Solution
Microsoft's MSIX Packaging Tool is free and does a clean job on one application at a time. The problem is the other 199. At the four hours of packager time per package our cost calculator uses by default, a 200-app estate is 800 hours, and that number, not the MSIX format, is what sets your Windows 11 migration date. EtherApps Forge automates the repeat work: batch capture from a machine where the app is already installed and working, Package Support Framework fix-ups staged for you, signing inline, and MSIX, IntuneWin, App Attach and MSI out of one capture, each with an evidence report your change board can read. Built for MSPs and IT teams at 50 to 600 users, for the packaging lead who has to clear the queue and for the IT director who has to put a date and a cost in front of the board.
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Updated 13 October 2026
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Free tool or automation
Microsoft's MSIX Packaging Tool is free, it is good, and for twenty applications with clean installers and a packager who has time it is the right answer. Volume is what changes the decision. Our packaging cost calculator's default is four hours of packager time per manual package, so 200 applications is 800 hours. Here is the honest split, so you can decide which side of it your estate sits on.
| What you are deciding | Microsoft MSIX Packaging Tool | Automated packaging with EtherApps Forge |
|---|---|---|
| Capture effort per app | One application at a time through the wizard, or a scripted run from a saved command line template. Microsoft recommends a clean conversion VM and a revert to checkpoint between packages, so the environment work repeats for every app. | Applications are queued and captured in batches, and capture can run from a machine where the app is already installed and working, so a lost installer does not stop the queue. |
| Fix-up handling | Package Support Framework fix-ups are supported in the tool and configured per package by a packager who already knows what the application needs. | Capture analysis proposes the file, registry and working directory fix-ups per application and stages them into the package. A reviewer changes or rejects them before release. |
| App Attach output | Produces the MSIX. Expanding it into a CIM or VHDX image for App Attach is a separate step with the MSIXMGR tool. | MSIX, App Attach image, IntuneWin and MSI all come from the same capture, so Azure Virtual Desktop and Intune are not two separate runs. |
| Repackaging on vendor updates | Each new vendor build means another conversion. A saved command line template keeps the settings, but the capture runs again from the start. | The saved capture recipe re-runs against the new build with the same fix-ups, signing and outputs, so a monthly vendor update is a re-run rather than a re-project. |
| Evidence for change control | You get the package. The record of what changed, who checked it and what was approved is whatever your team writes down beside it. | Every package carries an evidence report: what was captured, which fix-ups were applied, which route was chosen, who approved it and when. That is the artefact your change board and your auditor ask for. |
| Cost model | Free to download. The cost is packager time, and our calculator’s default for the manual route is four hours per package. | A licence with training and support included, set against the packager hours removed. The same calculator defaults to 30 minutes per package with EtherApps Forge. Try one real application on a 7-day trial, no card needed. |
App-V to MSIX
App-V to MSIX migration means assessing the App-V estate, converting the packages that convert, fixing runtime gaps, then signing, testing, and deploying through Intune. App-V is no longer developed, and App-V server support ended in April 2026, so most estates are planning the move now. Compare the main methods below.
| Method | Best for | Watch-outs |
|---|---|---|
| Manual repackaging | Small estates and one-off packages that need full control | Slow at scale; every package repeats the same hand-built steps |
| MSIX Packaging Tool conversion | App-V 5.1 packages with healthy sources; free Microsoft tooling | App-V 4.x is not supported directly; scripts and runtime fixes still need PSF work |
| Scripted batch conversion | Large App-V 5.1 estates run through command-line template conversions | Needs clean conversion environments and per-package review of failures |
| Capture-first repackaging (EtherApps Forge) | App-V 4.x packages, lost installers, and complex apps that resist direct conversion | Capture runs need a controlled VM and human review before release |
The problem
The MSIX format is not the hard part. The blockers sit before it. Installer media went missing years ago. MSIX skills are scarce and expensive. Signing and manifest errors do not show until deployment. And each target seems to need its own run: Intune takes MSIX or IntuneWin, Azure Virtual Desktop takes AppAttach, and Windows 365 takes MSIX or IntuneWin, since it does not support AppAttach today. Microsoft's MSIX Packaging Tool is free and works well when you have a clean installer. The backlog is made of the apps where you do not. On the manual route, our cost calculator's default is four hours of packager time per package, and that backlog sets your migration date.
Windows 10 support ended in October 2025. Migration programmes that once had three years now have months. Packaging work planned across several waves lands on one wave with little slack.
Experienced packagers are rare and in demand. Training a team from scratch pushes the timeline past the cutover date. That is why AI-guided routes and capture-first workflows matter.
Legacy apps often have no installer, no documentation, and undocumented dependencies. Any MSIX workflow that needs clean installer media does not survive contact with a real estate.
Signing, manifest fix-ups, and modification packages are MSIX problems teams hit late. A pipeline that handles them inline is much faster than one that hands off to external signing tools.
What changes
One capture produces signed MSIX for Intune, IntuneWin for the legacy Intune path, MSIX AppAttach for Azure Virtual Desktop, and MSI for legacy targets. Windows 365 delivery uses the MSIX or IntuneWin output.
