Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace or Zune Player does not allow you to download XAP (Windows Phone Game/Application File Extension) files directly to your PC. Makes previously downloaded Windows Phone XAP files useless as you have to re-download them in case you lost your precious data (syncing can 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 market.
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 app available called XGENO that allows you to browse 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 benefits of using XGENO is that you don’t even need to have the Zune player or sign in to your Windows Live ID to download apps from the marketplace. This application itself is quite simple. Its metro user interface will give you an experience similar to that of a native market app on your device. The best thing is that this app is available to download for free.
How to use XGENO
Download XGENO from the link 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 application as “Administrator“). Once you have downloaded this application, you need to go to “Adjustment” to set the download path. The downloaded files will be saved in this location on your PC. You need to set the path every time you launch this app. There is also a provision for Proxy server settings to download the app/game anonymously In case you want to download WP7 apps behind proxy, you need to enter your proxy server address in this field, later you can use XAP installer to install or transfer the file to your Windows Phone 7. Some apps are already available on The XDA Developers Forum, which can do the same thing, allows you to install XAP files.
XGENO is useful when you feel a little 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 market, but by the application ID. It’s quite hard 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 the app crash, but this is normal.
Please let us know if you have problems downloading XAP files directly from the market.
Download XGENO