DISM App Package (.appx or .appxbundle) Servicing Command-Line Options
Applies To: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
You can use app package-servicing commands to add, remove, and list provisioned app packages (.appx or .appxbundle) in a Windows image. An .appxbundle, new for Windows 8.1, is a collection of app and resource packages used together to enrich the app experience, while minimizing the disk footprint on a given PC. For detailed documentation about .appxbundle packages and the Store pipeline, see App packaging. Only a subset of the packages within an .appxbundle might be added to the image when a bundle is provisioned using DISM. For more information, see Understanding How DISM Adds .appxbundle Resource Packages to an Image.
Provisioned app packages are added to a Windows image and are then installed for every new or existing user profile the next time the user logs on. For more information, including requirements for app package provisioning, see Sideload Apps with DISM.
You can also use Windows PowerShell to add, remove, and list app packages (.appx or .appxbundle) per image or per user in a Windows installation. For more information, see Deployment Imaging Servicing Management (DISM) Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell and App Installation Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell.
The base syntax for servicing a Windows image using DISM is:
DISM.exe {/Image:<path_to_image_directory> | /Online} [dism_global_options] {servicing_option} [<servicing_argument>]
The following app package (.appx or .appxbundle) servicing options are available for an offline image.
DISM.exe /Image:<path_to_image_directory> [/Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage | /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage | /Set-ProvisionedAppxDataFile]
The following app package (.appx or .appxbundle) servicing options are available for a running operating system.
DISM.exe /Online [/Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage | /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage | /Set-ProvisionedAppxDataFile]
App package servicing options
This section describes how you can use each app servicing option. These options are not case sensitive.
/Get-Help /?
When used immediately after an app package servicing command-line option, information about the option and the arguments is displayed. Additional topics might become available when an image is specified.
Examples:
Dism /image:C:\test\offline /Add- ProvisionedAppxPackages /?
Dism /online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages /?
/Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages
Displays information about app packages (.appx or .appxbundle), in an image, that are set to install for each new user.
Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages
/Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage { /FolderPath:< App_folder_path> [/SkipLicense] [/CustomDataPath:< custom_file_path>] | /PackagePath:< main_package_path> [/DependencyPackagePath:< dependency_package_path>] {[/LicenseFile:< license_file_path>]|[/SkipLicense]} [/CustomDataPath:< custom_file_path>] }
Adds one or more app packages to the image.
The app will be added to the Windows image and registered for each existing or new user profile the next time the user logs in. If the app is added to an online image, the app will not be registered for the current user until the next time the user logs in.
Use /FolderPath to specify a folder of unpacked app files containing a main package, any dependency packages, and the license file. This is only supported for an unpacked app package.
Use /PackagePath to specify an app package (.appx or .appxbundle). You can use /PackagePath when provisioning a line-of-business app online.
Important
Use the /PackagePath parameter to provision .appxbundle packages.
/PackagePath is not supported from a host PC that is running Windows® Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 4.0, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista or an earlier version of Windows.
If the package has dependencies that are architecture-specific, you must install all of the applicable architectures for the dependency on the target image. For example, on an x64 target image, include a path to both the x86 and x64 dependency packages or include them both in the folder of unpacked app files.
| Computer Architecture | Dependencies to install: |
|---|---|
x64 |
x64 and x86 |
x86 |
x86 |
ARM |
Windows RT (ARM) only |
Use /CustomDataPath to specify an optional custom data file for an app. You can specify any file name. The file will be renamed to Custom.dat when it is added to the image.
Use /LicensePath with the /PackagePath option to specify the location of the .xml file containing your application license.
Only use /SkipLicense with apps that do not require a license on a sideloading-enabled computer. Using /SkipLicense in other scenarios can compromise an image.
Examples:
Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /FolderPath:c:\Test\Apps\MyUnpackedApp /CustomDataPath:c:\Test\Apps\CustomData.xml
Dism /Online /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackagePath:C:\Test\Apps\MyPackedApp\MainPackage.appx /DependencyPackagePath:C:\Test\Apps\MyPackedApp\Framework-x86.appx /DependencyPackagePath:C:\Test\Apps\MyPackedApp\Framework-x64.appx /LicensePath:C:\Test\Apps\MyLicense.xml
Dism /Online /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /FolderPath:C:\Test\Apps\MyUnpackedApp /SkipLicense
Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackagePath:C:\Test\Apps\MyPackedApp\MainPackage.appxbundle /SkipLicense
/Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:< PackageName>
Removes provisioning for app packages (.appx or .appxbundle) from the image. App packages will not be registered to new user accounts that are created.
