Developing Windows 8 / Metro Apps Offline

Question

Are there any alternate ways to develop Metro/Windows 8 style apps without obtaining a Windows 8 developer license?

Our department wants to explore the development of corporate, strictly in house, applications for our upcoming Windows 8 deployment next year.

There is no ability to fetch a license offline (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh974578.aspx and http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/762946/cannot-request-offline-developer-license-for-visual-studio-2012-windows-store-app).

Without an internet connection you can’t obtain the Windows 8 developer license from VS2012, and I can’t find any work around.

Does anybody have a work around to enable development of Windows 8 apps without requiring an internet connection?

Answer 1

It was quite frustrating for me that I will never be able to create win8 apps since my developer machine will always be off-line. So I have created a petition to Microsoft to provide a means to obtain a license off-line.

If you are reading this and also want to see a means of obtaining a Windows 8 developer license off-line, please drop your vote here:

http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/3313641-provide-a-way-to-obtain-a-windows-8-developer-lice

Answer 2

There is a hot fix available for this. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2871280

Answer 3

Actually, you are required to renew this developer's licence every month, so it's not really a one time thing.

Answer 4

While you need an internet connection to initially obtain a licence, once you have done this, you can develop applications entirely offline. This is not an unusual model! Quite a lot of applications require a one-time registration initially.