Project Spartan 10009/10049 AppX reports "End of Life" on modern Windows

Question

Project Spartan 10009/10049 AppX reports "End of Life" on modern Windows

Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên 0

Project Spartan 10009/10049 AppX reports "End of Life" on modern Windows

Hi Microsoft,

I'm an 11-year-old kid who really likes Windows modding, reverse engineering, and experimenting with old Windows software. Recently, I ran into a problem while working on a personal project to port the old Project Spartan browser to a newer version of Windows 10.

When I try to install the original Spartan AppX package through PowerShell, I get this error:

PS C:\Windows\system32> Add-AppxPackage "C:\Users\User\Downloads\Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx"

Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFD,
A Prerequisite for an install could not be satisfied.

Package Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe is end of life and can no longer be installed.

NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId]
2aee7b18-2f80-0004-6fe2-f12a802fdd01 in the Event Log or use
the command line
Get-AppPackageLog -ActivityID 2aee7b18-2f80-0004-6fe2-f12a802fdd01

I also tried modifying the AppxManifest.xml and rebuilding the package with WSAppBak (Windows Store app Backup tool), but the EOL error still occurs.

I found another interesting behavior while experimenting:

If I keep the original Microsoft Publisher information, the package gives the EOL error.

If I change the Publisher from Microsoft Corporation to Microsoft, the package installs successfully, but Spartan crashes when I launch it.

If I change the Microsoft.Spartan package identity/name, it also installs successfully, but the application crashes, apparently even earlier.
and the clue I know is when porting other Windows 10 10009/10049 apps when extract i need to remove AppxMetadata folder, AppxBlockMap.xml, and AppxSignature.p7x before compiles because this help remove EOL error in most apps, but when i tried that trick on Spartan it did not work as expected, and other app of Windows 10 10009/10049 also behave the same as Spartan, when change the publisher name it and compile, after install it crashs

I don't have the original Spartan source code, and I don't have enough experience with Windows debugging tools yet to determine exactly why it crashes.

I would really like to understand what is causing the EOL check. Is it related to the package identity, Publisher, AppX deployment system, package metadata, or another Windows compatibility mechanism?

If possible, could someone from the Microsoft team explain why this old Spartan package is considered end of life and whether there is a legitimate way to run it for Windows preservation/research purposes?

Thank you very much for reading this and for any information you can provide!

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên ,

Great write-up — you've already done most of the investigation yourself..

Short answer: there's no supported way to install this package on modern Windows, and no official source for the APPX.

Project Spartan was never released as a standalone package. It shipped in-box as part of Windows 10 Technical Preview build 10049, released to Insiders in the Fast ring on 30 March 2015. Preview builds are time-limited by design and are no longer distributed or serviced, so there's no Microsoft-provided download for this package.

On the two behaviours you found

1. The "end of life" block. Editing AppxManifest.xml and repacking won't get around it — that's expected, not a bug in your process. Worth knowing: this isn't specific to Spartan. The same message appears for other retired in-box packages (for example Microsoft.Wallet during a bulk re-register on Windows 11), so it's general deployment-stack behaviour for packages that have been retired.

If you want to see exactly where it stops, run:

Get-AppPackageLog -ActivityID <your ActivityId>

You'll see the EOL message logged, followed by an entry saying the last successful state reached was Evaluated, and that the failure happened before reaching PrerequisitesChecked, with hr 0x80073CFD. So the check runs at the prerequisites stage, after the package has been evaluated.

I haven't found a public documentation on this so I'd rather not guess at the mechanism.

2. Why the rename installs but crashes. Package identity is tied to the signing certificate's subject, and Windows requires packages to be signed with a certificate that chains to a trusted root. When you removed AppxSignature.p7x and changed the Publisher, you created a different package that's no longer signed the way the system expects.

For the crash itself: Spartan depends on early Windows 10 internals — the EdgeHTML and UWP components of that build — which have since changed or been removed. I can't confirm that from public docs, but it fits what you're seeing.

Useful references if you want to keep digging into deployment errors generally

Troubleshooting packaging, deployment, and query of Windows apps — error code table, plus how to pull the Microsoft-Windows-AppXDeploymentServer/Operational log
MSIX deployment troubleshooting — same error codes with short causes and fixes
Sign an MSIX package and MSIX persistent identity — how signing and package identity are connected

For preservation/research purposes, the realistic route is running the original build in a VM rather than trying to port the app forward. Note that we can't help with sourcing old preview images here.

