As a vendor, you may often receive user complaints about the “Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting" warning whenever they download your installer.

It is commonly known that MSX technology comes with a set of limitations that most of the packagers must deal with, in spite of all its benefits.

Although Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly SCCM) is still a very popular infrastructure management tool, many companies are moving to Azure and Intune.

It is well known that whenever you install a .NET application, you need to add a .NET Framework prerequisite to your installation package.

When we install a Windows program, we often have to deal with MSI and EXE files.

We are living in a digital era, and the need for trust and authenticity of digital documents, websites, and applications requires the use of a digital signature.

As IT Pros, we deal with all sorts of application installers developed by different software vendors. We also need to configure and customize each of those applications to fit our organization's needs.

22 years after its introduction, MSI is still the most widely used method of managing program installation. Microsoft released Windows Installer with Office 2000 to enable the application's administration to follow a set of common guidelines (installing, repairing, uninstalling).

Custom Actions are user-defined actions that enhance the installation process by adding functionalities beyond what is offered by the standard Windows Installer actions. They are necessary when built-in options fail to meet specific installation requirements.

Environmental variables, as their name implies, are variables that specify the environment in which a program runs.

When creating an installer package, you typically provide a default installation folder and allow the users to modify it if required. But what if you need to set the installation path based on a value saved in the registry?

There are multiple ways to provide an extra layer of security for your applications in order to distribute them safely and build trust with your users. One of the most reliable methods is using Signed Certificates.A Signed Certificate is a Public Key Cryptography certificate that verifies the identity of the certificate holder listed in the certificate and generates Digital Signatures.

Throughout their entire history, MSI applications have used Microsoft Windows Installer as an installation and configuration tool provided with Windows since version 2.0 for Windows XP and proceeding to version 5.0 for Windows 7, 10, and 11.

We are over the moon to announce the release of the MSI Packaging Essentials Training and Certification Program, our first educational program dedicated to young IT Professionals who want to become experts in application packaging.

When you install an application, you may notice that it can take quite a long time – especially when it needs prerequisites for a successful installation. And that happens because prerequisites slow down the installation process since a prerequisite often doesn't get downloaded until the previous one is installed.

IT professionals are now considering switching from App-V to MSIX technology more than ever, since main-stream support for App-V ended a few years back and extended support is due to end in a few years (April 14, 2026). However, as it happens with change, this shift comes with many challenges when converting App-V packages to MSIX.

Software products often require additional components to be installed on the target machine to run correctly. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that these components are present before proceeding with the application installation.

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) is a fully developed technology that enterprises use to deliver Win32 applications as virtual applications.

In this article, you will get an overview of Windows Installer packages, what application packaging formats are available, and how to create your first MSI package.

To keep up with the evolution of technology, the architecture of the processors shifted from 32 bit to 64 bit, as did the operating systems.Due to the rapid technological advancements, the logic in the registry and file system changed as well.