Important
This option will only remove the provisioning for a package if it is registered to any user profile. Use the Remove-AppxPackage cmdlet in Windows PowerShell to remove the app for each user that it is already registered to in order to fully remove the app from the image.
If the app has not been registered to any user profile, the /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage option will remove the package completely.
To remove app packages from a Windows Server® 2012 image that has the Desktop Experience installed, you must remove the app packages before you remove the Desktop Experience. The Desktop Experience is a requirement of the /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage option for Server Core installations of Windows Server 2012.
Examples:
Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:microsoft.devx.appx.app1_1.0.0.0_neutral_ac4zc6fex2zjp
/Set-ProvisionedAppxDataFile [/CustomDataPath:< custom_file_path>] /PackageName:< PackageName>
Adds a custom data file into the specified app package (.appx or .appxbundle).
The specified app (.appx or .appxbundle) package must already be added to the image prior to when you add the custom data file with this option. You can also add a custom data file when you use the /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage option.
Use /CustomDataPath to specify an optional custom data file for an app. You can specify any file name. The file will be renamed to Custom.dat when it is added to the image. If a Custom.dat file already exists, it will be overwritten.
Use /PackageName to specify an app package (.appx or .appxbundle).
Examples:
DISM.exe /Image:C:\test\offline /Set-ProvisionedAppxDataFile /CustomDataPath:c:\Test\Apps\Custom.dat /PackageName:microsoft.appx.app1_1.0.0.0_neutral_ac4zc6fex2zjp
Understanding How DISM Adds .appxbundle Resource Packages to an Image
When an .appxbundle is added to the image, not all resource packages within the bundle are applicable. For example, if an app is being added to a Windows image with a Spanish (Spain) default language, French (France) resources should not be included. To determine what resources are added to the image, the package applicability is determined using:
Language Resource Packs: If an operating system language is not present, the corresponding app language resource pack is not added. For example, you might have an image that is a Windows 8.1 with English (US) as the default language, and a Spanish (Spain) language pack included. English (US) and Spanish (Spain) app resource packs will be added to the image. If a French (France) resource pack (or any other language) is available in the app bundle, it will not be added.
Scale and DirectX (DXFL) Resource Packs: Scale and DirectX (DXFL) resource packs depend upon the hardware configuration of the Windows device. Because the type of target hardware can’t be known at the time the DISM commands are run, all scale and DXFL resource packages are added to the image at provisioning time. For more information about developing an app with scaling resources, see Guidelines for scaling to pixel density (Windows Store apps).
For an image containing multiple language packs, app resource packages will be added to the image for each language. Once the first user has signed in to the PC with the deployed image and the user has chosen a language during OOBE, the inapplicable resource packages, (language resource packs, scale resource packs and DXFL resource packages) that do not match the user profile settings are removed.
For example, an app might support English (US), French (France), and Spanish (Spain) languages. If the app is added to an image with English (US) and Spanish (Spain) language packs present, only English (US) and Spanish (Spain) resource packs will be added these to the image. Then, if a user signs in for the first time and, during OOBE, selects English (US) as their operating system language, the Spanish (Spain) resource packages will be removed after sign in completes.
Important
If you add or remove a language pack from an image, you change the applicability context which may result in leaving an incorrect or incomplete set of resource packages in the image. When a language pack is added or removed, you must, once again, add all .appxbundle packages (including any dependency packages and Windows Store license file) to the image. This will ensure that the correct set of resource packages is provisioned.
Limitations
You cannot install an app package (.appx) on an operating system that does not support Windows® 8 apps. You can’t install an app bundle package (.appxbundle) on an operating system that does not support Windows 8.1 apps. Apps are not supported on Server Core installations of Windows Server® 2012, Windows® Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 4.0, or on any versions of Windows older than Windows® 8 and Windows Server® 2012.
To install and run apps on Windows Server 2012, you must install the Desktop Experience.
Windows PE doesn’t support .appxbundle provisioning.
The /FolderPath option is only supported for app packages based on the .appx format.
/PackagePath must always be used for .appxbundle packages.
See Also
Tasks
Reference
DISM Image Management Command-Line Options
Concepts
DISM Overview (Deployment Image Servicing and Management)
Other Resources
Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) Command-Line Options