In Windows 10, you can install apps easily through Microsoft Store app. You can simply launch it from the Start menu, find an app that you want to install and click on the Install button. The Microsoft Store app downloads the .appx file for that app and installs it by itself without any user interaction. But what if you have to manually install an app (a universal app) through its .appx package file? In that case, Windows 10 offers two ways to install the .appx packages – one is through PowerShell and second method through App Installer.
App Installer is a special app included in Windows 10 that can read an .appx package file and offer you option to install it. For this to work, the first thing you will have to do enable side-loading of apps in Windows 10 settings. In order to enable side-loading of apps, you can open Windows settings (Win+I), search for “Developer Settings” and then enable Sideload apps.
Once the sideloading of the apps has been enabled, you can download the appx file from any third party site that allows legitimate .appx packages to be downloaded. For example, you can download TuneIn Radio app’s .appx file from any major software download site. You can now double-click on this .appx file to begin the installation.
This will launch the App Installer automatically. You will see App Installer window with some information about the app that you are installing. You can choose the option to launch this app immediately after the installation is finished and the app is ready. You can click on the Install button to begin the installation.
Another more geeky way to install the apps is through PowerShell. You have to first launch PowerShell with Administrator access. This can be done by clicking on any open folder’s File menu and choosing Open Windows’ PowerShell as administrator.
In the PowerShell interface, you have to give command Add-AppxPackage ./TuneInRadio-4.0.7.0.appx where you can replace the full path name of the .appx file with any other package file you want to install. After the installation, you can usually find its shortcut in the Start menu.