I'm new here, so hi!
So basically, I'm trying to convert my game to an APPX via the DAC. It's a single (with app assets folder, etc) non-installer .exe file.
When I go through the conversion steps, everything works up until the Creation of an Isolated Environment.
Then, it gets stuck at "Waiting for installer process to complete inside Isolated Environment"
I have read many threads about this, and everyone says to add in -InstallerArguments "/silent" (or /s or /quiet or /verysilent) to get it to continue, but none of those worked, and it still gets stuck. It doesn't freeze or anything, it just doesn't continue past that point.
If it helps, the command I used is:
DesktopAppConverter.exe -Installer "C:\Users\ygman\Desktop\GameDevelopment\SNaLBUILD\FULLBuild\WinSNaL\Seek Not a Lighthouse.exe" -InstallerArguments "/silent" -AppExecutable "Seek Not a Lighthouse.exe" -Destination C:\Users\ygman\Desktop\GameDevelopment\SNaLBUILD\FULLBuild\UWP -PackageName "SeekNotALighthouse" -Publisher "CN=MidnightCoffee" -Version 1.0.1.0 -MakeAppx -Sign -Verbose -Verify
Thank you so much for any help! :)
Your installer should support running in non-interactive mode in order to work with Desktop App Converter tool from Microsoft. That's why they suggest passing a parameter to it. However not all installers support non-interactive mode of execution.
There is a free tool from Advanced Installer's team (https://www.advancedinstaller.com/desktop-bridge-setup-converter.html), that seems to be easier to use (don't need to use special OS image) and support more features than Microsoft's DAC tool. Quoting them below:
With the help of the Desktop Bridge team from Microsoft we built the Desktop Bridge Setup Converter to cover for all the missing features from Microsoft's Desktop App Converter. Here are the most important ones:
- Convert any installation, no matter if it installs silently or not.
- You do not need the matching Docker image anymore, you can use any virtual machine. Hyper-V and VMware come with built-in management support.
- Detection of high level constructs, like file type associations or firewall rules and mapping those entries accordingly in the AppXManifest file.
- It's all GUI based, so no more problems with discovering command line switches or typos.
- Your application can be launched with an argument (i.e. shortcut arguments).
- Your package can contain multiple applications. GUI to customize the resources included in the package, with a simple click.
- One-click digital signature support.
- Conversion project: reload, edit and rebuild your AppX package in seconds.
Haven't found the time to try it yet, however it sounds promising.