c# - WCF Service reference not working on other PC

Question

I have a Windows Store - Metro app that connects with a Net TCP WCF Service running on same PC (hosted in a console application) but on Desktop mode of Windows 8. I have added a reference of WCF Service inside metro app and everything works fine.

I package my store/metro app and WCF Service and try out on another PC which don't have Visual Studio installed so I don't recompile the code, I just install the metro app package and run the executable of WCF Service. WCF Service starts fine but when I launch my metro app it give me error (see the image below)

It seems that for some reason metro app when installed on other PC is unable to find the service reference. I have tried many things after googling but nothing works. Any ideas/hint/suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Windows Store Apps generally cannot use the loopback address, except for 1) communication within the SAME process, or 2) for development purposes. From How to enable loopback and troubleshoot network isolation:

Network communications using an IP loopback address cannot be used for interprocess communication (between two different apps) in a Windows Store app since this is restricted by network isolation. Network communication using an IP loopback address is allowed within an app within the same process for communication purposes.

A developer may want to use loopback for testing or debugging purposes, even though that capability will not be available for customers. For example, an app may want to download data from a web service from a Windows Store app. For development purposes, the developer wants to test the app on a single computer that is configured with the web service locally on 127.0.0.1.

Loopback is permitted only for development purposes. Usage by a Windows Store app installed outside of Visual Studio is not permitted.

In a production scenario, you will likely have to install the WCF service on a separate machine. Note that you will have to enable the "private network" capability in your application manifest (on the client app) to enable local network access.