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Project properties

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This topic describes the project properties that you can set in your Visual Studio project file to customize how your app is deployed.

Property name and description Values For more info
AppxPackage. Specifies whether or not a WinUI 3 app is packaged. false (for an unpackaged app), or absent (for a packaged app) Create a new project for an unpackaged WinUI 3 desktop app
EnableMsixTooling. Enables the single-project MSIX feature for a project. true (to enable), or absent (to disable) Package your app using single-project MSIX
UseWinUI. Specifies whether you're using the Windows UI Library 3 (WinUI 3) user interface framework in your app. true, or absent (for false) Windows UI Library in the Windows App SDK (WinUI 3)
WindowsAppSdkBootstrapInitialize. Determines whether or not the Windows App SDK leverages module initializers to call the bootstrapper API automatically at app startup. true (the default for executables), false (the default for non-executables) Opting out of (or into) automatic module initialization
WindowsAppSdkSelfContained. Determines whether or not an app is deployed self-contained. true, or absent (for false) Windows App SDK deployment guide for self-contained apps
WindowsAppSdkUndockedRegFreeWinRTInitialize. Determines whether or not the Windows App SDK's implementation of undocked registration-free Windows Runtime (UndockedRegFreeWinRT) is enabled automatically at app startup. true (the default for executables), false (the default for non-executables) Opting out of (or into) automatic UndockedRegFreeWinRT support
WindowsPackageType. Setting <WindowsPackageType>None</WindowsPackageType> for an unpackaged app causes the auto-initializer to locate and load a version of the Windows App SDK version that's most appropriate for your app. None, or absent (to disable the auto-initializer) Create a new project for an unpackaged WinUI 3 desktop app

Behind the scenes, and opting out of automatic module initialization

Example

Here's an excerpt from a typical .csproj file for a C# WinUI 3 project showing some of the project properties from the table above in use.

...
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net6.0-windows10.0.19041.0</TargetFramework>
    <TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.17763.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>
    ...
    <UseWinUI>true</UseWinUI>
    <EnableMsixTooling>true</EnableMsixTooling>
  </PropertyGroup>
...