Create and install a package

Article
10/15/2018

Packages are the building blocks of Windows 10 IoT Core. From device drivers to system files, every component must be packaged to install on a device. Packages are the smallest servicable units on the device.

Step 1: Get set up

Install the tools

Set up your environment

Launch IoTCorePShell.cmd ( this one launches in the elevated prompt )
Create a new workspace using new-ws C:\MyWorkspace <oemname> <arch>

To create your own image (FFU), follow the steps outlined in the "Create a basic image" lab in the IoT Manufacturing guide.

Step 2: Create a new package

Create a package definition xml file (.wm.xml file), and specify the files and reg keys you want to add. Learn more at Windows Universal OEM Package Schema.
Build the package: buildpkg filename.wm.xml. The .cab file will be created in the build directory <workspace>\Build\<arch>\pkgs.

Create a package with files and reg keys

Below is an example for specifying files and reg keys.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<identity xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    name="SUBNAME" namespace="COMPNAME" owner="Contoso" legacyName="Contoso.COMPNAME.SUBNAME" 
    xmlns="urn:Microsoft.CompPlat/ManifestSchema.v1.00">
    <onecorePackageInfo
        targetPartition="MainOS"
        releaseType="Production"
        ownerType="OEM" />
    <regKeys>
        <regKey
            keyName="$(hklm.software)\Contoso\Test">
            <regValue name="StringValue" type="REG_SZ" value="Test string" />
            <regValue name="DWordValue" type="REG_DWORD" value="0x12AB34CD" />
            <regValue name="BinaryValue" type="REG_BINARY" value="12ABCDEF" />
        </regKey>
        <regKey
            keyName="$(hklm.software)\Contoso\EmptyKey" />
    </regKeys>
    <files>
        <file
            destinationDir="$(runtime.system32)"
            source="filename.txt" />
        <file
            destinationDir="$(runtime.bootDrive)\OEMInstall"
            source="filename2.txt"
            name="filename2.txt" />
    </files>
</identity>

Create an Appx package

Use Add-IoTAppxPackage to generate the .wm.xml file for a given appx file. This tool expects the appx dependencies in the sub directory named "dependencies" in the folder containing the appx file.

Add-IoTAppxPackage HelloWorld.appx fga Appx.HelloWorld
(or) newappxpkg HelloWorld.appx fga Appx.HelloWorld
New-IoTCabPackage Appx.HelloWorld
(or) buildpkg Appx.HelloWorld

fga sets the appx as the foreground startup app, bgt sets the appx as the background task and none skips startup configuration. For older commandline tool, see newappxpkg.cmd

See Appx.IoTCoreDefaultApp as an example.

When you have to install multiple applications signed with same certificate, you can add the certificate along with one app and for the remaining apps, you can skip adding the certificate using the skipcert flag.

newappxpkg AnotherApp.appx none Appx.AnotherApp skipcert

Create a driver package

The driver package contains the references (InfSource) to the Inf file for the driver. You can author the driver .wm.xml file manually or use Add-IoTDriverPackage that generates package xml based on the input inf file.

Add-IoTDriverPackage C:\Mydriver\GPIO.inf MyDriver.GPIO
(or) newdrvpkg C:\Mydriver\GPIO.inf MyDriver.GPIO
New-IoTCabPackage MyDriver.GPIO
(or) buildpkg MyDriver.GPIO

For the older commandline tool, use inf2cab.cmd creates the package xml file and also builds the cab file directly by invoking buildpkg.cmd internally.

Note

Windows IoT Core supports Universal Inf only.

Step 3: Install on device

Connect to the device (using SSH or using Powershell)
Copy the <filename>.cab file to the device to a directory say C:\OemInstall
Initiate staging of the package using applyupdate -stage C:\OemInstall\<filename>.cab. Note that this step is be repeated for each package, when you have multiple packages to install.
Commit the packages using applyupdate -commit.