As you read in Paul’s post from last week, The Windows Store is open for business. Is your app ready?, the Windows Store is ready for your apps. The first step to getting apps in the Windows Store is to get your Windows Store Developer Account up and running.

Quick Info on Windows Store Developer Accounts
If you have an MSDN Subscription, DreamSpark account (for students registered in select, accredited, post-secondary educational institutions) or BizSpark account (for startups), you can sign up for free 1 year membership.  Just go to your account dashboard and follow the instructions for getting your Windows Store membership activated. If you do not have any of those subscriptions, you can sign up for a 1 year membership today for only CAD $49.

To make the process as painless as possible, here are some tips that will help you along the way. These have been compiled based on what we’ve been seeing over the last few months working with developers at various hackathons, workshops, and conferences.

Recommended Resources

Now that you’ve gone through the recommended resources (you did go through them, right? Trust me, it will make it easier for you down the road…), here’s what you need to know for registration:

Registration Prerequisites

  • A Microsoft account, also called Windows Live ID. It’s highly recommend that you create a new account for Windows Store (and Windows Phone Marketplace). See Picking a Microsoft Account for Windows Store.
  • For companies: Make sure you create a team account as this login needs to be used by developers when submitting apps to the Windows Store. If your account is linked to a person and one day that person leaves the company, technically, the all of the information and apps go along with that person. Having a team account, with a change of a password, will ensure that the information and access is kept safe.
  • Have your credit card ready for account verification purposes.

Registration Process

  • Make sure to choose the appropriate account type: Individual or Company. This cannot be changed at a later time.
  • In the Account details for a company: make sure you enter a correct Approver name and e-mail. The e-mail address for the approver must be a company mail, not a free service like Outlook.com or Gmail.com.
  • Country and account type: Make sure to choose the correct one as this info cannot be changed.
  • Approver information: Make sure the contact information of the approver section is valid and have the person check their e-mail for account verification and validation. The process of approval must be completed before your account gets validated, and account validation is required in order to publish apps.

Account Validation

Before your apps can go through certification, your account needs to be validated. Depending on the account type, there are several steps to be completed.

Account verification

Both Company and Individual verification is done through a withdrawal on your credit card, which is then reverted directly. The transaction number or amount is used to verify your account. Go to the Dashboard > Subscription page to go through verification.

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Account validation status

From the Store Dashboard, click on the “Profile” link to access your account information:

  • Developer identity – If you signed up for a Company account, your account must be vetted before any apps can be certified. Vetting is done by an external party that will send an e-mail to the Approver e-mail you entered during the registration process. Make sure to check your spam folder if you don’t receive the email.
  • Payout account: Make sure to complete your bank account setup. This must be completed before certifying paid apps or apps with in-app purchases.
  • Tax profile: Your tax profile must be set to Valid if you are certifying paid apps, or in-app purchases. It is important to note that the Tax Profile section should be entered by a company representative (eg. CEO, CFO, etc)

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Need help? Go through official support

If you run into an issue with your developer registration, there are several support options available including community forums and the Windows Store Support Team, who are available via chat or email. More details here.

Let us know what you’re up to
As you get up and running with the Windows Store and start working on your apps, let us know what you’re up to so that we can see if we can help! Send us an email at win8cdn@microsoft.com. If you’re looking for app ideas or want to elicit some feedback from fellow developers, start a new discussion in the Canadian Developer Connection group on LinkedIn and see where it goes.

Enjoy!

A special thanks to a fellow Microsoftie, Katrien De Graeve, for putting most of this post together.