His work has even appeared on the front page of Reddit.Īrticles he's written have been used as a source for everything from books like Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff, media theory professor at the City University of New York's Queens College and CNN contributor, to university textbooks and even late-night TV shows like Comedy Central's with Chris Hardwick. His roundups of new features in Windows 10 updates have been called "the most detailed, useful Windows version previews of anyone on the web" and covered by prominent Windows journalists like Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley on TWiT's Windows Weekly. Instructional tutorials he's written have been linked to by organizations like The New York Times, Wirecutter, Lifehacker, the BBC, CNET, Ars Technica, and John Gruber's Daring Fireball. The news he's broken has been covered by outlets like the BBC, The Verge, Slate, Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, ZDNet, The Next Web, and Techmeme. Beyond the column, he wrote about everything from Windows to tech travel tips. He founded PCWorld's "World Beyond Windows" column, which covered the latest developments in open-source operating systems like Linux and Chrome OS. He also wrote the USA's most-saved article of 2021, according to Pocket.Ĭhris was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Beyond the web, his work has appeared in the print edition of The New York Times (September 9, 2019) and in PCWorld's print magazines, specifically in the August 2013 and July 2013 editions, where his story was on the cover. With over a decade of writing experience in the field of technology, Chris has written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Reader's Digest, IDG's PCWorld, Digital Trends, and MakeUseOf. Chris has personally written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times-and that's just here at How-To Geek. Applications must be installable without any user input or you can't convert them.Ĭhris Hoffman is the former Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek.
The -InstallerArguments "/S" option here passes the /S switch to the installer, which makes many application installers install silently without any user input. You'll need to adjust the command to add your own publisher name, version, package name, and point it at the installer file and destination directory you prefer. PackageName "MyApp" -Publisher "CN=" -Version 0.0.0.1 -MakeAppx -Verbose –Installer C:\Installer\MyApp.exe -InstallerArguments "/S" -Destination C:\Output\MyApp \DesktopAppConverter.ps1 -ExpandedBaseImage C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Images\BaseImage-14316 Here's a command you can use and adjust for your application: To view the detailed list of options, you can run the following command at any time: You'll need the application's installer to do this.
You can now run the DesktopAppConverter.ps1 script from an Administrator PowerShell window to convert a desktop application to a UWP application in a single command. However, if you're a developer, Microsoft offers a path to getting your desktop application into a cross-platform UWP application: "If you choose to move all of your app's functionality out of the full-trust partition of the app and into the app container partition, then your app will be able to run on any Windows 10 device." They won't work on Windows 10 Mobile smartphones, Xbox One, HoloLens, Surface Hub, and the other Windows 10 platforms that run UWP apps. The resulting applications are intended for Windows 10 PCs. This will change in future Insider builds of Windows 10. Currently, this tool can only be used on 64-bit versions of Windows, and the resulting AppX package can only be installed on 64-bit versions of Windows. As of build 14316, it only worked on Windows 10 Enterprise, but support for Windows 10 Professional is coming. Windows 10 Home users won't be able to use the Desktop App Converter. This feature also requires either the Professional or Enterprise editions of Windows 10. NET Windows desktop applications to the Windows Store and the new Universal Windows Platform. This feature is the end result of Microsoft's Project Centennial, which is designed to bring those "legacy" Win32 and. Related: What's New in Windows 10's Anniversary Update This feature will arrive for everyone with Windows 10's Anniversary Update, bringing many "legacy" applications to the Windows Store. You can then sideload this app on your own PC, or-if you're the application's developer-you can submit the resulting UWP app to the Windows Store.
With Windows 10's converter, just give it a. With Windows 10's Anniversary Update, Microsoft is making it possible for developers to convert traditional Windows desktop applications to Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications. But anyone can do this with any app-not just developers. How to Install the App Without Signing It.How to Set Up the Desktop App Converter.