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I'm currently playing around with sideloading of Windows 8 applications in a corporate environment. Our customers will most probably run Windows 8 Pro on x86-based tablets. Deploying an application with the PowerShell works (rather) well, as long as there is a developer account registered on the target device. If it's not, the following error will occur when the app gets started:
This app can't open
There's a problem with ~AppName~. Contact your system administrator about repairing or reinstalling it.
The root certificate of our CA is installed on the device and the Allow all trusted apps to install group policy setting is properly set. The device is in an (experimental) domain. On Windows 8 Enterprise it actually works like a charm.
Regarding to this article on TechNet, for sideloading on any other Windows versions than Enterprise a "sideloading product activation key" is required. I searched for more information about such a key, but I didn't find anything.
So my question is: what is a "sideloading product activation key", who generates it and how do I activate/enter it? Or does this phrase mean we need to choose Windows 8 Enterprise?
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Windows 8 also offers a method for sideloading “line-of-business” apps.
When you're connected to the Internet, Windows 8.1 clients obtain updates to Microsoft Store apps directly from the Microsoft Store app. The Microsoft Store app is visible on the Windows Start screen.
Tap “Settings” to be taken there. Toggle the switch on to “Allow From This Source.” You will need to do this for any app you use to install APKs. Now you can tap “Install” on the next pop-up to finish installing the APK. That's it!
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/04/25/deploying-metro-style-apps-to-businesses.aspx says « [you need to] activate a special product key on the target machine to enable sideloading. We'll go into more detail about how [to] acquire the product keys in an upcoming blog post. The product key only needs to be installed and activated once on the PC».
The latest I found (August 28th): http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itproinstall/thread/3092a681-b9cc-473b-83aa-b492ea7f3946 ... says «An Enterprise SKU is not required (for sideloading on Windows RT or Windows 8). You can side-load on Windows RT or Windows 8 Pro if you've activated a Sideloading Product Key. Details on how to get such a key are not yet available».
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According to this article on ZDNet, you need to buy the keys required to enable sideloading on Windows 8 Pro (as long as you don't want to stick with a developer license). If you search for the given SKU (J7S-00005), you'll find some shops selling bundles with 100 keys for 30€ each.
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