How to open UWP apps from the command line on Windows 10
UWP apps are different from desktop apps in many, many ways. One stark difference between the two is that a UWP app doesn’t have an EXE. If you want to open a UWP app, you can go through the Start Menu, the apps list in the Start menu, you can create a desktop shortcut for them, or add them to the start up folder. If you want to open UWP apps from the command line on Windows, you can. The process is a bit complicated but it’s possible.
Find PackageName
Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut and enter the following. Tap Enter.
shell:AppsFolder
In the folder that opens, you will see all UWP apps that are installed on your system. Look for the app that you want to open from the command line. Right-click it and select the create shortcut option from the context menu. The shortcut will be placed on the desktop.
Go to the desktop, right-click the shortcut, and select Properties from the context menu. On the Shortcut tab, note down what’s in the Target field. This is the package name and you will need it in the next step.
Package list
Open PowerShell with normal user rights. Run the following command. You can change the name of the text file to whatever you prefer.
get-appxpackage > UWP_Apps_List.txt
This will create a txt file in your user folder’s location. Go to the following location and it will be there. Open this file and then move to the next step.
C:\Users\YourUserName
Find FamilyPackageName & Install location
Open the text file and use the find box to look for the PackageName you found in the first step. Once you find it, you need to look for two lines and copy the information there for use in the next step.
The first bit is the “InstallLocation” line. Copy the location the app is installed to.
The second bit is the “PackageFamilyName” line. Copy it as well.
Find Application ID
Open File Explorer and in the location bar, paste the install location of the app that you copied in the previous section. Tap Enter. In the folder that opens, you will find a file called AppxManifest.xml. Open it with Notepad.
Use the find feature again and look for the following;
Application ID
Note down the ID.
Run app command
Now that you have all the information you need, it’s time to write the command to run the app.
Syntax
explorer.exe shell:appsFolder\PackageFamilyName!Application ID
Example
explorer.exe shell:appsFolder\4DF9E0F8.Netflix_mcm4njqhnhss8!Netflix.App
You can paste the above command in Command Prompt or in the run box and it will open the app in question. You can also use it in scripts.
There’s an even simpler way to do that, which doesn’t require you to note down the package name:
Once you’ve created the desktop shortcut, just keep the shortcut on the desktop and use it to open your app via command-line.
For Netflix for example the command would be
`explorer.exe C:\Users\Username\Desktop\Netflix.lnk`
Thank you!! This helped me set up my Logitech Mouse to launch Windows Terminal (different from Command Prompt and Powershell)
Thanks! That was helpful.
This didn’t work at all. Like, even a little bit. All it did was either open explorer or fail completely.