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One of the great features of Steam on Windows is that it lets you add games manually, but it’s limited to EXE-based games that aren’t downloaded from the Microsoft Store. Now that the Microsoft Store is one of the main sources of games, it should also make sense to add these games to Steam. However, there is no direct support for games installed from the store.
Adding Microsoft Store gaming apps to Steam
In this article, I share a tip that lets you do this. Before you start, make sure you’ve installed the game on a Windows PC – and here I’m using Age of Empires as an example. Remember that you will need administrator privileges to do this.
Locate the Windows UWP game
The games and applications installed from the store are available as a package. We will need to locate it first. The path should look like below:
C:UsersAppDataLocalPackages
You can also type % application data% in the Run prompt, then go back to find the Local folder, then enter Packages.
Now search for the game package. If it is difficult, but you can search by the name of the game.
For Age of empires the folder is named as Microsoft.MSDallas_8wexxxxxxx.
Locate the app manifesto for the game
Then we will access a hidden folder which includes all the games and applications.
It is usually located at C: Program Files WindowsApps WHERE
You will need to have administrator privileges, and if you are not authorized to access them, you will need to change the ownership of the App folder from Trusted Installer to your account.
Once inside, look for the folder with the same name we found above. In this case, it will be “Microsoft.MSDallas_8wexxxxxxx. “
Then locate the AppxManifest.xml file in the folder. Open it with a text editor. I suggest using Notepad. Don’t change anything there – and save it as a .txt file.
Now find this tag in the file “
Copy the ID of the app which in this case is only App. Write it down on a separate notepad or remember it.
Now in Notepad follow this pattern:
shell:AppsFolderPACKAGE!APPID
For Age of Empires, the package will be ‘Microsoft.MSDallas_1.3.5292.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe ‘ and the AppID will be ‘App ‘.
Thus, the channel for Age of Empires will become:
shell:AppsFolderMicrosoft.MSDallas_1.3.5292.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
Please check what’s on your computer.
Add to Steam
This is where we are going to trick Steam. Add any EXE program like Windows Explorer or Chrome to the games library. Once in the list, right click on this app and select Properties.
Remove everything from the Start in heading, and overwrite with the text we created in the Target section.
In our case, it will be:
shell:AppsFolderMicrosoft.MSDallas_1.3.5292.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
You can also rename the name to the name of the game.
Publish this; you will be able to launch Windows Store games directly from Steam. However, you will need to repeat this process for each part.
There are, however, a few drawbacks. You don’t get all Steam related Steam features here, such as VR support. So you won’t see any information from Steam like you see for other games you downloaded from there – but Steam will still successfully launch the game for you, and in most cases the in-game overlay will be available.
How do I add Microsoft Store games from Steam to Windows?
To add Microsoft Store games to Steam on a Windows 11/10 PC, you must first locate the game. IN most cases, you can find it in the AppData folder. Next, you need to find the game manifesto. To access it, you need to have the correct authorization. Then you need to copy the app ID and edit the manifest file like this: shell: AppsFolder PACKAGE! APPID. Once done, you need to open Steam on your PC and add the game.
Can the Microsoft Store play with Steam?
No, that is not possible at the moment. If you have a game on Steam and someone else has it in the Microsoft Store, you can’t link them. In other words, it’s not possible to get cross-platform support from Steam or the Microsoft Store.
TRICK: You can also use UWPHook to add Microsoft Store games to Steam with one click.
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