Ruzgfpegk

The Unsandboxed (MSI/EXE) Windows installs are now available to all. Sorry this took longer than we expected.
More information here
 

Unsandboxed MSI Installers are now available for Version 2 on Windows as well as sandboxed MSIX ones
 

The Unsandboxed (MSI/EXE) Windows installs are now available to all. Sorry this took longer than we expected.
More information here
 

I don't know if I'm misunderstanding something about the .msix format, but it seems to be way easier to "hack" (in the "twist it to our needs" sense, for lack of a better word) than traditional .exe installers.
I uncompressed the Affinity Designer 2 .msix file using 7-Zip on a secondary drive, went into the "App" folder and launched Designer.exe as if it was a semi-portable app (by which I mean that the .exe could be anywhere but the profile stays local), registered my trial on it and it worked quite well for basic operations. I didn't test it in depth.
Using Sysinternal's handle64 tool I didn't see any files opened elsewhere in the filesystem besides in C:\Users\USER\.affinity\Common\2.0\ and C:\Users\USER\.affinity\Designer\2.0\ .
I could also use that Designer.exe as an external editing application from DxO PhotoLab and it received and opened the file correctly.
I'm not sure if the issues mentioned by Patrick could be reproduced this way too? If not then this "manual install" could be a workaround in the meantime.
In other news, sadly I couldn't run the app in Linux/Wine this way (the old 1.9/1.10 installers just crashed due to some unsupported .NET 4 icon method, now the .exe can't find the DLLs in its own folder), but maybe a winetricks script could be enough now.

@Ruzgfpegk
Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums (finally)
I have approved your (first) post as this is not the first time this work around has been suggested but, as I've said before, this is not a supported method of use for the software and will give a number of functionality problems immediately and going forward. I strongly recommend using the EXE/msi installers as soon as they are available.
 

We clearly originally did not plan to distribute the MSI generically so there is quite a lot of testing & fixing required. We are likely to release MSI installers when we do the first patch, so hopefully before Christmas. At the moment some functionality like StudioLink and Edit in are non functional. Sorry this is far from straightforward given the way the applications share downloaded content and created assets/brushes.
We need to address these and anything else we find before MSI installers are made available more generally, or we will just be introducing more problems than it resolves.

My opinion:
I'm also not a friend of this Windows APP sh......
When I buy a software outside of the Windows Store, I expect a normal adjustable software setup and not the APP slavery, which installs on my hard drive as it wants.
Dissapointing move, Guys

I'd been using Windows' built-in Ransomware Protection - it denies write access to executables until you approve them.  And V2 broke that, with this new installation scheme.  I'm trying to figure out how to specify the path to the new executable, but if that path keeps changing, it will be a PITA.   
 
Looks like the developers were pulled in by the Microsoft siren song of "here's our new way to do things, you need to need on board",  and as a former developer I know just how that works.  I suggest going back to a standard application installation, if only because this is going to be an endless source of confusion and a drain on Serif's support people.

This can't be new to Serif, I remember a guy that purchased a program from the Microsoft Store years ago and repurchased it as a regular program to make it work with tons of software on his PC.
I remember the issue exactly as described above; it was just impossible to add a static path to this program in all the other programs he used it with. The path to the app was changed every time an updated was performed.
If you have used Microsoft Windows more than just a few years you KNOW that Windows is tons of legacy, compatiblity and old methods still in use. If your software is expected to work with other programs, you have to stick to older methods.
Major blunder by Serif. What they can do, however, is to install launcher apps with a static path somehere outside this Windowsapps folder. I hope.
Personally I am going to use the apps on a mac 80% of the time; if the app issues are real and not resolved then the version 2 apps are out of my workflow on the mac, and then my total workflow is partly broken. That could be a deal breaker. 

I imagine there were maybe advantages to switching to the Microsoft App Installer (.msix files).
However, for the user, the problems have increased:
There are many who have problems being able to install the packages. For example, it took me hours because the packages from Serif did not run for me. Only after downloading them directly from the Microsoft Store was I able to install them.
The next problem is the integration of the new programs in others. Now you can't find an .exe file which is accepted by other programs.

This is a stupid move by the developers. I own my PC, it is not a phone or a tablet and I want to control what goes on the PC and where it goes. I didn't spend time setting up partitions and drivers for fun. I have a particular drive for programs and that is where they go or they don't get installed - end of!
Version 2 is now uninstalled and I will never buy another Serif product until they fix this. The reason I went to Affinity suite in the first place was because Adobe ruined photoshop by their subscription/online nonsense.

Just bought the Suite and could not find the installation files so was unable to create shortcuts and worse unable to find a way to run the software! The only way I could launch the software was to double-click on the downloaded installation files which gave me the option to Launch from there. Total irritation and confusion.
However in the meantime after much faffing about through the Forum I discovered to my dismay that these are "App" files and do not install into the Program folder of my C drive and do not appear in my Programs & Features... How do I uninstall them?
I absolutely hate this unexplained change to installing/removing software and am not happy with the way this has been implemented, particularly as no advanced notification (as far as I could tell) was given.
I very much like what Serif is doing with Affinity and love the software but cannot stand this insane change to the standard installation procedure.
Please Serif fix this unwanted installation mess asap. and please retain some independence from the dumbing-down that Micro$oft continually applies to Windows in the so-called attempt to make it better.
I sincerely hope you listen.

How can I write plugins for Affinity Photo? Is there an SDK?

Bonjour, je partage l'avis des autres membres, cette fonctionnalité serait un véritable plus, même la génération du css.