If you’ve repackaged more than a handful of legacy installers into MSIX, you’ve probably noticed that in order to build an MSIX, you need to have at least one application defined before the package can go through. Even Advanced Installer has a hard stop when it comes to this because it will not let you remove all the applications inside the Application Details Page.

Secure software distribution depends on digital certificates. They validate applications and guarantee that users receive software from trusted publishers.

Packaging a Windows app the “proper” way usually means creating a manifest file, generating assets, doing a test certificate, and signing the application, all before you can confirm that your application behaves correctly with a package identity.

MSIX Packaging Tool from Microsoft is a great tool for capturing applications and creating MSIX packages. However, creating a package with it results in an MSIX package, but that alone does not guarantee that the package is complete.

I remember when Microsoft released the MSIX technology in 2018, and Advanced Installer was the first application packaging tool to support it.

Applications in the modern Windows Application ecosystem are attempting to evolve beyond the standard folders that contain only executables and resources. Windows apps are distributed, installed, and updated as packages, providing structure and security through digital signatures and uniquely identifiable assets.

In 2018, Microsoft announced MSIX as the next big thing: a single installer that will replace MSI, EXE, and APP-V.

Digital Signing should be a formality for professionals. It’s been almost 30 years since the first software was digitally signed but we still have many users who don’t know how or why they should use a code signing certificate. We need it to protect their intellectual property and enhance the cybersecurity of their end-users.

Universal Windows Platform applications, often called UWP, are a Microsoft application model that debuted with Windows 8 and continued to evolve in the Windows 10 era.

Automatically converting your App-V application to MSIX spares you from rebuilding it from the ground up.

Customizing the App Installer UI used to require manually editing an XML file and adding it to your MSIX application. With Advanced Installer, however, you can do the customization directly from its graphical user interface, no XML editing is required.

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

Back in March 2018, Microsoft announced the MSIX packaging format and introduced Advanced Installer as the first recommended tool for creating MSIX packages.

PowerShell is, without a doubt, a powerful and commonly used scripting language for task automation and configuration management. However, sharing these scripts with non-technical users can be challenging, and that’s where converting a PowerShell script into an executable (.exe) file becomes useful.

As explained in other articles on our blog, MSIX treated the classical shortcuts differently.

The application packaging, deployment, and virtualization landscape is constantly evolving.

In today’s world, which is evolving at a rapid pace, new technologies are introduced into the market on a regular basis. Of course, not all technologies are adopted by the public, but some do leave their mark – either on a larger or a smaller scale – on the overall tech world.

When deploying applications, the architecture and packaging format you choose play an important role regarding compatibility, performance, and user reach.

Software packaging is the process of building an installer that includes all of your applications' resources and can be used to distribute them to the end-user devices.

MSIX is a modern packaging technology that provides reliable application deployment.