Killing the Squirrel

Squirrel is an installer/updater package that is used in some software applications that we might want to package/deploy in an enterprise environment.

An open source project, Squirrel is liked by developers because it typically installs in a user context without administrative permissions (by installing into the user profile) and has an automatic updater built in. Those are two features that …

Psf v2022.12.11 Changes

Psf LogoThe Package Support Framework (PSF) was originally an open-source project to help Win32/DotNet applications run when inside an MSIX Container.  TMurgent has taken up the support for the PSF in our own fork here on GitHub.

A quick update to the PSF.  It adds the first “IlvAware” fix to MfrFixup, plus some other housekeeping.  This release adds to the …

NEW: MfrFixup for MSIX

Today I announce the release of v2022-12-5 of the Package Support Framework.  While there are numerous fixes to the Launcher and DynamicLibraryFixup, of most importance is the creation of a new fixup.  The MfrFixup (Managed File Redirection Fixup) is intended to be a replacement for the File Redirection Fixup.  Both fixups remain as part of the PSF so you’ll have …

MSIX InstalledLocationVirtualization

InstalledLocationVirtualization is an important feature Microsoft added to MSIX that aids in the compatibility of Win32/DotNetFramework software packaged into MSIX.

There is little documentation on what this feature does, but it exists on most production system today and we should be using it.

After some research into this feature, which I document in this White paper, I believe that …

Published
Categorized as MSIX, PSF Tagged

If you think you aren’t using MSIX, think again!

No commentary, just the facts.  I used the MSIX_Commander on my own Windows 11 desktop to look at all of the AppX/MSIX software that is on the system right now.  While I have added a small number of third-party apps, nearly all of this is from Microsoft as part of the OS.  It took two screenshots.

 …

Published
Categorized as MSIX Tagged

PsfTooling 5.4.0.2 Released

 PsfTooling is the free tool to work in conjunction with the Microsoft MSIX Packaging Tool.   [Download_Page]

 

 

TMEditX 2.4.0.0 Released

TMEditX is the licensed and more capable tool for fixing up MSIX packages since it doesn’t have to depend on the Microsoft MSIX Packaging Tool to create the final package.  [Download_page]

 

SPECIAL NOTE ON THIS RELEASE:

Once again, this year the Certificate Authority industry has changed standards that require our updated Code-Signing Certificate to break the upgrade cycle.  While Microsoft