MSIX Hero 2.2: Winget v1, app attach and productivity enhancements

New version of MSIX Hero is available. Below is the list of recent changes:

View directories, files, registry keys and values in your packages

Package properties have been redesigned to make space for two new tab: Files and Registry. They provide the overview of resources deployed by each package. For files, there is a button to show its content in a default editor.

This feature has been implemented for both installed packages and for compressed packages (MSIX) opened directly.

Winget Editor now supports v1 schema

Winget has moved on and has now more mature and feature-packed schema in version 1.0. MSIX Hero can now open and create files using the new schema (note: since the old schema has become obsolete, there is a little breaking change that the old formats cannot be opened or saved anymore).

New schema defines several new fields, which are now also supported directly from the GUI.

BTW: MSIX Hero support for Winget is not limited to MSIX – other setup types are also supported!

MSIX app attach – multiple files conversion + support for VHDX and CIM

MSIX app attach conversion dialog now supports multiple input files (similarly to how Package Signing handles them) and supports further output formats: VHDX and CIM (next to the already supported VHD). Note: Support for CIM is currently experimental.

By the way: App attach files can be also generated using MSIX Hero Command Line Interface.

New navigation structure for package properties

Package properties have been reorganized:

• Capabilities are now in the Properties tab (previously they were in Content)
• Optional content is now in the Installation tab (previously in Content)
• PSF is now a sub-item of the Content tab (renamed to Package Support Framework) – previously, it was a root tab.
• New tabs for files and registry have been added in the Content tab.
• Second level of tabs is now vertical and uses icons instead of texts.

Other changes

• The option to mount a registry has been removed – the new Registry control makes it obsolete (9eb4961c).
• Improved parsing of errors reported by makeappx.exe (a02b4ac9).
• Windows 10 21H1 is now correctly recognized by its marketing name (May 2021 Update) in various places (52b44688).
• Minor UI improvements.

Resolved issues

• Fixed incorrect first-time validation of package signing settings, where the information about missing PFX files was shown (ca38766f).
• Fixed UTF-8 handling in saved files (a02b4ac9).
• Fixed the button to open Store page that was available for non-store apps (bb7ef0f3).
• Fixed NullReferenceException when copying install or user-profile path from the OPEN flyout (2f7bdf98).

The new version can be downloaded from the Download page or from the GitHub Releases page.