Documented new Visual Studio extension for packaging with external location (#5402)

* Initial draft of packaging with external location in VS.

* Added notes about custom manifests and Release mode.

* Fixed typo.

* Updated ToC.

* Added note about VS vs. manual.

* PR feedback on YAML header.

* PR feedback on intro with links to subsections.

* Updated formatting for menu item references.

* Moved calls to action to beginning of steps and fixed link text.

* Fixed links.

* Use backticks for filenames.

* Fixed link text.

* Formatting fix.

* Fixed casing.

* Added note to disable embedded manifests for .NET projects.

* Added comma.

* Edit pass

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Co-authored-by: Steven White <31261191+stevewhims@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: mikebattista

hub/apps/desktop/modernize/grant-identity-to-nonpackaged-apps-visual-studio.md

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+---
+title: Grant package identity by packaging with external location in Visual Studio
+description: How to use Visual Studio to grant package identity to an unpackaged Win32 app so that you can use modern Windows features in that app.
+ms.date: 05/09/2025
+ms.topic: article
+keywords: windows 11, windows 10, desktop, sparse, package, identity, external, location, MSIX, Win32, Visual Studio
+ms.localizationpriority: medium
+---
+
+# Grant package identity by packaging with external location in Visual Studio
+
+Many Windows features can be used by a desktop app only if that app has package identity at runtime. See [Features that require package identity](/windows/apps/desktop/modernize/modernize-packaged-apps). If you have an existing desktop app, with its own installer, then there's very little you need to change in order to benefit from package identity.
+
+Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, you can grant package identity to an app simply by building and registering a *package with external location* with your app. Packaging with external location allows you to register a simple identity package in your existing installer without changing how or where you install your application. You might be familiar with full MSIX packaging; this is a much lighter-weight option, as described below.
+
+If you already have a Visual Studio project for your application, then building an identity package in Visual Studio provides a more streamlined experience than [building an identity package manually](/windows/apps/desktop/modernize/grant-identity-to-nonpackaged-apps).
+
+These are the steps that we'll be describing in detail in this topic to build and register an identity package using Visual Studio:
+
+1. [Install Visual Studio components](#install-visual-studio-components)
+2. [Add a Packaging Project to your solution](#add-a-packaging-project-to-your-solution)
+3. [Configure the Packaging Project for signing](#configure-the-packaging-project-for-signing)
+4. [Build and test the Packaging Project in Release Mode](#build-and-test-the-packaging-project-in-release-mode)
+5. [Register the identity package in your installer](#register-the-identity-package-in-your-installer)
+
+## Install Visual Studio components
+
+Creating an identity package in Visual Studio requires the **Windows Application Packaging Project** and the **Package with External Location** extension.
+
+Install the **Windows Application Packaging Project** components as described in [Required Visual Studio version and workload](/windows/msix/desktop/desktop-to-uwp-packaging-dot-net#required-visual-studio-version-and-workload).
+
+In Visual Studio, via the **Extensions** > **Manage Extensions** menu item, install the **Package with External Location** extension.
+
+## Add a Packaging Project to your solution
+
+To add a Packaging Project to your solution with a Project Reference to your application project, see [Set up the Windows Application Packaging Project in your solution](/windows/msix/desktop/desktop-to-uwp-packaging-dot-net#set-up-the-windows-application-packaging-project-in-your-solution).
+
+Enable packaging with external location by right-clicking the Packaging Project in Solution Explorer, navigating to the **External Location** tab provided by the **Package with External Location** extension, enabling the **Package with External Location** option, and saving the changes.
+
+Set the **Package name** and **Publisher display name** fields of the identity package by double-clicking `Package.appxmanifest` in the Packaging Project to open the visual manifest editor, navigating to the Packaging tab, and setting the **Package name** and **Publisher display name** fields to the desired values.
+
+If you have a custom application manifest in your application project, then for info about synchronizing the values with the values from `Package.appxmanifest`, see [Add identity metadata to your desktop application manifests](/windows/apps/desktop/modernize/grant-identity-to-nonpackaged-apps#add-identity-metadata-to-your-desktop-application-manifests). The **Package with External Location** extension uses **App** for the **applicationId**.
+
+If you don't have a custom application manifest, then Visual Studio will produce the appropriate artifacts during the build process. .NET projects embed a manifest by default, which conflicts with the produced manifest artifacts. To resolve that, right-click the Project, open **Properties**, and in the **Application** tab under the **Manifest** section, change **Embed manifest with default settings** to **Create application without a manifest**.
+
+## Configure the Packaging Project for signing
+
+Generate a certificate for signing by walking through the **Publish** > **Create App Packages** wizard shown in [Create an app package using the packaging wizard](/windows/msix/package/packaging-uwp-apps#create-an-app-package-using-the-packaging-wizard).
+
+On the first screen, ensure that **Sideloading** is selected, and **Enable automatic updates** is unchecked. On the second screen, create a self-signed certificate if necessary, then click the **Trust** button to trust it in the Local Machine Trusted People certificate store. On the final screen, set **Generate app bundle** to *Never*, and click **Create** to complete the signing configuration.
+
+## Build and test the Packaging Project in Release Mode
+
+To avoid complications from Debug mode dependencies, set the Build configuration to Release mode, and build the Packaging Project.
+
+Building the Packaging Project produces a **PackageWithExternalLocation** folder in the build output. That folder contains the `MSIX` file representing the identity package, as well as `Install` and `Remove` PowerShell scripts to register and unregister the generated identity package locally for testing.
+
+The `Install` PowerShell script registers the generated identity package locally, and connects it with the `ExternalLocation` sibling folder for testing purposes. To test the application with identity, run the application executable from the `ExternalLocation` folder.
+
+To associate identity with your application in production, you'll need to ship the generated identity package with your application, and register it in your installer.
+
+## Register the identity package in your installer
+
+The last step to associate identity with your application is to register the identity package in your installer, and associate it with your application's installation directory.
+
+The code listing below demonstrates registering the identity package by using the [**PackageManager.AddPackageByUriAsync**](/uwp/api/windows.management.deployment.packagemanager.addpackagebyuriasync) method.
+
+```csharp
+using Windows.Management.Deployment;
+
+...
+
+var externalUri = new Uri(externalLocation);
+var packageUri = new Uri(packagePath);
+
+var packageManager = new PackageManager();
+
+var options = new AddPackageOptions();
+options.ExternalLocationUri = externalUri;
+
+await packageManager.AddPackageByUriAsync(packageUri, options);
+```
+
+Be aware of the following important details about this code:
+* Set `externalLocation` to the absolute path of your application's installation directory (without any executable names).
+* Set `packagePath` to the absolute path of the identity package produced in the previous step (with the file name).
+
+For production-ready code in C# and C++, see [Sample apps](#sample-apps) below. The samples also demonstrate how to unregister the identity package on uninstall.
+
+## Sample apps
+
+For fully functional C# and C++ apps that demonstrate how to register an identity package, see the [PackageWithExternalLocation](https://aka.ms/sparsepkgsample) samples.

hub/apps/toc.yml

@@ -455,7 +455,9 @@ items:
                   href: desktop/modernize/desktop-to-uwp-distribute.md
             - name: Package your app using single-project MSIX
               href: windows-app-sdk/single-project-msix.md
-            - name: Grant package identity by packaging with external location
+            - name: Grant package identity by packaging with external location in Visual Studio
+              href: desktop/modernize/grant-identity-to-nonpackaged-apps-visual-studio.md
+            - name: Grant package identity by packaging with external location manually
               href: desktop/modernize/grant-identity-to-nonpackaged-apps.md
         - name: Deployment
           items: