Solution
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix DaaS deliver MSIX packages and MSIX app attach natively. The platform side of a Citrix refresh is usually well understood; the applications running on it, some packaged as App-V years ago, others with the installer long gone, are the part that stalls migration. EtherApps Forge captures those applications from a live install, even when the original installer is missing, and produces a signed MSIX or MSI that Citrix delivers the same way it always has.
7 days. No credit card. Capture a real application on day one.
No rebuild
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops already delivers MSIX and MSIX app attach natively
No installer
rescue legacy and App-V apps when installation media is lost or the vendor portal is gated
Low cost, self-serve
a 7-day Forge trial on one real app instead of a partner-led packaging project
The problem
Plain version: the Citrix environment gets refreshed or consolidated, but several published applications were packaged as App-V years ago, or as a plain native install with the original media long gone, and nobody wants to be the one who breaks a working session-host app. IT version: a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops or DaaS estate carries a backlog of App-V and native-install applications with unclear dependencies, uncertain behaviour under multi-session isolation, and no fast route to a modern package format. Both versions need the same answer: capture what is actually installed, convert it to a package Citrix already knows how to deliver, and do it without a full repackaging project per app.
App-V was Citrix's most common packaging route for years before MSIX became the modern standard. The original sequencer project is often long gone, leaving a working App-V package that nobody can safely rebuild or extend.
Whether the app was originally delivered as App-V, a native install, or a published desktop app, the source installer frequently disappeared years before anyone needed to repackage it, so a from-scratch rebuild starts with detective work, not packaging.
An app that works fine in App-V isolation can behave differently once containerised as MSIX on a multi-session VDA, so packaging teams often delay the move rather than risk breaking a published app that hundreds of users depend on.
Teams will happily plan a Citrix version upgrade or DaaS migration, but a parallel repackaging project for every legacy or App-V app on the estate is enough to make the whole migration slip, especially when packaging skills are scarce.
What changes
Forge captures the application's files, registry, services, and dependencies from a live install, whatever format it currently ships in, giving you a documented footprint instead of a package nobody wants to open.
The capture becomes a signed MSIX or MSI package. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix DaaS deliver MSIX and MSIX app attach natively today, so there's no Citrix-specific packaging format to learn.
Legacy and App-V applications stop being the reason a Citrix version upgrade or DaaS migration gets delayed, because the application side of the work runs on its own track.
A 7-day EtherApps Forge trial on one real application tests the approach before committing to a wider repackaging programme, instead of starting with a quote-only packaging engagement.
Start here
See this working on your own tenant.
Where Forge fits on a Citrix estate
Forge captures the installed application footprint from a live machine or controlled VM, whether it currently ships as App-V, a native install, or something undocumented. That capture becomes a signed MSIX or MSI, which Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops delivers through its native MSIX and MSIX app attach support, no Citrix-specific packaging format required.
Walkthrough
A short walkthrough of legacy app capture from a working machine, package output, and a Windows 11 compatibility verdict - the same signed MSI and MSIX output that Citrix, Omnissa App Volumes, and Parallels RAS all deliver natively.
How we deliver it
EtherApps Forge leads. Forge captures the application directly from a live install, whatever format it currently ships in (App-V, native install, or an existing published desktop app), and produces a signed MSIX or MSI from that capture. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix DaaS already deliver MSIX and MSIX app attach natively, so the output publishes the same way any other Citrix-delivered application does today, once the Citrix Personalization component is in place on the VDA and the package sits on a UNC, SMB, or Azure File Share. EtherInsights joins where the same programme also needs broader Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop migration planning alongside the Citrix modernisation work.
EtherApps Forge captures installed Windows applications from running systems, analyses the real application footprint, supports AI-guided packaging decisions, and produces deployment-ready outputs for modern environments.
EtherInsights is the operating view for Microsoft 365, Azure, and Windows 365: day-to-day cost management, licence control, and full Windows 365 Cloud PC lifecycle management, plus tenant, user, security, device, and Intune reporting.
Where this fits
FAQ
Plain answers for IT leads and Citrix administrators planning an App-V or legacy app modernisation.
No, and it doesn't need to. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix DaaS already support MSIX packages and MSIX app attach natively, on .vhd, .vhdx, and .cim disk images. Forge's job is upstream of that: capture the legacy or App-V application from a live install and produce a signed MSIX or MSI, which Citrix then publishes the same way it publishes any other app package today.
Yes. Forge captures the application from a live install where the App-V package is currently running, picking up the real files, registry, and dependencies, rather than needing the original App-V sequencer project. That capture becomes a signed MSIX or MSI, giving you a documented, rebuildable package instead of an App-V bubble nobody can safely touch.
Yes, that's a Citrix-side prerequisite, not something Forge changes. Citrix requires the Personalization component on VDA machines to deliver MSIX or MSIX app attach, and the packages themselves need to sit on a UNC, SMB, or Azure File Share. Forge produces the signed package; getting that Citrix infrastructure in place is a separate, standard Citrix admin task.
That's exactly what to test before a wide rollout, and it's a genuine, known category of issue, not a Forge-specific one: apps that assume single-user file paths or machine-wide registry keys can behave differently once several users share a session host. Forge stages the Package Support Framework to apply file and registry redirection where the app needs it, and the trial is designed to validate this on one real app before a wider migration.
Cost and starting commitment, mainly. A capture-first Forge trial validates the approach on one real application for a fraction of the cost of a quote-only, partner-led packaging engagement, before you decide whether to run it across the wider estate. You're not committing to a full project just to find out whether an old App-V package can be modernised.
Yes. Citrix's MSIX and MSIX app attach support spans both Citrix DaaS and on-premises Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (current release, 7 2603), so the same Forge-captured MSIX or MSI package works whichever delivery model the estate uses.
Reviewed 27 August 2026.
Start here
Book a Citrix app review and we'll walk through a real package on your estate, App-V, native install, or unclear, and show what a Forge capture and modern MSIX or MSI output would look like for it.
