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Does someone know how the licensing of WinRT apps work?

I have requested a free developer license from Microsoft and it seems that this is associated with the temporarykey.pfx or appxmanifest file. The problem is this expires every 30 days. I can renew the license but the application I was working on gives me an error "The debugger was unable to find the registration for the target application".

What should I do to continue developing on the same app?

This is a problem for us because we also need to use source control so might have more than one developer busy with the same project. Is this possible in WinRT or is development of a windows store app bound to one license per app? Would buying a business license solve this issue and what are the options?

Scenario 1: Developer A and Developer B both have individual developer licences. Developer A develops a Windows Store App on his machine. Developer A copies the whole application folder to Developer B's machine. Developer B is unable top run the application. Error "The debugger was unable to find the registration for the target application" is thrown. Both machines is on the company domain. Both developers are administrators on their machines.

Scenario 2: I have developed a windows store app. Files on my computer got corrupted which forced me to delete my userprofile on my machine. After creating a new userprofile and requesting a new temp developer licence with my same credentials on the same machine the error "The debugger was unable to find the registration for the target application" is thrown when trying to open my app I was working on previously.

Machines do get re-installed so scenario two will happen even if the app is in source control. How do I get around this problem? Can you export your licence to a physical file?

Thanks

jqIndy
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  • Not much information here. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh696646%28v=vs.110%29.aspx – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 20:21
  • I am not using any Beta Versions and this seems like a lucky hack.http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10599978/your-developer-license-has-expired-windows-8 – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 20:25
  • Ok guys this is a silly question: The point is licencing for windows store apps works fine but take note you cannot copy builds back and forth between machines even if each machine has a valid license. I see there's an option in the app manifest to select an external license file. Not sure if you can use this. Just use your proper source control and you're sorted. Thanks Hans for your assistance! – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 22:46
  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br230260(v=vs.110).aspx – jqIndy Sep 01 '13 at 12:09
  • http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11303535/should-i-add-my-metro-apps-temporarykey-pfx-file-to-version-control – jqIndy Sep 01 '13 at 12:09
  • Another interesting post here - How to share your Metro style application for Windows 8 with another developer http://blogs.msdn.com/b/matt-harrington/archive/2012/04/14/how-to-share-your-metro-style-windows-8-app-with-another-developer.aspx – jqIndy Sep 05 '13 at 06:48

2 Answers2

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This is just not how it works. A Store app can only run on your machine when it has a valid certification key. This key promises the user that the app was verified by Microsoft to be free from malware and basic defects and meets the Windows Application Certification requirements. This helps the user trust the Store to get apps that are not going to mess with his machine or are just a waste of money and time.

There is a chicken-and-egg problem when you develop such an app, clearly your app is unlikely to meet these requirements when you first start out. So you can obtain a temporary key to allow you to debug and test your app on your dev machine. It is good for one month, if you need more time then you simply obtain another one. It is automatic when you open your solution in Visual Studio. Every developer in your team obtains his own, you do not check it in. Once your app is stable enough and you've checked it yourself with the WACK to meet the certification requirements then you submit it to the Store. Once it is approved, it will be signed with a permanent key and can be downloaded by anyone.

Hans Passant
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  • Don't get me wrong I totally agree to the certification/licensing process when the application gets deployed. My problem is during development. Code cannot be shared. Even if two developers have their own license the same app cannot be opened by both. I mean surely you should be able to apply your license to the app. Can you not just modify the manifest? – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 20:39
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    There is no problem with code sharing at all. Every dev builds his own copy of the program from the source code with his own temporary key embedded. I have no idea what you might be talking about. – Hans Passant Aug 31 '13 at 20:51
  • See updated scenario 1 in question. I'll post more scenarios. Thanks – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 21:58
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    You are being remarkably dense about this. Perhaps intentionally, surely you understand the flaw in this approach by now? Developers work from source code. You get to copy executables once you got the permanent key. The loophole of "there MUST be a way to write a Store app without going through the hassle" you are pursuing is a closed one, of course they already thought of that. Stop trying to cheat the system, it won't work. – Hans Passant Aug 31 '13 at 22:13
  • Haha No this was not intentionally and I am not trying to do a workaround I am just new to WinRT. I've just done the following excersize as well. I've manually uninstalled my developer license and can confirm that after opening my existing application I had to re apply for a developer licence which I did. After doing this the app ran without problems. But take note of this: What happened previously is I had a Store app developed, some files on my machine got corrupted which forced me to remove and reinstall my user profile completely. This is the first time I got the errors. – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 22:20
  • We are using Sourcegear Vault as our source control and I must admit I have not yet tested this fully. Thanks to your confirmation I think I will sleep better tonight. Thanks for your help I'll send an update after testing this. – jqIndy Aug 31 '13 at 22:23
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This is the correct answer for Sharing an App Package Locally.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh975356(v=vs.110).aspx

jqIndy
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  • this is only at the package level and not at the source/project level which seemed to be your main question. – Tim Heuer Sep 10 '13 at 15:27