[REGRESSION, .NET MAUI 9.0.40 / Win App SDK 1.6.4] Publish command creates an MSIX package that works locally but crashes at Microsoft Store

[janne-hmp]

Describe the bug

I have been trying to publish an updated Windows version of our game GnollHack to Microsoft Store, but its MSIX package got invariably rejected due to a startup crash during Microsoft Store review when I was using .NET MAUI 9.0.40. Based on the suggestions from @MartyIX I tried switching to 9.0.30, which uses Windows App SDK 1.6.3, and then the package got accepted to the Store. So it seems that there may be an issue with Windows App SDK 1.6.4, which ships with .NET MAUI 9.0.40, with Microsoft Store. Overall, I'm using Visual Studio 2022 17.13.2, .NET SDK 9.0.200 and .NET MAUI 9.0.40.

When using .NET MAUI 9.0.40, both Publish command in Visual Studio and dotnet publish command to produce an MSIX package that crashes at start at Microsoft Store. The packages, however, do work locally, and if I unzip them and double-click on the exe-file, that works as well (they are self-contained). We also tried to upload the files to Steam, and that seems to be working as well. In any case, the only problem seems to be with Microsoft Store at the moment when using .NET MAUI 9.0.40 / Windows App SDK 1.6.4. The package got approved when we moved to .NET MAUI 9.0.30, but .NET MAUI 9.0.40 is noticeably faster, so we would like to use it instead.

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Clone the reproduction repository at https://github.com/hyvanmielenpelit/GnollHackMAUIEasyBuild
2. Make sure it is using .NET MAUI 9.0.40, and build it then according to instructions
3. Right-click on GnollHackM project and choose Publish
4. Fill out the relevant details and publish it as a package acceptable to Microsoft Store
5. You can try to unzip the MSIX package to a folder, and double-click on GnollHackM.exe; this should start the game successfully
6. Upload the package to Microsoft Store using e.g. Microsoft Partner Center
7. Fill out the relevant details for the app to be accepted in Microsoft Store
8. Send the app to review
9. The reviewer reports that the app crashes at start

Expected behavior

The game does not crash at start during Microsoft Store review.

Screenshots

No response

NuGet package version

None

Windows version

Windows 11 (24H2): Build 26100

Additional context

This relates to the version shipped with .NET MAUI 9.0.40, which apparently is using Windows App SDK 1.6.4. Last working version appears to be .NET MAUI 9.0.30 / Windows App SDK 1.6.3.

[Redth]

@janne-hmp have you tried sideloading the bundle you are attempting to publish to the store onto another machine to validate it can install and run successfully there?

[janne-hmp]

This has now been fixed in MAUI 9.0.50 and the associated WinAppSDK.

[MartyIX]

@janne-hmp Do you know which PR fixed that?

[janne-hmp]

I'm not sure. It may also be that they fixed something on Microsoft Store side. In any case, things seem to be working again.