MSIXAUTH not supported on this OS about msix-packaging HOT 7 CLOSED

You added &msixauth=aad inside the .appinstaller file? If so, it may be fixed by changing it to &msixauth=aad. Since the .appinstaller is an XML file, & has to be escaped. Although it's not clear to me how that would cause that error.

That error message seems to not have been updated since before Windows 11 came out, I'll update it.

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I'm using the "Create App Installer file" task from within a classic release pipeline, and add the &msixauth=aad to its "Main Packagre/Bundle URI" parameter. And if I review the resulting .appinstaller file, it is escaped as you suggested. So I think this is all fine.

I then checked the logs at %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\TempState and what I do see there is
[Fri Nov 17 15:22:19 2023]{25000d} GetIsAuthenticatedLinkSupported -> False
So, to me it looks as if either Windows or my user account is not configured correctly to use this feature?

And one last question maybe: The documentation tells that only the .msix file is allowed to require authentication, while the .appinstaller file must be publicly accessible. But the log file at least checks on the .appinstaller whether its using auth or not:
[Fri Nov 17 15:22:17 2023]{25000d} Parsed AppInstaller URI: source: [https://*******.azurewebsites.net/MyApp.appinstaller], activationUri: [N/A], checkForUdpates: [N/A], msixauth [no]
So, maybe the documentation is wrong and it must be protected, too?

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That log line for GetIsAuthenticatedLinkSupported is a red herring, it always returns false and the check that is actually used for the feature is performed after that. I need to fix that.
The line you're actually interested in is the one that says GetIsAuthenticatedLinkForAzureSupported right after that. Authenticated links are only supported on Windows 11.

So, maybe the documentation is wrong and it must be protected, too?

.appinstaller files protected behind AAD auth are only supported in the latest version of App Installer (v1.21+). Previous versions do check for msixauth as you see in the logs, but there was a bug that prevented it to work properly for .appinstaller files.

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Thanks for the reply, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm a bit confused with versions, names and projects (App-Installer vs. msixCore vs. msix-cli vs. win-get).
So, maybe you can be answer thefollowng questions:

• Is this msixauth feature currently supposed to work on Windows 11 23H2?
• what is the required version of app-installer to get this to work?
• how can I check the curently installed version of app-installer?
• where can I get the latest version if not installed?
• Is there anything else I have to make sure that it is installed / configured?

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Small update: This seems to be the version I'm using, if I don't confuse anything here:
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.22.3172.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

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how can I check the curently installed version of app-installer?

Programmatically?

TryGetAppInstallerVersionForCurrentUser()
{
    var package = PackageManager.FindPackageForUser("", "Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe")
    if found return package.Id.Version
}

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.management.deployment.packagemanager.findpackageforuser?view=winrt-22621

Interactively?

powershell -c Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller

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I'm a bit confused with versions, names and projects (App-Installer vs. msixCore vs. msix-cli vs. win-get)

Yeah, it's pretty confusing...

• App Installer (app) - a GUI to install MSIX/APPX packages, it's the popup you see when you double-click on a .msix file
• .appinstaller (file extension) - files that help with auto-updates of packages, the update will sometimes trigger the App Installer (app) UI.
• Windows Package Manager or winget; https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli - a command line to tool install applications (not limited to MSIX). It also includes APIs for other applications to do installs.
• MSIX Core (msixmgr.exe); https://github.com/Microsoft/msix-packaging/tree/master/MsixCore - allows installation of MSIX packages on older versions of Windows that don't have support for it (e.g. Windows 7). I think it doesn't support the full set of features MSIX has, but I don't know the specifics
• MSIX SDK; https://github.com/Microsoft/msix-packaging - a multi-platform, open-source version of the tools and APIs needed to create an MSIX; it does not have parity with the Windows-only tools available in the Windows SDK, like makeappx.exe

I don't know what msix-cli is

Most of these things have independent version numbers, except for App Installer (app) and winget. winget is included in the same package as App Installer (Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller), but it has a different version number. For example, the latest release version of App Installer is 1.21.3133.0, which includes winget 1.6.3133.0. The second part of the version has an offset, but the first and third part are the same. The next preview version has App Installer v1.22 and winget v1.7.

• Is this msixauth feature currently supposed to work on Windows 11 23H2?

Yes.

• what is the required version of app-installer to get this to work?

v1.21. In previous versions you could use msixauth but only with packages, not .appinstaller files

• how can I check the curently installed version of app-installer?

There are multiple ways

• From PowerShell you can do Get-AppPackage *AppInstaller* and you don't need to remember the Microsoft.Desktop part.
• If you have the GUI up, there is an "info" button at the bottom left
• Running winget --info. You can also do winget --version but then you would have to map that to the package version

• where can I get the latest version if not installed?

From the Microsoft Store listing, or from the winget Releases page. If you get it from the winget Releases, you will get a .msixbundle that you will then have to install. There are also the short links https://aka.ms/GetWinGet and https://aka.ms/GetWinGetPreview

• Is there anything else I have to make sure that it is installed / configured?

There shouldn't be.

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