Error signing appx file

[digocesar]

My project already have a MSI build and now I'm trying to add a APPX Build.
But I'm having a error signing the final .appx file:

The digital signing of the AppX failed. Error message: 'Done Adding Additional Store
Number of errors: 1
SignTool Error: This file format cannot be signed because it is not recognized.
SignTool Error: An error occurred while attempting to sign: C:\Repositories\SitradPro\trunk\installer\Build_MSIX_APPXSetupFiles\Sitrad Pro-x64.appx
File "C:\Repositories\SitradPro\trunk\installer\Build_MSIX_APPXSetupFiles\Sitrad Pro-x64.appx" can not be signed!'

My AI is using SignTool from C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.17763.0\x64\signtool.exe.

[Daniel]

Hello,

Can you please check if your binaries are already signed?

This behavior may happen if one or more of your binary files has already been signed and has an invalid digital signature.

SignTool cannot resign a file, so you must first remove its previous signature before using the tool. An excellent way to do this is presented by Martin Kunc in his blog post SignTool.exe returned error 0x800700C1.

Please let me know if this is your case too.

Best regards,
Daniel

[digocesar]

Hi.
The appx file is not signed.
This file is created and signed by Advanced Installer process, so who else will try to sign the file?
It seens to be an error with AI build process...

[digocesar]

I did another test using SignTool.exe.
The output .appx file created by AI is not signed. But SignTool does not recognize the .appx format.
I'm using a wrong SignTool executable?

[Daniel]

Hello,

To get a better view of your project configuration, could you please send us by email to support at advancedinstaller dot com your .AIP (project file) and a download link to the built APPX package?

All the best,
Daniel

[Daniel]

Hello,

Thank you for your sent files. I have tested the project build operation and replicated the error.

Please give us some extra time to further investigate the root cause of the signing error and we will get back to you as soon as we have a reply.

Thank you for your patience on this.

All the best,
Daniel

[Daniel]

Hello,

Thank you for your patience and for helping us to replicate this issue. I can confirm you this problem was generated by a problem we discovered in Advanced Installer. We are already working on a fix and hopefully we will release the fix very soon (in the forthcoming days).

We will update this forum thread as soon as the fix is available. Thank you for your further patience.

All the best,
Daniel

[digocesar]

As I can see this problem was fixed at release 15.5.1, right?

[Daniel]

Yes, this is right.

All the best,
Daniel

[aroy]

I have downloaded 15.8 version. I still see the same error while creating MSIX.

============
Creating resources.pri file(s)
Building MSIX package:
main-x64.appx
Preparing files
Preparing data for MSIX package
Creating AppxManifest.xml file
Validating AppxManifest.xml file
Creating registry file(s)
Creating [Content_Types].xml file
Creating MSIX file
Signing MSIX file
The digital signing of the AppX failed. Error message: 'Done Adding Additional Store

Number of errors: 1
SignTool Error: This file format cannot be signed because it is not recognized.
SignTool Error: An error occurred while attempting to sign: C:\Users\INROYA\Documents\Advanced Installer\Projects\7zip\Build_MSIX_APPXSetupFiles\main-x64.appx
File "C:\Users\INROYA\Documents\Advanced Installer\Projects\7zip\Build_MSIX_APPXSetupFiles\main-x64.appx" can not be signed!'

============

[Daniel]

Hello and welcome to our forums,

Can you please send us the .aip (project file) to support at advancedinstaller dot com so we can test and investigate its settings?

All the best,
Daniel

[aroy]

I have sent the aip file.

Thanks.

Roy

[Daniel]

Hello Roy,

I have tested your setup project settings but I cannot replicate the issue. Could you please use the "Create..." button from our "Digital Signatures" page of your setup project to create a test signing certificate? And then use the test certificate through our "Use from Personal certificate store" option? Maybe the current certificate you are trying to use is not compatible with the MSIX package type.

Capture.JPG (142.21 KiB) Viewed 11929 times

Also, if this is still of no help then please go to "File" menu -> "Settings" -> "External Tools" option and let us know which path do you have set in the "SignTool.exe" field.

All the best,
Daniel

[timmangan]

I had the same problem - and it is a missing signtool. The VM was on insider's build and has now been upgraded to pre-19H1 build, which removed the installed Windows 10 SDK, and thus signtool was missing. Reinstall for signtool solved it. This post helped.

[Daniel]

Thank you Tim for sharing your insights on this with us. I'm sure this info will be useful for other customers too.

We will further investigate this scenario and try to check this case within our application.

All the best,
Daniel