Hope that clears up on why this happens. If you found my response helpful or informative, I would greatly appreciate it if you could follow this guidance or provide feedback.

Thank you.

Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên 0

Can I ask you what is the EOL error mean, and how powershell/appx manager can detect it?
I got the log file and it look like this:

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-AppPackageLog -ActivityID 2aee7b18-2f80-0004-6fe2-f12a802fdd01

Time                      ID           Message
----                      --           -------
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      603          Started deployment Add operation on a package with main parameter
                                       Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx and Options 0 and 0. See
                                       http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=235160 for help diagnosing app
                                       deployment issues.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      157          The app package signature was validated for core content of the app package
                                       published by CN=Microsoft Corporation, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond,
                                       S=Washington, C=US. Payload won't be validated until the files are read.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      170          The streaming reader was created successfully for app package
                                       Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      10002        Creating Resiliency File C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\AppRepository\d7630b58
                                       -709e-468d-86a6-138c08d1510c_S-1-5-21-43914679-106100759-336699955-1001_8.rslc
                                       for Add Operation on Package Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      607          Deployment Add operation on package
                                       Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe has been de-queued and is
                                       running for user SID S-1-5-21-43914679-106100759-336699955-1001.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      854          Successfully added the following uri(s) to be processed:  file:///C:/Users/User/
                                       Downloads/Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe/Microsoft.Spartan_0.
                                       2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      855          Finished resolving action lists. DeploymentRequest action lists:
                                       addPackageList: Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      848          Package Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe is end of life and
                                       can no longer be installed.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      605          The last successful state reached was Evaluated. Failure occurred before
                                       reaching the next state PrerequisitesChecked. hr: 0x80073CFD
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      472          Moving package folder \\?\C:\Program
                                       Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe to
                                       \\?\C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Deleted\Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8we
                                       kyb3d8bbwe49611c0c-0132-49b1-9ca4-9c4ff96bddc1. Result: 0x0.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      401          Deployment Add operation with target volume C: on Package
                                       Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe from:
                                       (Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx)  failed with error
                                       0x80073CFD. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=235160 for help
                                       diagnosing app deployment issues.
8/19/2026 4:36:30 pm      404          AppX Deployment operation failed for package
                                       Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe with error 0x80073CFD. The
                                       specific error text for this failure is: Package
                                       Microsoft.Spartan_0.2.10009.16_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe is end of life and can no
                                       longer be installed.

Thank you!

Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên 0 Reputation points

2026-08-19T14:31:27.1533333+00:00

Hi, I did find the loophole but I can't fix myself.
I Hope it don't violate Microsoft License Term but i had to told, that when i get the Spartan from build 10009(You know the leak internal build in early 2015) it was a standalone app, it located in WindowsApps folder which mean it was standalone but i repeat the same trick but it also don't work, I want to ask you what is EOL cause by, like how does the package manager know that it EOL via Appxmanifest, i hunting this question for years since it was bean since i install Windows 11 notepad and use the classic trick to port to windows 10 but this spartan case that's so specific

Thank you and have a good day!
Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-20T06:56:48.7966667+00:00

Hi @Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên ,

Thanks for providing the logs. They show exactly what is going on behind the scenes.

1. How does Windows detect the EOL? (Event 848 / 605) The "End of Life" check is not caused by a setting inside the AppxManifest.xml. Instead, modern versions of Windows have a hardcoded blocklist inside the deployment engine (AppxDeploymentServer.dll). During the "Evaluated" state (Event 605), Windows reads the package Name and Publisher. If it matches the exact identity of the old Microsoft.Spartan package, Windows intentionally blocks the installation and throws the 0x80073CFD error. This is why your trick of changing the Publisher name bypassed the block—it changed the package's identity so it was no longer on the Windows blocklist.

2. Why is Spartan EOL, and why is porting it different than Windows 11 Notepad? Porting modern apps like Notepad works because they use public, stable UWP APIs that still exist across Windows 10 and 11.

