Mark Ingram

This is a common statistic from Microsoft across all MSI installations. This is just one of many reasons why Microsoft want application developers to migrate to MSIX.

Pros: MSI had an installation success rate of ~85% (and we have many requests to our tech support team for v1 install failures). MSIX promises a 99.9% success rate. MSI requires admin privileges to install. MSIX installs per-user, but files are deduplicated so that disk space isn't wasted. MSI apps are not sandboxed from other applications, meaning other applications can break those apps (we have seen this with several third-party apps in the past). MSIX apps are sandboxed to prevent this. MSI updates require a manual download of the full ~550mb installer which must be manually installed. MSIX can perform in-app delta updates which are smaller and faster. MSI updates can only be performed one at a time. MSIX can update all three apps simultaneously. MSI cannot guarantee that an uninstall will leave your machine in the exact state prior to install. MSIX installs are segregated and don't rely on the registry or special filesystem locations meaning an uninstall always leaves you in a clean state. Installation and app data paths are cleaned on uninstall. MSI apps cannot integrate with Microsoft Photos app to provide "Edit In..." style features. MSIX can. MSI does not require a digital signature. MSIX does (this means any MSIX that appears to be from Serif, will be guaranteed to be from us and only us). Cons: MSI can allow the user to change the installation directory. MSIX can move installed apps to different drives, but it cannot choose a specific directory (due to the sandbox). See below: MSI can allow an option to install a desktop shortcut. MSIX doesn't provide this as an option, but you can pin the apps to either the Start Menu or the Taskbar. There is also the secret Shell:AppsFolder location in Explorer that allows you to right-click or drag the icon to your Desktop for a shortcut as a workaround if you need it. MSI has easy discovery of undocumented app locations for launching from a third-party. MSIX hides the install location due to the sandbox, but we use App Execution Alias to enable this scenario. You can find the aliases in the following location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPublisher2.exe Remembering to replace username with your Windows username. Also, those paths are already in your %PATH% variable so you can often launch them without even specifying the full path, e.g. just AffinityPhoto2.exe. There are bugs in some third-party applications with the App Execution Alias , and the next post includes aflaunch.exe as a work around if you need that instead.

You can change the drive after the app has been installed by going to Installed apps in Windows' Settings:

Thanks @Truth42. Which app did you buy the Universal Licence in? If you bought the Universal Licence in Affinity Photo for example, you need to register that licence against an Affinity ID in that app. That will allow you to then run the other apps.

It's mentioned in my link, but you can use -a Publisher2 to launch Publisher. Though I know some DAM apps don't let you specify additional arguments, so I will look at dedicated launcher apps for each.

As this thread was created in 2019, I'm going to lock it to avoid confusing v1 and v2 answers.

We use App Execution Alias to enable this scenario. You can find the aliases in the following location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPublisher2.exe Remembering to replace username with your Windows username. Also, those paths are already in your %PATH% variable so you can often launch them without even specifying the full path, e.g. just AffinityPhoto2.exe. There are bugs in some third-party applications with the App Execution Alias so I'm working on an aflaunch app that will bridge the gap here.

Could you provide any screenshots of the problems so we can help out? Are you getting error messages? Were you prompted to register your licence with your Affinity ID after purchasing your licence?

It's a bug in Lightroom failing to launch our application, however, I've written an aflaunch app which can work around the problem. Please see here:

Thanks for the update @CliveH. For anyone wondering what he's referring to:

Login with your Affinity ID, then you'll be given an option to start a trial.

I think that's a good point. We haven't done a good job of explaining this either in-app or via our help. I'll see that we improve that.

I've mentioned elsewhere that we use "App Execution Alias" to enable this scenario. You can find the aliases in the following location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPublisher2.exe Please replace username with your Windows username. Also, those paths are already in your %PATH% variable so you can launch them without even specifying the full path, e.g. AffinityPhoto2.exe.

I've mentioned elsewhere that we use "App Execution Alias" to enable this scenario. You can find the aliases in the following location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPublisher2.exe Please replace username with your Windows username. Also, those paths are already in your %PATH% variable so you can launch them without even specifying the full path, e.g. AffinityPhoto2.exe.

I imagine you might have spaces in your path? I’ll see if I can fix that…

I've updated the binary to default to Photo now. Please try the new version.

For anyone that would like to work around issues with launching our apps from third-party applications (e.g. DxO, ACDSee, etc), I have written a launcher utility that you can place anywhere on your system, and it will take care of calling our apps, with any required arguments. Usage: aflaunch -a name -b build [args] -a name : One of the following Designer2 Photo2 [Default] Publisher2 -b build : One of the following Retail [Default] Beta MSStore args : [Optional] All remaining arguments to be passed onto the target application (must be last) The -a and -b arguments are optional, so you can ignore them unless you want to launch a different app, or the beta or MS Store versions. I have signed the exe as well, so it will have a valid digital signature. Please let me know how you get on with this. Updated: 12/11/2022 @ 11:04am UTC. Now deals with spaces in filenames. aflaunch.zip

The minimum requirement for Windows is Windows 10 May 2020 Update.

I appreciate that this answer won't help you right now, but the bug is within DxO and ACDSee. If you try something like the following on the command line: C:\Users\my_username>AffinityPhoto2.exe Downloads\IMG_9849.jpg Or, C:\Users\my_username>C:\Users\my_username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe Downloads\IMG_9849.jpg Then Photo will correctly load the specified image.

Thanks for that feedback @Balveda. I hadn't considered that the < and > could cause confusion, so I'll edit my original posts to remove them and clarify that username should match your Windows username.

I've mentioned elsewhere that we use "App Execution Alias" to enable this scenario. You can find the aliases in the following location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityDesigner2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPublisher2.exe Please replace username with your Windows username. Also, those paths are already in your %PATH% variable so you can launch them without even specifying the full path, e.g. AffinityPhoto2.exe.

You can move the installation to another drive via (Windows) Settings. Go to Apps > Installed Apps, and find the Affinity app you've installed, click the "..." and choose "Move". e.g.

The installer isn’t the problem here - unfortunately we don’t support Windows 8.1 (the minimum we support is Windows 10 May 2020 update). If you can’t update your OS I suggest you seek a refund. Sorry.

Sounds like a bug report needs filing with the developers of 3DCoat. I’m happy to assist if they need any help or info.

Sorry if I’m missing something here, but what “installs”? Is this an error from another app?