How to Download Offline Installer (APPX/MSIX) for Microsoft Store App

Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications from the Microsoft Store require you to install them online. However, when you actually install a UWP application, the Microsoft Store client downloads and installs application package files in .Appx, .AppxBundle, .Msix, or .Msixbundle format on your computer. In this article, we’ll look at how to manually download and install the APPX/MSIX file of any UWP application without Microsoft Store on Windows 10 and 11.

Download APPX/MSIX App Packages without the Microsoft Store

To download the installation files (APPX and MSIX) for the UWP packages and their dependencies from the Microsoft Store, you must obtain direct links to download them.

1. Start your browser, go to the Microsoft App Store (https://apps.microsoft.com/), and use search to find the application you need. Copy the URL of the app in the store from your browser’s address bar. As an example, we are going to download the MSIX and APPX package files to install WhatsApp on an offline Windows computer. The URL of this app is https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NKSQGP7F2NH?hl=en-us&gl=en;
2. Navigate to the website https://store.rg-adguard.net/ (this online service allows you to get direct download links to APPX/MSIX installation files in the Store). Paste the WhatsApp link into the URL search bar and select Retail (it is the default Windows channel) from the drop-down list;
3. You will see a list of links to the app installation files and required dependencies. Dependencies are applications and libraries that need to be installed for your application to work properly;
4. As you can see, there are a lot of links to download files in the list. There is no need to download them all. First, check the bitness of the version of Windows installed on your computer. For Windows 10 x64, you need packages whose names end in x64(for the 32-bit version of Windows, you need to download x86packages; and for an ARM version of Windows – arm);
5. Also note the versions of the dependency files. No need to download all the files. It is usually sufficient to download the latest version of the package. For example, in this example, you should only download the latest version of the Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00.UWPDesktop library.
   Direct downloads of APPX files from the MS Store may be blocked by the built-in Microsoft Edge browser. Allow download of these files.
6. Packages with *.appxbundle, *.msixbundle (MSI installer) and *.EAppx (appx application update) extensions may be included in the resulting list of files. If the downloaded file does not have an extension, manually add the .appxbundle extension;
7. Download APPX, MSIX, APPXBUNDLE, and MSIXBUNDLE files. In my example, the list of files looks like this:

   5319275A.WhatsAppDesktop_2.2401.5.0_neutral_~_cv1g1gvanyjgm.Msixbundle 
   Microsoft.NET.Native.Framework.2.2_2.2.29512.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx 
   Microsoft.NET.Native.Runtime.2.2_2.2.28604.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx 
   Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8_8.2310.30001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx 
   Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00.UWPDesktop_14.0.33519.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx 
   Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00_14.0.33519.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.Appx
   

So, you have downloaded all the required APPX or MSIX files for the UWP app from the Microsoft Store. The last section of this post describes how to manually install the app from downloaded APPX files.

To automatically download all the application installation APPX/MSIX files and dependencies from the Microsoft Store using the specified link, you can use the PowerShell function Download-AppxPackage from our GitHub repo (https://github.com/maxbakhub/winposh/blob/main/WindowsDesktopManagement/Download-AppxPackage.ps1):

Download-AppxPackage "https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NKSQGP7F2NH" "$ENV:USERPROFILE\Desktop"

How to Download APPX/MSIX Files from Microsoft Store with Fiddler

Use the Fiddler tool to inspect and debug the HTTP traffic of the Microsoft Store application to get a direct link to download the application’s APPX/MSIX installation files (this method is slightly more complicated than the previous one). During the installation of the UWP app, a Microsoft Store client on a computer receives a direct HTTPS link to download the .APPX/.MSIX file. With Fiddler, you can capture this URL address.

1. Download the FiddlerSetup.exe installation file from the official website (https://www.telerik.com/download/fiddler);
2. Run fiddler.exe and click on the WinConfig button in the navigation bar;
3. In the AppContainer Loopback Utility extension, select the Microsoft Store as the application for which you want to inspect the traffic, and then save the changes;
   Note. The list of installed UWP apps can be quite small if all built-in Microsoft Store apps have been removed from the Windows image or manually uninstalled using PowerShell. 
4. Clear the current log in the Fiddler window: Edit -> Remove -> All Sessions (Ctrl + X);
5. Run the Microsoft Store app (quick launch command ms-windows-store:), Find the app you need and install it. In this example, we are going to get a link to download the APPX installer of the Calculator Free app;
6. Switch to the Fiddler window with a list of Store app HTTP sessions. Search for an event for access to a URL with an application’s APPX file (Find -> type appx ->Find sessions);
7. Fiddler will highlight URLs with the keyword appx in yellow. Search for a line like: Result: 200, Protocol: HTTP, Host: tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com. Copy the received URL to the clipboard by selecting Copy -> Just Url;
   
8. In my example, the URL looks like this   _http://tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com/filestreamingservice/files/33e08cf2-faf3-4e23-a9a3-5d7c0502a6a4?P1=1627653445& P2=404&P3=2&P4=F%2fZeZWLKUurYuEwkJjnfuFc9zUJxjfiKD%2fGpH5OdktlnVwrfdcLsHeQER5c1RA5b%2fwH1ZVPQ8cJLOgWcoKEXjg%3d%3d
9. Download the APPX file located at the URL you received.

Installing APPX/MSIX App Files on Windows without Store

You can install the resulting APPX (appxbundle) or MSIX (appxbundle) files and their dependencies on Windows offline (bypassing the Microsoft Store). This process is known as a sideload.

Double-click the APPX file and confirm the installation.

PowerShell cmdlet can also be used to install the APPX application and its dependencies. A separate APPX/MSIX package can be installed from a file using the following command:

add-appxpackage –path "C:\Distr\WhatsApp\5319275A.WhatsAppDesktop_2.2401.5.0_neutral_~_cv1g1gvanyjgm.Msixbundle"

You can use PowerShell to install several appx/appxbundle files and their dependencies from the source directory at once:

$Path = 'C:\distr\WhatsApp\'
Get-Childitem $Path -filter *.appx| %{Add-AppxPackage -Path $_.FullName}
Get-Childitem $Path -filter *.appxbundle | %{Add-AppxPackage -Path $_.FullName}

Check that your application is installed and that its icon appears in the Start menu.

An error will occur if you attempt to install an APPX without first installing the dependencies:

Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CF3, Package failed updates, dependency, or conflict validation.
Windows cannot install resource package XXXXX because the app package it requires could not be found. Ensure that the app package is installed before installing the resource package.

The graphical MS Store application installer may show the required package names that need to be installed first:

App Installer failed to install package dependencies. Ask the developer for XXXXX package.

How to Use WinGet to Install Microsoft Store Apps

You can install UWP apps from the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 and 11 using the built-in WinGet package manager:

1. Find the application ID in the MS Store: winget search whatsapp --source=msstore
2. Copy the ID from the target msstore app URL or from the previous command (for WhatsApp it is 9NKSQGP7F2NH);
3. Install the UWP app using the winget command: winget install 9NKSQGP7F2NH -s msstore