TMEditX is the licensed and so much more capable tool for fixing up MSIX packages; better than PsfTooling since it doesn’t have to depend on the Microsoft MSIX Packaging Tool to create the final package. [Download_page]
Version 5.7 of TMEditX contains a mixture of new features, changes to existing features for ease of use, a bunch of new fixups and command line parameters, new versions of the PSF, and plain old bug fixes. Most of these changes are due to the great feedback we have been getting this year from customers and prospects.
- PSF V.2025.05.11 Fixes for directories in MfrFixup, File launches in PsfLauncher, and Logging improvements. See New in Psf V.2025.05.11 – Confessions of a Guru
- PSF V.2025.04.26 Fixes mostly for MfrFixup. Especially certain old-style UI file-picker dialogs that couldn’t see some system folders. See PSF 2025.04.12 – Confessions of a Guru
- PSF V.2025.04.12 Fix for Detours (24H2), ShExecuteEx, and debug output. See PSF 2025.04.12 – Confessions of a Guru
- Feature: Added a new button on the Applications tab, Add Application. Without the PSF, allows you to select a file that is within the package to add an additional shortcut. If the PSF has already been added, allows you to also select a file outside the package (locally or on a network share) to add an additional shortcut to it that will run inside the container. The target is not added to the package and must be available using the same path at the client.
- Feature: When the PSF is present in the package, a new fixup is placed in the Available list for Prevent Multiple Launches. This is a new feature added to PsfLauncher that will prevent the launcher from starting the target exe if that process name is already running in the user session. A popup notification is given to the user.
- Feature: Detect and support COM software in the package that uses a resource indicator in a typelib file reference.
- Feature: Detection, and a new fixup, for application that use short-names in their CLSID and Typlib file references. Shortnames are not available in the MSIX package, so the fixup will do it’s best to replace the shortnames with the longname for the path.
- Feature: Ditto on shortnames in an App Paths registration or in the Path Variable.
- Feature: Added a new configuration option to control if dependency VC Runtimes should be added to the package whenever the PSF is added. The default setting is to add the VC Runtimes (same as before). Choosing to not add these runtimes assumes that both the x86 and x64 VCRuntimes will be present on all client machines and up-to-date.
- Feature: Added a new Command line switch, /SkipAddVcRuntimeForPsf. This switch would override the previously mentioned configuration.
- Feature: Add new Command line switches /AutoAddCapInternetClient and /AutoAddCapInternetClientServer. These switches request adding the identified capabilities to the package.
- Change: The display of the Analysis page was updated for increased clarity and ease of use. Buttons are now on the left. The Available fixups are collapsed from view by default to help you focus on the default fixups. The “Unfixable” list has been re-labeled as “Unfixed and Informational”. New available fixups were added for Multiple Instances, Add InternetClientCapability, and Add InternetClientServerCapability.
- Change: Identify but note missing COM CLSID registrations if the associated file is in the exclusion file list. This likely indicates that the package caught background updates, such as from Microsoft Edge, and not a real package problem. The issue and cause will be noted in the Unfixable and Informational section.
- Change: Handle out-of-process COM CLSIDs pointing to exes that have both a filepath and an argument. Also fix issue when spaces or quotation marks appear in the filepath or arguments.
- Change: Modified the shell verb used by TMEditX for a file type association to edit an MSIX file. This FTA was conflicting with the AppInstaller FTA. This verb will now appear as an option when right-clicking on the file.
- Fix: A fix was made to the fixup to handle RegisteredApplications. There are some apps that create a new filetype, but point to an existing ProgID, which means that the ProgID is not in the package. Previously we didn’t notice this condition, and the package wouldn’t save due to AppXManifest rules. Now this case will not be fixed and will instead by noted in the Unfixed and Informational section.
- Fix: Fix for a crash in TMEditX in the PITONS/FTA Extensions tab when a Directory or other special file type is detected.
- Fix: Do not remove files from ProgramFilesCommonX86\Installshield folder in the new Remove uninstallers fixup.
- Fix: to UI on showing the uninstallers individual button; previously it might not remove the fixup from the display once used.
- Changes to fixups for Path Variable detection. Added support for those that included environment variables, and improved the logic to not try to fix those that are inappropriate for different reasons. Those not supported are listed in the Unfixed and Informational items.
- Change in detection logic that will cause the DynamicLibraryFixup to be recommended more often. When we did some LSO work in the prior release, we dropped some cases where it turns out they were needed.
- Change: If an app had multiple shortcuts to the same exe, make sure that we consistently name all of the PsfLaunchers to include the package name. When we added the change to include the package name in the launcher name in the prior release, we missed the multiple shortcut case.
- Fix: If an app had multiple shortcut lnk files targeting the same exe in the start menu folders, make sure that all are placed in the grouping folder when the PSF is added.
- Fix on Applications tab. Changes made on this tab were not being propagated to the AppXManifest file unless you visited the AppXManifest tab. This is no longer necessary.
- Change: If package signing is enabled and the signing fails, automatically try it a second time. Quite often, the issue was an internet glitch affecting the timestamping operation.
- Change: Performance improvements in TMEditX, especially in opening and analyzing package with large amounts of dlls.
- Change: Don’t recommend the EnvVarFixup if the only captured environment variable was the PATH variable.
- Change: Tweaks to LoaderSearchOrder (LSO) recommendations due to App Paths registrations to reduce LSO use. Also, don’t try to add more than 5 directories to the LSO list as it breaks the AppXManifest.
- Feature: Added a visible indication on several of the tabs for TMEditX that show when a change has been made on that tab that requires saving before exiting the page. This includes the Options subtab of the File tab, the Config.Json tab, and the AppXManifest tab.
- Change: Re-write of ParsePsfLog utility that parses the saved output of the PSF debug console port (such as by using DebugView). The tool now operates much faster with large files, and it is easier to use with large files as well via the use of “Expanders” that hide additional details of an event (always showing the initial request and result, but by opening the expander on the item the details are available). Also, the events are color coded for the module that generated the event, making it easy to distinguish file from registry calls.
- Feature: In MsixDeploy, added a search dialog against all of the Package AnalyzedIssues.xml files within packages in the UNC list to help find apps with certain kinds of issues.
- Fix: In MsixDeploy, solved an issue involving CIMFS deployed package detection on 24H2 OS.
- Fix: In MsixDeploy, performance improvements.
- In-product documentation updates in TMEditX. If you read this far into this blogpost then surely you RTFM, right?
Where to get the release
The latest version of TMEditX is found at the following link. TMEditX has a fully functional trial mode that can be used to verify just how good it is.
