Publish Store Package (MSIX)
Submit your launcher as a Store package that Microsoft signs for you
This is the recommended route. You give Partner Center a package file instead of pointing it at an installer URL, and Microsoft signs it during certification and serves it from the Store. There is no code signing certificate to buy, and no build you have to keep pinned for the life of the submission.
Connect your Partner Center account once, and every release after that can be submitted from the dashboard.
Set the account up first: Set Up Your Partner Center Account. Without an associated Microsoft Entra tenant, the User management page you need in Step 1 below refuses to open.
Before you start
Register on Partner Center and complete identity verification. The account is free, and so is publishing. Company verification can take several days, so start it early.
Reserve your app name. This cannot be done through any API.
Create the first submission by hand, age ratings questionnaire included. Microsoft requires it and the dashboard cannot do it for you. Every release after that one can be sent from here.
That listing has to be free, and it needs at least four screenshots, each one a direct capture of the launcher running. See Store Requirements.
Step 1: Register the Entra application
Partner Center is driven through an application in your Microsoft Entra directory, not through your own login.
In Partner Center, open Account settings > User management > Microsoft Entra applications.
Click Add Microsoft Entra application, then pick Create Microsoft Entra application. The other option only lists applications that already exist in your directory, and a tenant you just associated has none.
Give it a Name you will recognise later, then fill the two identity fields Partner Center asks for.
Reply URL
Any valid absolute URL. Your own site works.
https://yourcompany.com/
App ID URI
Any unique URI. The same domain with a path is the easiest answer.
https://yourcompany.com/gamelaunchercloud
Neither value is used by anything. This application signs in with its client ID and key, never with a person, so no one is ever redirected to the reply URL and no single sign-on request is ever made against the App ID URI. Microsoft says as much: when the application exists only for Partner Center authentication, any valid address will do for both.
Each value has to be unique across every application in your Microsoft Entra directory, and neither can be longer than 256 characters. If Partner Center refuses one, add a path or a suffix and submit again.
On the second page, under Roles applicable to developer programs, tick Manager (Windows), then Create. Nothing is ticked by default, so it is easy to click straight past this.
Open the application from the list and click Add new key. The key is shown once, so copy it before leaving the page.
The reply URL and the App ID URI are yours to invent. Nobody issues them to you, and they are not the Tenant ID, Client ID, Seller ID or Store ID you copy into Step 2. Type something valid, move on, and never think about them again.
An application created without a role works fine as an application. Partner Center simply rejects its calls with a 403 when you press Connect, and the error does not say that the role is what is missing.
Manager (Windows) grants full account access except tax and payout. The narrower Developer role is described as covering package upload and app submission, which is all this integration does, so it is worth moving to later if you prefer least privilege. Microsoft documents Manager for the submission API, so start there and tighten it once you have a submission working.
Step 2: Connect
In the Dashboard: 1. Open your launcher, go to Integrations > Microsoft Store 2. Choose Store package (MSIX) and fill in Step 2.
Tenant ID
Account settings > Tenants, column Microsoft Entra tenant ID
Client ID
Shown as Client ID on your application, and again on the screen that hands you the key
Key
Add new key on that application. Shown once, then stored encrypted and never shown again
Seller ID
Account settings > Legal info, under Publisher IDs
Store ID
Product management > Product Identity, and the last part of the product's Partner Center URL
If you fill all of these correctly, use the Connect button to test the connection. When connected successfully skip to Step 3: Send the package
Manual: Copy the package identity
A connected launcher skips this step entirely.
Microsoft assigns the package identity when you reserve your app name. Copy it from Product management > View app identity details.
These must match exactly. Any difference and the Store rejects the package.
Package identity name
Package/Identity/Name
12345Contoso.MyLauncher
Package publisher
Package/Identity/Publisher
CN=A1B2C3D4-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Microsoft Publisher name
Package/Properties/PublisherDisplayName
Your company's legal name
Packages are built during a deploy, so deploy the launcher once after saving. Builds produced before this point have no package attached, and Step 4 will say so.
Step 3: Send the package
Pick a build in Step 4 and click Submit to the Store. The dashboard creates the submission, uploads the package and commits it, leaving your listing, pricing and age ratings as they are.
Certification runs for hours, so the status stays on the page rather than vanishing when the request returns. Use Refresh to check on it.
Two things stop a submission, and both are fixed in Partner Center:
This product has no submission yet. Create the first one by hand, age ratings included.
A submission created outside this dashboard is open. Publish or delete it first. Microsoft allows only one open submission per product.
Remember to follow the Store Requirements or your launcher will be rejected.
Support Assistance
If you need assistance please contact our support - Dashboard: https://app.gamelauncher.cloud/support/overview - Discord: https://discord.com/invite/FpWvUQ2CJP
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