Desktop App Converter

Desktop App Converter was designed to help advanced system users, such as software developers or programmers convert desktop applications into UWP ones.

This program lets users convert applications that were written for Win32 or .NET 4.6.1 into Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps by running their original installers through the utility in order to retrieve an AppX package. The package can be installed via the Add-AppxPackage PowerShell command.

The desktop installer is launched in a sandboxed Windows environment based on a clean Windows image. The converter captures file system and registry input or output. The collected data is packaged as part of the output. The resulting AppX comes with package identity and can call a broad variety of WinRT APIs.

Desktop App Converter requires the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview operating system to run since it is based on several of its features that are provided in the builds mentioned above. Users also need to download the WIM base image file that suits their Insider Preview builds. After all the requirements are met, the "Set-ExecutionPolicy bypass" command needs to be executed from a PowerShell window with Administrator rights.

Setting up the converter further also requires users to run the ".DesktopAppConverter.ps1 -Setup -BaseImage .BaseImage-1XXXX.wim -Verbose" command. After setting it up, it can be used by either its Command Shell or PowerShell entry point.