Project Spartan from build 10009 was deeply tied to early, experimental pre-release Windows 10 APIs and the original EdgeHTML rendering engine. When Microsoft finalized Windows 10, those experimental internal components were completely removed or rewritten. Microsoft hardcoded the "End of Life" block for Spartan because even if you force it to install, it will immediately crash—the operating system components it needs to run simply do not exist in modern Windows.
Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-20T10:04:38.97+00:00
Hi Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên,

I saw that you posted another related post, the "End of Life" (EOL) restriction is not determined by a flag or setting inside the AppxManifest.xml. The operating system itself manages and enforces this block.

Here is the mechanism:

Modern Windows maintains an internal blocklist of deprecated apps within its deployment engine (AppxDeploymentServer.dll).

When you attempt to install a package, Windows reads the Name and Publisher from the manifest to establish the package's unique identity (Package Family Name).

During the evaluation phase (Event 605 in your logs), Windows checks this identity against the blocklist. If it matches a deprecated app like the original Microsoft.Spartan, it aborts the installation, returns the 0x80073CFD error, and logs the EOL message.

By modifying the Publisher name, you generated a new package identity. Since this new identity was not on the blocklist, the deployment engine allowed the installation to proceed.

If you would like to verify this mechanism on your machine, you can check the registry location where Windows stores EOL package lists: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\EndOfLife

You should be able to search through the user SID subkeys (such as S-1-5-18) to see if the specific package name is listed among the apps the operating system is instructed to block.If you found my response helpful or informative, I would greatly appreciate it if you could follow this guidance or provide feedback.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên ,

I need to correct part of my earlier explanation. I could not verify that Windows uses a hardcoded blocklist in AppxDeploymentServer.dll, or that the following registry path is the source of this installation block:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\EndOfLife

That registry path is used in AppX package lifecycle and removal scenarios, but I found no documentation showing that it is where Windows looks up packages that must be blocked from installation.

What your deployment log confirms is:

Event 848 reports that the original Microsoft.Spartan package is considered end of life.
Event 605 shows that the operation reached Evaluated and failed before PrerequisitesChecked, returning 0x80073CFD.
Event 404 records the final AppX deployment failure and repeats the EOL message.

These entries show that the EOL result comes from the Windows AppX deployment process. However, they do not show where Windows obtains that EOL status. I could not find public documentation confirming whether it comes from servicing metadata, an internal package database, a compatibility rule, or another source.

Changing the package Name or Publisher creates a different package identity, which explains why Windows may process the modified package differently. However, that does not confirm the internal mechanism used for the original package.

Microsoft documents how to review AppX deployment logs here:

Those references explain how to retrieve deployment details, but they do not document Events 848 or 605 individually or identify the source of the EOL designation.

Therefore, the most accurate conclusion is that current Windows versions reject the original Spartan package during AppX deployment, but the exact internal source of that EOL decision is not publicly documented. Project Spartan is also an obsolete preview component, so installing or running it on current Windows versions is not supported.

Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-25T01:30:52.6133333+00:00

Hi @Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên , just checking in. Do you have any update on this post?
Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-27T02:22:37.1666667+00:00

Hi @Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên

As we haven’t heard back from you for a while, we’ll go ahead and close this thread for now.

If you still need assistance later, feel free to reach out.

Thank you for your understanding.
Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên 0 Reputation points

2026-08-27T05:49:29.5+00:00

Thank you for attention! I was long busy with my project so i had not went back here for a long time

And yes i felt impossible since the registry path you show is empty but the dll then i don't know, if i had updates i would share you later

Thanks, Danny Nguyen
Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 8,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-27T08:06:22.8233333+00:00

Hi @Đoàn Viết Khôi Nguyên ,

No problem at all — glad you got back to your project.

I should be upfront that I don't have access to the Spartan package myself, so I can't reproduce your setup or test anything directly on my side. It also isn't available from Microsoft in any form — it only ever shipped as part of Windows 10 Technical Preview build 10049, never as a standalone package. That's normal for something this old and long deprecated rather than anything unusual about your case.

You're right that this one isn't solvable from the outside. The internals behind the block aren't something I can document publicly, so I'd leave that thread there rather than chase it further. Running the original build in a VM is still the best route if you want to keep researching Spartan as it actually was.

Please do post an update if you find something interesting — and feel free to open a new thread any time.

If my responses were helpful or informative, feel free to leave a reaction or share any feedback.

Good luck with the rest of the project.