Summary of the Submission and Validation Process

The following steps provide an overview of how you can submit an application to Windows Marketplace and the validation and certification processes that occur:

1. Go to the App Hub website (http://create.msdn.com/) and click Sign In to log on to App Hub. You must have a Windows Live® ID to log on.
2. If you do not already have an App Hub account, you must register, sign the application provider agreement, select your account type (different accounts are available for businesses, students, Microsoft Partner Program members, and individuals)and provide the details required for your account.

   Information, such as a tax identification number, is required to establish a vendor account. For companies, this information should come from an authorized officer of your company. Non-U.S. residents and corporations must obtain a U.S. non-resident tax payer ID (ITIN) to submit to Microsoft, together with a local country tax registration number.

3. Finally, you must pay the annual subscription fee, and then wait until your account is validated and approved.
4. The validation and approval process has three stages. You will receive an email to validate your email address. You will also receive an email from the company, GeoTrust that validates applicants. The response to this email must come from an officer of the company if you are registering a company. Individuals will need to validate themselves to GeoTrust. The third stage is to complete the vetting process by submitting the required documents to GeoTrust before you are issued a publication certificate.
5. After the validation process is complete, your account is active, and you have a publication certificate, you can go back to the portal and upload your application XAP file. You must pay a fee for each application you publish. You must enter the required metadata for the application, such as the description, category, support email address, and iconography. You must also specify the distribution countries and pricing information for your application. You can upload screen shots of your application for use in the Windows Marketplace catalog.
6. The application XAP file is validated and, providing that validation succeeds, you can specify that it is published as
   soon as the certification process is complete, or it can be held unpublished until you decide to publish it at a later time. If it fails validation, you can view the test results to see why it failed.
7. The certification process for the application begins. The XAP file is unpacked and the content is checked to ensure it complies with all publishing requirements. These include both automated and manual technical testing, policy checking, and market validation. If the application meets all the requirements, it is repackaged and signed with a Windows Marketplace certificate. You can visit the Dashboard page to see a list of your applications, together with their current validation and publication status.
8. You cannot update existing applications on Windows Marketplace. If you want to update a published application, you must resubmit it as a new product.

For a more detailed description of the registration process, see “App Hub Registration Walkthrough” on App Hub (http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/about/developer_registration_walkthrough).

For a more detailed description of the submission process, see “App Hub Application Submission Walkthrough” on App Hub (http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/about/app_submission_walkthrough).

For useful frequently asked questions (FAQ) for App Hub that include prices and estimates of how long the certification process takes, see the App Hub website (http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/faq).