WSL/Manual Installation

Manually installing WSL apps allows to test unreleased beta versions

In order to install ("side load") WSL apps from outside the Microsoft store one has to follow several steps

1. make sure side loading is enabled
2. download the appx
3. install the signing certificate
4. run the appx file

Allow side loading

Go to Settings -> Update&Security -> For developers and make sure side loading is permitted:

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  Enable sideloading

Download the appx file

Windows Apps are actually zip files with special meta data in it. The file suffix is "appx". Currently in development appx files for openSUSE are available from download.opensuse.org.

Install the certificate

Apps in the Microsoft Store are signed by a trusted certificate. Side loaded apps are signed by a developer certificate. In case of openSUSE that certificate is stored in the openSUSE build service. Conveniently the appx file has the certificate embedded, so right clicking on the appx file and following some steps allows to import the certificate as trusted:

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  Step 1

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  Step 2

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  Step 3

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  Step 4

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  Step 5

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  Step 6

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  Step 7

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  Step 8

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  Step 9

Launch the appx

Just double click on the appx to make it run.

or from PowerShell:

 Add-AppxPackage .\app_name.appx

for example:

 Add-AppxPackage .\openSUSE-Leap-15.1-x64-Build7.19.appx