MSIX is Microsoft’s latest application packaging format, providing a cleaner and more reliable interface for installing applications. For more information about MSIX as a packaging format and all of its benefits check the MSIX Overview documentation.
There are several paths when it comes to migrating applications to MSIX depending on what state they are in. This section of the documentation will help you if you already have installers that are no longer being developed or you do not own the source code. If you do own the source code, check these documents on how to create MSIX from source code.
This section of the documentation shows you how to set up a conversion environment, how to purchase and configure the MSIX packaging tool for a successful setup, and how to use the MSIX packaging tool to obtain any installer you have and convert it to MSIX. After obtaining MSIX, we also received information on how to troubleshoot runtime environment issues using the package support platform.
Converting existing installers to MSIX
In preparation for converting an application to MSIX, it is recommended that you follow the process below to get a clean MSIX package ready for deployment. Before beginning any of these steps, it may be necessary to first evaluate the installer to ensure that it will be supported in MSIX format.
MsIX with a single project is a feature that allows you to create a packaged classic WinUI 3 application without the need for a separate packaging project. A WinUI 3 application is an application that uses the Windows User Interface Library (WinUI) 3 platform for the user interface and utilizes the Windows Application SDK.
The MSIX feature with a single project is available as a Visual Studio extension that can be used for the following scenarios:
- Create a classic WinUI 3 application using the Visual Studio project template Empty Application, Packaged (WinUI 3 in Classic Application), which comes with the Windows Application SDK. This project is configured to build the application into an MSIX package without the need for a separate packaging project;
- Modify an existing WinUI 3 classic application that uses a separate packaging project.
Create a new project
If you are using the Windows Applications SDK 1.0 (pre-release 2 or later), you can create a new WinUI 3-based application that includes MSIX support with a single project, simply by using the Empty Application (WinUI 3 in desktop) template.