Signing, manifest fix-ups, and modification packages happen inside the workflow, with customer-managed or Microsoft-trusted certificate chains. No separate signing toolchain.
Legacy apps often misbehave inside the MSIX container: they write next to their own executable, expect a fixed install path, or read machine registry keys they can no longer reach. Forge stages the Package Support Framework with file and registry redirection and working-directory fix-ups, so the captured app runs without a source-code change.
Software vendors and in-house teams can ship their own builds as signed MSIX, not just captured legacy apps. The forge_msix CLI is a drop-in replacement for Microsoft's makeappx.exe, so a build folder becomes a signed, validated, smoke-tested package inside an existing CI pipeline.
AI-guided routing picks MSI, MSIX, AppAttach, or IntuneWin per app and suggests dependency and compatibility fixes, so teams without deep MSIX skills keep moving.
Fewer packages stuck in manual rework at the end of the wave, and one capture covering several delivery targets instead of a separate pipeline per output.
Live-capture wizard: file, registry, AppData, services, and dependency capture from a running Windows system when installer media is missing or incomplete.
Forge assesses each MSIX against best-practice signals from the same CLI session: capabilities, publisher alignment, visual assets, and trust state.
Start here
See this working on your own tenant.
The packaging view
Capture, sign, and apply manifest fix-ups inside EtherApps Forge, then route through a reviewer checkpoint into MSIX for Windows 11 and Intune, AppAttach for Azure Virtual Desktop, IntuneWin for endpoint deployment, or MSI for legacy targets - all from the same capture.
Straight answers
Use it, for the applications it handles well. A clean MSI or EXE, a packager with time, a clean conversion VM and twenty applications is exactly the case Microsoft built it for, and it costs nothing. Volume and the awkward tail change the maths. At four hours of packager time per package, 200 applications is 800 hours, roughly five months of one person doing nothing else, and the tail is where the installer went missing, the vendor no longer exists, or the app only behaves on the machine it was installed on. Automated MSIX packaging is what you buy when the backlog, not the format, is setting your Windows 11 date. It does not replace a packaging team: it removes the repeated capture and environment work and leaves the team the judgement calls and the sign-off.
Our packaging cost calculator defaults to 30 minutes per package with EtherApps Forge against a four hour manual baseline, and both defaults are yours to change to match your own team. Most of the elapsed time is unattended, because capture and build run on the VM while you queue the next application. Straightforward apps sit at the low end. Applications that need Package Support Framework fix-ups, a services conversion or a second review pass take longer, and genuinely complex ones still deserve a packager. The number to take to a finance lead is not the per-app minutes, it is the backlog total: put your application count into the free calculator and it returns the hours and the cost on both routes.
How we deliver it
EtherApps Forge leads this route: capture-first MSIX, MSI, IntuneWin, and AppAttach outputs, with signing and AI-guided routing handled inline. Windows 365 does not support AppAttach today, so Cloud PC delivery uses MSIX or IntuneWin. Bring in EtherInsights where the programme also needs Windows 365 cohort design, licensing planning, or migration baselines from Azure Virtual Desktop or legacy VDI alongside the packaging work.
Capture installed Windows applications, reduce packaging unknowns, and produce modern deployment-ready outputs faster.
7-day free trial of the full workflow · licences include training and support
Manage Windows 365 day to day, from deployment to configuration, drift, and migration evidence, and find Microsoft 365 and Azure waste and prove savings, all from the same operating view.
Learn more about EtherInsightsSame app, same targets, two routes. Microsoft's free tooling still has a place in both. The difference is what happens to the apps it cannot handle.
Each package starts with a fresh packaging VM and a search for installer media. Signing and manifest errors appear at deployment, so the package goes back for rework. AppAttach and Intune outputs need separate runs. Our calculator's default for this route is four hours of packager time per package.
Forge captures the app from a running machine in a controlled VM, applies PSF fix-ups and signing inline, and a reviewer approves the package before release. MSIX, IntuneWin, AppAttach, and MSI come from that one capture, and the next app takes the same route.
Questions
Keep the evaluation grounded in installer-less capture, signing, target-format routing, and how EtherApps Forge sits alongside existing packaging teams.
Ask us on a packaging fit checkWindows 10 support ended in October 2025. Intune defaults to modern deployment paths, and Azure Virtual Desktop AppAttach requires MSIX. The migration window has compressed from years into months for most teams, and MSIX is the format that lands across Intune, AVD AppAttach, and modern Cloud PC delivery alongside IntuneWin.
Not sure which apps will package cleanly?
Pick one awkward legacy app and run it through the 7-day trial. No card, and you keep the signed package. If you would rather size the whole backlog first, the free calculator takes five inputs.
Reviewed 26 August 2026.
Start here
Put your app count into the free cost calculator, run one real application through a 7-day EtherApps Forge trial with no card needed, or get a packaging plan for your estate that walks through capture-first MSIX, signing, and AppAttach routing.
No credit card. Capture a real application on day one.
