How do I get a sideload product key in order to deploy windows store app into Windows 8 pro and windows RT

Question

I have 300 or more tablets I need to roll out my newly created metro style app to. I've done these steps but what is next:

Go to the Visual Studio store menu

Select Create  app packages

When prompted for whether the package is for the store select no

Follow the prompts as usual for platform etc.

When completed open the output folder

In the output folder will be a folder named after your app with the extension _Test

This folder contains everything needed to sideload your app

Copy this folder to the target machine

In this folder is a file named Add-AppDevPackage.ps1 

Right click the file and select Run with PowerShell

Then follow the instructions. If there is no developer license on the machine,

you will be walked through adding one. You will be asked to accept the key which Visual Studio has created for you.

So that's it. Run Add-AppDevPackage with PowerShell and accept all prompts.

 Marked as answer by Roberts_E (Microsoft Moderator) Thursday, November 14, 2013 5:25 PM

I can't do the developer license on all 300 tablets?? and the key Visual Studio provides is a temporary key right?

Help

Answer 1

I was able to resolve my issue once I worked with Microsoft Professional Services. Here are the steps needed to deploy a Windows 8 Store app for anyone else looking for help on this.

• Create your app package in Visual Studio
• Create an app certificate using PowerShell as administrator; here is one way to do it
• Install the app on the device
• Ensure Device has the correct GP settings
• Install the application on the device; refer to the section called Sideload the app for user
• If you run your app now you should get an error, this is because you have not installed a Sideloading Key

And the missing piece of the puzzle: What is a Sideload key and how can I get one?

• Documentation on this is confusing so here is what I needed to know and found out

  • Sideload key is a product key that is needed to be added to the device so that it can use Windows 8 apps that are not from the Store
  • It is not a requirement to have the machine joined to the domain or have Windows Enterprise installed on it. In my case my target was a Windows 8.0 Pro tablet.
  • You do not need Windows 8.1 to use sideloading; it will work on Windows 8.0 as well
  • You can purchase a key from a Third Party Distributor but you will need to know what to ask for
  • Ask for a Windows 8 Sideloading Key, sometimes referred to as a Windows 8 Embedded Sideloading product key. They cost about $100.00 a pop but they sell them as a Volume License so the minimum you can buy is 5.
    However in my case it turned out that my company had an Enterprise Sideloading License, I just needed to know who to ask and what to ask for.

• Once you get your xxxxx-xxxxx- Slideloading key from the distributor, here are the steps to installing it on the device (Section 2 Step 3)
  Once I installed that my application worked.

Answer 2

This is a system adminstration question, not a development question.

You are right. You don't want to use the developer license in production. See Try It Out: Sideload Windows Store Apps on TechNet for how to enable side-loading on your systems.

If your Windows 8.1 Pro systems are on a domain then they don't need a separate key. You just need to enable them for side-loading. See Windows 8.1 Update: Sideloading Enhancements

The Windows RT systems can't join the domain so they'll need a key. If you're enrolled in a volume license program (see the Sideloading Enhancements link for which ones) you should be able to get side-loading keys from that. If not then you can buy an Enterprise Sideloading key through the Open License program.

See the Windows Volume Licensing Guide and Sideloading Licensing Changes FAQ