Microsoft MSIX Packaging Tool

Understanding the Microsoft MSIX Packaging Tool (MMPT)

The MMPT is free to download from the Microsoft Store, and currently gets updated around 2 times a year. Additionally, there is a special "Insiders Program" for this tool that offers preview builds in-between.

For recapturing purposes, the MMPT should be used on a clean virtual machine. It may also be installed on a secondary machine for controlling remote packaging. At this time, the tool provides support to identify and use a VM, but it does not manage the VM and snapshots itself.

MMPT supports the following three scenarios:

1. Creating a new package by capturing an installation. This uses a wizard to walk you through the process of entering information and performing the capture.
2. Creating a modification package to another package. This wizard requires you to have the primary package available.
3. Package Editing. This supports simple editing of file and registry entries from within the tool, and the ability to edit the AppXManifest file in an external editor of your choice.

The MMPT is constantly adding new capabilities, so we won't go into details on what is supported, but right now, it requires full repackaging as there is no supported application upgrade scenario that involves an installation recapture mode.

The MMPT also includes the capability to convert existing Microsoft App-V 5 packages into MSIX without recapture -- this action does not require a clean VM.

This is the primary landing page of the tool located on the Microsoft Documentation.

Early in 2024 (when this book was revised), Microsoft finally added some capability to add components from the Package Support Framework (PSF) to the package within their tool. The version of the PSF used is from their own fork of the open source project, typically less capable from what is provided by Microsoft partners. Including the PSF using the capabilities of this tool is also a labor intensive task to perform.

The PsfTooling is typically the free tool of choice to add an improved version of the PSF.

The current version of the MMPT is available for download here.