Portable Windows Store Applications

Question

I like to run portable applications as much as possible, so whenever I can, I either download a portable version of an application, or if none is available, I install it, duplicate it somewhere else, and then uninstall it.

Right now I'm playing with the Facebook Messenger app from the Windows Store. The aforementioned process usually works well, but not with Windows Store applications. It appears they have to run inside an app container, as referenced by this error message:

This application can only run in the context of an app container.

Is it possible to get these applications to run outside of the C:Program Files\WindowsApps directory?

Answer 1

I don't believe that you can do that. UWP apps are heavily constrained.

However, my understanding is that they don't have the same impact on Windows that a Win32 app has and so should not cause the slow degradation of performance that is typical of long-term use of win32 apps. The app container, as I understand it, provides a local virtualisation of the application that helps protect the operating system. Uninstallation of a UWP app should leave nothing behind.

Also, reinstallation after a system loss or reset is much simpler since you just reinstall from the store.