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VS2022 Community has been removed and VS 2026 will load but not deploy my UWP based solution

Ian Hayward 0 Reputation points
2026-01-11T10:46:53.9766667+00:00

I have an installed latest version of VS 2022 Community on the latest version of Windows 10 that I use to develop a UWP application and that works fine. I recently setup a new Windows 10 OS partition and tried to load VS2022 Community on it but the Community version is no longer offered for VS2022. I downloaded VS2026, which will load my code but will not deploy it. There are no error messages other than it failed to deploy the root project. I have tried numerous options with the help of CoPilot, but nothing works. I then tried downloading a copy of VS2022 Community from the archives, which can be done, but unfortunately, it looks as if support for c# based UWP has been removed from the latest version, so it won't load my code. I am stuck in the middle. I can't get hold of a fully installable VS2022 Community that supports UWP for c# and VS2026 Community will not deploy my code, but gives no clue as to why. Can I get a version of VS2022 Community that will install with UWP support and/or is there a fix for the deployment problem in VS2026 Community with c# UWP projects?

Developer technologies | Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
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  1. Ian Hayward 0 Reputation points
    2026-01-24T17:18:23.1766667+00:00

    Hi Danny, thankyou for your response. I did manage to install a community version of VS2022 using a link similar to the one you suggested, however regardless of the selected workflows and options, it would not load my UWP code. This was finally fixed by replacing the Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits folder with the same folder from my existing VS2022 Community, running in a separate OS partition. Not a pretty fix, but it works and gets me out of an immediate problem. Thank you for your interest and input.

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  1. Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 6,455 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-01-12T06:54:56.4133333+00:00

    Hi

    Thank you for posting in Microsoft Learn Q&A.

    1. Getting VS 2022 Community

    You can download VS 2022 Community here:

    https://aka.ms/vs/release/vs_community.exe

    Microsoft’s current guidance for UWP in VS 2022 (17.10 and later) is here:

    Get started with C# and UWP

    From that page (for Visual Studio 2022 version 17.10 and later):

    Visual Studio 2022 version 17.10 and later
    For app development using UWP, select the WinUI application development workload. Then, in the Installation details pane, under the WinUI application development node, select the UWP option you need (this will also select any additional required components). For C#, select Universal Windows Platform tools and Windows 11 SDK (10.0.26100.0).

    Those options are what enable the UWP Blank App and other UWP project templates to appear and build correctly in VS 2022.

    2. About VS 2026

    There was a known issue where VS 2026 couldn’t find the correct platform toolset/SDK for UWP and failed to build or deploy (see this thread:

    Visual Studio 2026 not finding Platform Toolset (v143), MSVC Build Tools component).

    That item is now marked Closed – Fixed by Microsoft:

    A fix for this issue has been released! Install the most recent release from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/. Thank you for providing valuable feedback which has helped improve the product.

    So if you want to use VS 2026, I’d suggest:

    1. Make sure you’re on the latest VS 2026 version (update from the Visual Studio Installer or download fresh from the link above).
    2. In the VS 2026 Installer, configure workloads similar to VS 2022:
      • Select WinUI application development.
      • In Installation details, under that workload, select the UWP option you need.
      • Ensure any UWP‑related tools and the required Windows SDK version(s) are selected.

    Then try deploying your UWP solution again. If deployment still fails with “failed to deploy the root project”, grab the detailed text from the Output window (Deploy view) and share it, so it’s easier to see what’s going wrong.

    3. If VS 2022 still doesn’t work for your UWP project

    If, after installing VS 2022 with the setup above, your UWP solution still doesn’t load or deploy correctly, feel free to share more details (for example, the exact error message from the Output window, your Target version / Min version from Package.appxmanifest, and which workloads/components you have installed). With that information it should be possible to troubleshoot what’s missing or misconfigured and help you get a working setup again.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Q&A Assist
    2026-01-11T10:47:04.6533333+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    It seems you are facing challenges with UWP development in Visual Studio 2026 after being unable to find a suitable version of Visual Studio 2022 Community that supports UWP for C#. Unfortunately, Visual Studio 2022 Community is no longer offered for download, and while you can access archived versions, they may not support UWP development as you have discovered.

    For Visual Studio 2026, if it is loading your project but failing to deploy it without error messages, it could be related to compatibility issues or missing components. Here are a few suggestions to troubleshoot the deployment issue:

    1. Check Workloads: Ensure that you have the correct workloads installed in Visual Studio 2026 for UWP development. You can check this in the Visual Studio Installer under the "Workloads" tab.
    2. Target Version: Make sure that your UWP project is targeting a version of Windows that is supported by Visual Studio 2026. You may need to adjust the target version in your project settings.
    3. Dependencies: Verify that all necessary dependencies and SDKs are installed for your UWP project. Sometimes missing SDKs can lead to deployment failures.
    4. Adaptive Code: If your project is using APIs that were introduced after the minimum version you are targeting, ensure you are using adaptive code to handle those scenarios.
    5. Logs: Check the output logs in Visual Studio for any clues that might indicate what is going wrong during the deployment process.

    If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may want to consider reaching out to the Visual Studio Developer Community for more specific support regarding your deployment problem.

    References:

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