any dependency app package, if any:

add-appxpackage <app file> -DependencyPath <dependency app file>

For more information, see App Installation Cmdlets in Windows Powershell.

Provisioning

Provisioning means to preinstall a Windows 8 app on an Industry 8 device for all users on that device. When a user signs into a device, any provisioned apps are automatically installed for that user if they are not already installed.

If a user uninstalls a provisioned app, reprovisioning the same version of the app does not reinstall the app for that user, but provisioning an updated version of the app does reinstall the app for all users. If you need to reinstall the same version of a provisioned app, you can manually reinstall the app for a specific user by using the Add-AppxPackage PowerShell command.

The Industry 8 device does not have to be joined to a domain or have an activated sideloading product key before you install provisioned LOB apps. However, the apps will not run until the device meets the sideloading requirements.

For more information, see Customize the Start Screen.

To add a provisioned LOB app to a device running Industry 8 with DISM

On the device running Industry 8, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following to add the LOB app to the device without a Windows Store, replacing <app file> with the full path of the app file:

DISM /Online /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackagePath: <app file> /SkipLicense

For more information, see DISM Supported Platforms.

To add a provisioned LOB app to a device running Industry 8 with a Windows Powershell cmdlet

To add an .appx file, type the following from a Windows PowerShell prompt, replacing <app folder path> with the full path of the app folder:

Add-AppxProvisionedPackage –Online –FolderPath  <app folder path>

For more information, see DISM App Package (.appx) Servicing Command-Line Options.

Taking inventory of installed LOB apps

You can inventory the LOB apps installed in an online or offline Industry 8 image and generate a list that includes the application name and any additional information available about the apps. You can list LOB applications per user account or list all LOB apps that are provisioned in the Industry 8 image.

For more information, see Take Inventory of an Image or Component

Take inventory of LOB apps by user account

To list all modern LOB apps installed for all users on a device

On the device running Industry 8, open Windows PowerShell with administrator rights and type the following:
```
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers
```

To list all modern LOB apps installed for a specific user on a device

On the device running Industry 8, open Windows PowerShell with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <domain\username> with the domain and username of the specific user:
```
Get-AppxPackage <domain\username>
```

To display the manifest of an app package (.appx) on a device

On the device running Industry 8, open Windows PowerShell with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <package id> with the name of the package:
```
Get-AppxPackageManifest –Package <package id>
```

To generate the manifest for an app package (.appx) if you don't know the full name

You can use piping to list the packages. For example, on the Industry 8 device, open Windows PowerShell with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <package name> with the name of the package:
```
(Get-AppxPackage –Name "*<substring>*"|Get-AppxPackageManifest).package.applications.application.id
```

Taking inventory of LOB apps provisioned in an Industry 8 image

For more information, see Take Inventory of an Image or Component

To use DISM to take inventory of the LOB apps that will be installed for each new user on a mounted online image

On the device running Industry 8, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following:
```
DISM /online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages
```

To use DISM to take inventory of the LOB apps that will be installed for each new user on a mounted offline image

Mount your Industry 8 image, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <image path> with the full path to your offline mounted image:
```
dism /image: <image path> /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages
```

To use Windows PowerShell to take inventory of the LOB apps that will be installed for each new user on an online image

On the device running Industry 8, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following:
```
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -online
```

To use Windows PowerShell to take inventory of the LOB apps that will be installed for each new user on a mounted offline image

Mount your Industry 8 image, open Windows PowerShell with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <image path> with the full path to your offline mounted image:
```
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage –path <image path>
```

Removing apps

You can remove individual instances of an app or remove the provisioning setting of an app.

To remove LOB apps per user account

You can remove a single app for the current user only.

On the device running Industry 8, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <package name> with the name of the app to remove:
```
Remove-AppxPackage <package name>
```

To remove provisioned LOB apps in an Industry 8 image

When you remove a provisioned app, the app is removed for the current user and will not be installed for the new user accounts. If there are other user accounts that are active on the computer, the application will not be removed from those accounts.

To use Windows PowerShell to remove provisioned LOB apps from an online image

On the device running Industry 8, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <package name> with the name of the app to remove:
```
Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage –online –PackageName <package name>
```

To use Windows PowerShell to remove provisioned LOB apps from a mounted offline image

Mount your Industry 8 image, open Windows PowerShell with administrator rights and type the following, replacing package name with the name of the app to remove and <image path> with the full path to your offline mounted image:
```
Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage –PackageName <package name> -Path <image path>
```

To use DISM to remove provisioned LOB apps from an online image

On the device running Industry 8, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <package name> with the name of the app to remove:
```
dism /online –Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName: <package name>
```

To use DISM to remove provisioned LOB apps from a mounted offline image

Mount your Industry 8 image, open a command prompt with administrator rights and type the following, replacing <image path> with the full path to your offline mounted image and <package name> with the name of the app to be removed:
```
dism /image: <image path> /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName: <package name>
```

Conclusion

Industry 8 not only supports new Windows 8 apps but also allows you to extend the value of your existing Windows LOB solutions through application compatibility. Industry 8 enables you to build apps that take advantage of the natural, intuitive experience of Windows 8 devices to deliver rich and powerful user experiences.

By enabling the addition and removal of new Windows 8 apps on embedded devices, enterprise customers can keep apps in compliance with corporate guidelines as well as provide a consistent user experience across all their specialized devices.

Additional Information

To learn more about Windows 8 apps on Industry 8, see the following resources:

Share via