How to install .XAP files on WP8 devices with no mSD (which is many WP8 devices)

[JediTWang]

Can someone please advise how one goes about doing that?
I want to install this app which -sadly- is no longer published on the windows store:
Hardware Tests | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (Australia)

The only info I could find was this tute on how to install XAP files on WP devices that support mSD:
How do I install apps from an SD card? | Windows Phone How-to (Australia)
But surely there's now hacks to get round that limitation...


Thank-you.
P.S.
If there's a better sub-forum than this (more relevant/interested eyes etc) please advise.
There's so many sub-forums in this forum that it's a bit overwhelming (esp. late a night)!

 

[greedypnguin]

Re: How to install .XAP files on WP8 devices without a mSD (which is most nowadays!)

Sorry OS limitations prevent you from doing this

 

[JediTWang]

What about interup-lock & other similar such facilitations...
I highly doubt it's as simple as: "Sorry, you can't do that." Where there's a will there's almost certainly a way.
It's been the case for every mobile/embedded platform since ~2005 (& prior no doubt), including WM.

 

[hopmedic]

If the app is no longer published, you won't be able to install the xap. When installing, the phone checks the store to see if you are authorized to install the app, and published status is one of the things checked. Windows Phone 8 is far more secure than Windows Mobile and Windows CE before it (which WM is based on). If you're interested in hacking, check over at XDA, but I'm still going to say it isn't going to work. This isn't your grandma's mobile OS.

 

[neo158]

What about interup-lock & other similar such facilitations...
I highly doubt it's as simple as: "Sorry, you can't do that." Where there's a will there's almost certainly a way.
It's been the case for every mobile/embedded platform since ~2005 (& prior no doubt), including WM.

As others have stated you can't install an app that is no longer published, the phone checks the store to see if the app is the latest version and if you are authorised to install it i.e. you paid for it.

An interop unlock won't help either. Not only that but the only WP8 device to have an interop unlock is the ATIV S which I'm guessing isn't the phone you own judging by the subject of this thread.

 

[marcomura]

I highly doubt it's as simple as: "Sorry, you can't do that." Where there's a will there's almost certainly a way.

Unfortunately this time it is.

The XAP you downloaded (from the official web store) is an encrypted XAP that can be unencrypted only by Microsoft (it is the only one who owns the private key), so unless someone cracks this encryption there is nothing you can do.
In order to install this kind of XAP, you need to put this in the sd memory, then open the Store, request to install it, the store checks the app validity, etc etc. So, since this app is no loger published, even owning a phone with an SD memory you wouldn't be able to install this app.

The other XAPs, the ones you can install "offline" with an unlocked phone (sideloading, technically speaking) from dev-unlocked to beyond, are unencrypted XAPs (e.g., xaps generated by visual studio). With this one you would be able to install the app, but of course you cannot obtain this unless the developer publish it somewhere.

 

[JediTWang]

The XAP you downloaded (from the official web store) is an encrypted XAP that can be unencrypted only by Microsoft (it is the only one who owns the private key), so unless someone cracks this encryption there is nothing you can do.

Bummer.....

In order to install this kind of XAP, you need to put this in the sd memory, then open the Store, request to install it, the store checks the app validity, etc etc. So, since this app is no loger published, even owning a phone with an SD memory you wouldn't be able to install this app.

So, apps that are no longer "published" typically get encrypted?

The other XAPs, the ones you can install "offline" with an unlocked phone (sideloading, technically speaking) from dev-unlocked to beyond, are unencrypted XAPs (e.g., xaps generated by visual studio). With this one you would be able to install the app, but of course you cannot obtain this unless the developer publish it somewhere.

I don't suppose you can you elaborate upon the different variants of "unlocked" phones (dev-unlocked etc), & their different levels of credentials etc?
I've been advised elsewhere to do some research on xap deployer, I'll look into it as a (potential) solution for unencrypted XAPs.

 

[hopmedic]

Bummer.....


So, apps that are no longer "published" typically get encrypted?


I don't suppose you can you elaborate upon the different variants of "unlocked" phones (dev-unlocked etc), & their different levels of credentials etc?
I've been advised elsewhere to do some research on xap deployer, I'll look into this further for a solution for unencrypted XAPs.

There isn't a phone that you can install an app on using a xap of a no-longer-published app. The xap was encrypted when the app was published, and hasn't changed since. It is still encrypted. Additionally, as you've been told by several of us, when installing a xap from an SD card, the phone checks the store to be sure you have the right to install the app, before it is allowed to be installed. If the app is no longer published, you don't have rights to install. End of story.

Also, apps don't run without security certificates, and published apps have been signed, and Microsoft can (and has) revoke a certificate. If they do, then even if you've installed an app on your phone, the app that has had a security certificate revoked will no longer run. When you launch it, you will get a pop-up that tells you that the app will be uninstalled. If you click OK, it uninstalls. If you click cancel, it does not, but it still won't run.

A developer unlocked phone allows a developer to side-load apps, using xap files, but those files, having not been published, are not encrypted. They are also not signed. Therefore a developer unlocked phone will run apps that have no certificates, but not published apps without certs. A developer can only install a certain number of side-loaded apps, from 3 to 10, I believe, depending on what level/type of developer account he has. 10 is the max. But even a developer-unlocked phone will not install a xap of an app that was but is no longer published. I've tried with my developer-unlocked phone. I've had apps in the Windows Phone Store for nearly three years.

You are not going to install the app that you have a xap for, unless it is a xap from the developer, that hasn't been published - and even then, you'd need to dev-unlock your phone. If the xap came from the store, you will not install it. I promise you that.

 

[JediTWang]

You seem to be under the impression I'm still trying install that encrypted xap, I'm not, my Qns were to be taken on face value & not read into any more than that.
If you can drop the condescending tone, & address the Qns directly that'd be great, if you're not able to, that's also fine.

 

[hopmedic]

You seem to be under the impression I'm still trying install that encrypted xap, I'm not, my Qns were to be taken on face value & not read into any more than that.
If you can drop the condescending tone, & address the Qns directly that'd be great, if you're not able to, that's also fine.

I did. Nothing condescending there.

 

[JediTWang]

Perhaps, but in a way that assumed "intent" waaay too much.
There's ways of being informative & then ways of being informative.
Thanks, all the same...

E.g. I don't see a specific addressal of whether apps are always encrypted when published.
Nor a specific/concise addressal of the 2nd/3rd points really, but it is 3am here & bed time, so I'll review later.

Thanks again.

 

[hopmedic]

I didn't assume anything. I answered based on the context of this discussion. I am thus far incapable of telepathy. I'm sorry if that offends you.