Solution
Omnissa App Volumes (formerly VMware App Volumes) delivers EXE, MSI, MSIX, and ThinApp applications natively. The platform side of a Horizon and App Volumes refresh is usually well understood; the applications sitting on it, often packaged years ago as ThinApp or native installs, are the part that stalls. EtherApps Forge captures those applications from a live install, even when the original installer is gone, and produces a signed MSI or MSIX that App Volumes attaches the same way it always has.
7 days. No credit card. Capture a real application on day one.
No rebuild
App Volumes already delivers EXE, MSI, MSIX, and ThinApp natively
No installer
rescue legacy apps when the 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 Horizon and App Volumes environment gets refreshed, but the applications on it are years old, several were packaged as ThinApp before that format fell out of favour, and nobody is confident repackaging them from scratch. IT version: an ageing App Volumes estate carries a backlog of ThinApp and native-install applications with unclear dependencies, uncertain compatibility with a current App Volumes release, 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 App Volumes already knows how to deliver, and do it without a full repackaging project per app.
ThinApp was a common App Volumes packaging route for years. The original build environment, the sequencer project, and the person who built it are often long gone, leaving a working ThinApp package that nobody can safely rebuild or update.
Whether the app was originally delivered as ThinApp, a native install, or an AppStack, the source installer frequently disappeared years before anyone needed to repackage it, so a from-scratch rebuild starts with detective work, not packaging.
Teams will happily plan a Horizon or App Volumes version upgrade, but a parallel repackaging project for every legacy app on the estate is enough to make the whole migration slip, especially when packaging skills are scarce.
A working ThinApp or old AppStack that nobody wants to risk breaking becomes the reason the underlying platform can't be upgraded cleanly, even though the platform itself is ready to move.
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 MSI or MSIX package. Omnissa App Volumes delivers both formats natively today, so there's no proprietary rebuild step and no separate App Volumes-specific packaging tool to learn.
Legacy ThinApp and native-install applications stop being the reason a Horizon or App Volumes version upgrade 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 an App Volumes estate
Forge captures the installed application footprint from a live machine or controlled VM, whether it was originally packaged as ThinApp, a native install, or something undocumented. That capture becomes a signed MSI or MSIX, which Omnissa App Volumes attaches the same way it delivers any other MSI, MSIX, EXE, or ThinApp package today, no proprietary AppStack rebuild 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 Omnissa App Volumes, Citrix, 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 (ThinApp, native install, or an existing AppStack), and produces a signed MSI or MSIX from that capture. Omnissa App Volumes already delivers MSI, MSIX, EXE, and ThinApp applications natively, so the output attaches the same way any other App Volumes-delivered application does today. EtherInsights joins where the same programme also needs broader Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop migration planning alongside the App Volumes 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 Omnissa/VMware Horizon administrators planning an App Volumes refresh.
No, and it doesn't need to. Omnissa App Volumes already captures and delivers EXE, MSI, MSIX, or ThinApp applications natively through its own packaging console. Forge's job is upstream of that: capture the legacy application from a live install and produce a signed MSI or MSIX, which App Volumes then delivers the same way it delivers any other MSI, MSIX, EXE, or ThinApp application today.
Yes. Forge captures the application from a live install where the ThinApp package is currently running, picking up the real files, registry, and dependencies, rather than needing the original ThinApp sequencer project. That capture becomes a signed MSI or MSIX, giving you a documented, rebuildable package instead of a ThinApp nobody can safely touch.
No. This is about modernising the applications running on your existing App Volumes estate, not replacing the platform. The MSI or MSIX output from Forge is delivered through App Volumes the same way it delivers any other package today.
Both. The immediate use is modernising the application backlog on your current Horizon and App Volumes estate. If the longer-term plan also involves moving some or all of that estate to Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop, the same MSI or MSIX capture supports AppAttach and IntuneWin outputs for that migration too, so the packaging work isn't wasted if the platform changes later.
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 ThinApp package can be modernised.
That's a common and usually fixable container-behaviour issue rather than a broken app: writing to a fixed path, assuming a machine-level registry location, or expecting files next to its own executable all behave differently once containerised. Forge stages the Package Support Framework to apply file and registry redirection and working-directory fix-ups so the app runs as it did before, without a code change.
Reviewed 26 August 2026.
Start here
Book an App Volumes app review and we'll walk through a real package on your estate, ThinApp, native install, or unclear AppStack, and show what a Forge capture and modern MSI or MSIX output would look like for it.
