Deploy a Windows or UWP app with the Windows Device Portal

You can use the Windows Device Portal to build and run Windows or Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications to a remote Windows 10+ device directly from the Unity Editor, alleviating the need to generate a Visual Studio project. Being connected remotely to a remote Windows device allows you to make faster iterations for testing your Unity Project.

Set up the Device Portal

Before you set up the Device Portal in Unity, make sure that you enable Developer Mode and Device Portal on your Windows device using the For Developer section in Settings (Settings > Privacy & security > For developers).

To access the Device Portal settings for your Unity project:

1. Go to File > Build Settings.
2. From the list of platforms in the Platform panel, select Windows, Mac, Linux and set the Target Platform as Windows. To build UWP, select Universal Windows Platform from the platform panel.
3. Set Build and Run on as Remote Device (via Device Portal).
4. Fill in the following fields that appear.

Unity saves the Device Portal Address and Device Portal Username fields in Project settings. For security purposes, Unity doesn’t save your Device Portal password, so you might need to re-enter your password when you restart the Editor or load a new project.

Tip: You can also use the Executable Only build type with Device Portal deployment for UWP. This makes iteration times faster on devices like HoloLens.

Run your app on the remote device

When you have completed the setup for the Device Portal, select Build and Run. This builds the UWP/Windows app, deploys it to the remote device, and then launches it.