I am running Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio Community 2015. I have an old WPF .NET App which I would like to distribute via the Windows Store. So I read about the Microsoft Desktop Bridge which seems to be a quite elegant way to bring my old apps to the UWP World.
Unfortunately I cannot find any infos at Microsofts documentation if the Desktop Bridge is also available for Windows 8.1. Do I need Windows 10 to use this tool or can I also use Windows 8.1?
Regards
Michael
Desktop Bridge is not available for Windows 8.1. According to officals docs, minimum supported version is Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
The Desktop Bridge was introduced in Windows 10, version 1607, and it can only be used in projects that target Windows 10 Anniversary Edition (10.0; Build 14393) or a later release in Visual Studio.
You will have to upgrade your OS to windows 10, but your app should be able to easily support any version of windows including windows 10 AND ALSO UWP, not just UWP.
There are very good examples of how to make your app cross compatible between UWP and previous versions of windows.
Google "Developer's Guide To The Desktop Bridge". Its free and walks through very clear examples of how to make your app cross compatible.
also, You will need to use the latest version of visual studio 2017 to take advantage of the most recent features for deployment.
Otherwise, packaging will be a pain.
Good luck
