Neither the widget in C# from MS Learn Sample nor one I've made using official MS walkthrough guide will work when pinned

Nacho 0 Reputation points
2025-07-31T15:03:59.3633333+00:00

So, with a very big amount of frustration is that I come here to post this question.

About a week ago I had been messing things up with an idea of a Google Photos Windows Widget similar to the standard existing for Android one, by following this guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/es-es/windows/apps/develop/widgets/implement-widget-provider-win32.

I'm not sure of what I had changed (outside the string containing the JSON payload from the Adaptative Card Designer, or the files inside "Images" folder of the packer part, or the names, GUID and IDs) or considered not neccesary from all that code, but, for an, I insist, unknown reason, I had made it work. But only the "casing", the container, since the widget loaded images from random stock URLs.

Having gotten to a dead-end because of the Google Photos APIs, methods, and ado that is not worth telling, I had given up to achieve my goal and unistalled both the build-by-myself app (i.e. the Widget Provider) and the very same Visual Studio.

Due to my kind of limited hard disk space, seeing that the freed room after uninstalling didn't match with the room previous installation, I went in my very typical a anxious state and started, by means of the Windows File Finder, to search and delete a non small amount of files that according to myself were related with Visual Studio, including files from GAC_MSIL and .NET Assembly system folders.

As usually happens in these cases, I came up with an idea to solve the Google API dead-end and, when I wanted to resume the whole thing, reinstalled Visual Studio and re-created from scratch the code, I have come across with the fact it won't work.

The thing is, it happens the very same thing with the Windows SDK sample: https://github.com/microsoft/WindowsAppSDK-Samples/tree/main/Samples/Widgets.

Both (the mine one and the sample one) Widget Providers register successfully the widgets and I do see them in the Widgets list available to pin, but absolutely nothing happens when I pin any of them.

I have tried the SDK Sample one in another computer where I did not delete any file, and I faced the same issue.

Windows development | Windows API - Win32
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