How to Download Windows Phone 7 XAP App Files to a PC Without a Zune

Microsoft’s Windows Market or Zune Player does not allow you to download XAP (Windows Phone Application/Game File Extension) files directly to your PC. It renders previously downloaded Windows Phone XAP files useless as you have to download them again in case you lost your precious data (syncing might help, but we are considering the case where you forgot to sync your device with Zune). It is very troublesome for many users as the Windows Phone market is not active in all countries. For example, Indian users have no choice but to wait for Microsoft to enable the marketplace.

In such cases, it is extremely important to get WP7 apps/games directly on our PC without any interference from Zune. There’s already a trick available to make Windows Phone Marketplace work even if it’s not available in your country (hint: change the country in settings). However, we are not here to discuss this topic. There is a nifty application available called XGENO that allows you to search and download free Windows Phone XAP files directly to your PC. It is an extremely useful utility and comes to the rescue of many users where the market is not yet available.

One of the main advantages of using XGENO is that you don’t even need to have the Zune player or sign in with your Windows Live ID to download apps from the marketplace. This app itself is pretty straightforward. Its metropolitan user interface will give you a native market app-like experience on your device. The best thing is that this application is available to download for free.

How to use XGENO

Download XGENO from the link given at the end of this article. Extract the zip contents and run the program directly (you don’t need to install this program… Windows 7 users should run this app as “Administrator“). Once you have downloaded this application, you must go to “Setting” option to set the download path. The downloaded files will be saved in this location on your PC. You have to set the path every time you launch this application. There is also a provision for Proxy server setting to download the application/game anonymously. In case you want to download WP7 applications behind a proxy, you have to enter the address of your proxy server in this field. file(s).

XGENO is useful when you’re feeling a bit skeptical about trying the app directly on your Windows Phone. You can use the developer tool to run it on the emulator and then you can push it to the real device. One of the disadvantages of using XGENO is that the application or XAP file is not saved by the name of the application in the marketplace, but by the application ID. It is quite difficult to recognize the app just by looking at the App ID, so you have to use the XAP file every time you download it. XGENO allows you to download only one WP7 app at a time. Sometimes you may feel that the app hangs, but it is normal.

Please let us know if you have problems downloading XAP files directly from the market.

Download XGENO