Microsoft Store for Business will reach its end of life in the first quarter of 2023. This page answers important questions about the deprecation and the road ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

You will be able to use Intune and other unified endpoint management solutions to set up application catalogs for your users. The catalogs can include both public apps from the new Microsoft Store, as well as private apps from private repositories. In all cases, the Windows Package Manager (a.k.a. "winget") is used to manage and update the applications on users' systems.

They can do so via the Company Portal app if you are using Intune, or similar tools from other UEM solutions.

Microsoft's original announcement says that paid apps will not be supported. However, the flexibility of their offering actually will make it possible. There are two approaches: Software vendors can make their apps free in the store, but then charge users inside the application. This is what Netflix does, for example. Alternatively, paid apps can be distributed through private repositories such as winget.pro.

You can still manage your licenses until the Store for Business is deprecated in 2023. After this date, your software will remain on your devices but you will no longer be able to re-assign licenses. You may get in touch with your software vendor to enquire if they have a more flexible solution.

HEVC is now available on Microsoft's Volume Licensing Service Center.

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