Repackage existing installation to MSIX

Repackage your existing installation (EXE, MSI, VBS, CMD, etc.) into MSIX/APPX package.

1. In order to re-create the business logic of any source installation in MSIX/APPX, first you need to capture all changes that this installation makes to the local drives, registry, services and other areas of the system.

   Follow one of instructions below to capture the source installation:

   • Capturing on the localhost

   • Capturing in the Windows Sandbox

   • Capturing in the Docker

   • Capturing on a remote virtual machine

2. Once capturing is completed, open the capturing project in Package Generator. By default, it will be opened automatically.

   • Open MGP project

3. It is highly recommended to review the capturing results and exclude resources that do not belong to the captured app.

   • [MGP] Exclude/include captured files, folders

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Exclude/include apps

   • [MGP] Exclude/include captured registry

   • [MGP] Exclude/include captured services

4. Then, specify the product information, MSIX/APPX apps, capabilities, signature and other package settings:

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Apps

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Runtime fixes (Package Support Framework)

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] AppInstaller

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Architectures

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Bundle

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Capabilities

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Manifest

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Package type (main/modification)

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Platforms (dependencies)

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Product information & identity

   • [MGP][MSIX/APPX settings] Signing

5. Switch to the Package tab, ensure that the MSIX package format is selected and click Build UWP to generate the MSIX package from the project.

   

6. Find your package in the “AppX\Output” subfolder of the project folder. To open the project folder, click Go to…, located next to the Project folder field.

   

Warning

In order to install the generated MSIX/APPX package:

(1) Enable the Developer Mode or Sideloading apps on the target system.

(2) Ensure that the certificate, used for signing, is trusted on that system. If you are using the self signed certificate, install it manually to the Trusted People or Trusted Publishers local machine certificate store. By adding a certificate to local machine certificate stores, you affect the certificate trust of all users on the computer. It is recommended that you remove those certificates when they are no longer necessary to prevent them from being used to compromise system trust.

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Note

PACE Suite covers the whole range of application packaging tasks - learn more.

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