VS2015 DEP0700 : Registration of the app failed. (0x80070005)

Question

I cannot deploy a DirectX 12 universal App. My troubled evening started with signing errors, with VS20015 complaining that the automatically generated MyDx12App_TemporaryKey.pfx was not valid for signing.

Error       DEP0700 : Registration of the app failed.  (0x80070005) MyDx12App           
Warning APPX0106    Loading certificate file 'MyDx12App_TemporaryKey.pfx' failed. Errore non specificato.
    MyDx12App   C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets   1908    
Warning APPX0106    Loading certificate file 'MyDx12App_TemporaryKey.pfx' failed. Errore non specificato.
    MyDx12App   C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets   1908    
Warning APPX0107    The certificate specified is not valid for signing. For more information about valid certificates, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=241478.   MyDx12App   C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets   1908    

Actually, that PFX file was created empty (0 bytes) by Visual Studio. I created a valid certificate by doing:

Solution Explorer > Package.appxmanifest > Packaging > Choose Certificate... > Create test certificate...

By doing this, I got rid of the signing errors (which, very interestingly, would not appear on a second and subsequent redeploys after a clean, even with the corrupted certificate, which leads me into thinking that maybe that wasn't the real problem).

Anyway, with this fix I was able to get rid of the signing errors, even when trying to redeploy after a clean; but the first error of the log:

DEP0700 : Registration of the app failed.  (0x80070005)

Never went away, and kept me good company for the best part of the evening.

I tried everything I could find with Google, however my case seems different because the error message doesn't specify any sub-error, although it does say that it is an Access Denied error (0x80070005).

Things I tried:

• Use a local account
• Disconnect VS from my Microsoft Account
• Change Package name (in the manifest)
• Change Version (in the manifest)
• Change Publisher display name
• Recreate the PFX certificate again
• Disable and re-enable developer mode
• Allow the SYSTEM user to fully control the solution directory
• Turn my account into administrator (I can do it because I also have an administrator account on this PC).

Nothing worked. My machine:

Visual Studio: Community 2015, 14.0.25123.00, Update 2

Windows 10
  Version: 1511
  OS Build: 10586.318

Answer 1

It turns out that I failed to give SYSTEM full control. You need to use the Advanced security settings, to apply permissions recursively. The correct procedure is:

• Right click on the solution directory
• Click Properties
• Click Security
• Click Advanced
• In the Authorization tab click Add
• Choose SYSTEM as the entity
• Select Full control
• Click Ok
• Check "Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object"
• Click Ok

Answer 2

For future viewers,

I found that this error is also generated if you have any of the files within your apps package folder open. In my case, I had the SQLite database file open in a viewer and that caused VS2015 to fail with a DEP0700 error.

Answer 3

Try to close Visual Studio and any Simulator. Then, as administrator, go to directory %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages (usually in C:\Users\%username%). Then, delete the directory with the name of your package (a dir with a name like nnnn.Yourname.YourAppName_xxxxxxxxxxxxx). Then restart Visual Studio and try to deploy again.

Answer 4

I also had the DEP0700 error with my new created Xamarin.forms project (stored on a network-drive) and VS2015 Update3 RC. After I have changed the output directory from the network-drive to a local directory (as fast workaround), the error has gone...
You can find the details here Problem Xamarin.forms on a network-drive

Answer 5

There is another reason for deployment failing with a permissions error - if the solution directory is protected with Windows EFS!

In fact, UWP applications don't seem to like EFS at all. They won't open a file that is encrypted with EFS.

I'm new to UWP but this seems like a major shortcoming.