How do you start a the "new and improved" Metro / Universal / Store (cr)App from the command line?
The original question was, when I'm running a 3rd party photo editor application, I have the option of starting other photo editor applications from inside it (because they have different editing features), so I need to provide a "command line" to start the Windows Store Photo application.
Store Apps are MS's "latest and greatest" take on application programming, primarily run from the Windows 10 start menu. So they MUST be easy to start. Not so much. They are designed to be started from the start menu only. Even with a shortcut on the desktop you DO NOT have enough information to create the required command line.
So, tighten your seatbelts and take your anti-nausea pills, here it comes the rollercoaster ride of fun ...
(FYI: I had an issue running the Photos app, so I had to test with Weather instead)
- Open run dialog <WIN><R>
- Type:
shell:AppsFolder
- Find your app (Photos) in the folder
- Right click and choose "Create Shortcut"
- Say "Yes", to prompt to "place the shortcut on desktop"
- Right click the shortcut and choose "Properties"
- Make sure Shortcut tab is displayed
- Make note of the entry in the “Target” field (ie Microsoft.BingWeather_8wekyb3d8bbwe)
- Open powershell command window (<WIN><R> and type powershell)
- Run command to generate a list of installed Store Applications, put output in file 123.txt by pasting the following command into the PowerShell window
get-appxpackage > 123.txt
- Open run dialog again, <Win><R>
- Display your user folder by pasting %UserProfile% in the run dialog and hit <enter>
- Find the file 123.txt and double click to open
- In that folder, Open the AppxManifest.xml
- Then your command line is :
explorer.exe shell:appsFolder\Microsoft.BingWeather_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
PackageFamilyName
<APPLICATION ID>
or