Category: Release

A new version of MSIX Hero is there. This build has two new features and several other improvements and bug fixes.

New tab: System status

A sidebar has been added, which changes the mode between the packages list and the new view showing the status of your system.

This is a hub for settings and convenient shortcuts for set-up and maintenaince. It has currently four sections:

• Developer and sideloading: Enabling and disabling of side-loading and the developer mode.
• Automatic updates of Store apps: Enabling and disabling automatic download of new versions of apps managed by Microsoft Store.
• Repackaging on this machine: This is useful for MSIX IT Pros doing repackaging with tools like MSIX Packaging Tool, Advanced Installer, InstallShield, RayPack etc. With a single click, the user can view which services and processes are running, but should be rather disabled in order to avoid repackaging “noise”. It currently covers a bunch of services (for example Windows Update, Windows Search etc.) and also some running processes (Windows Installer, Global Assembly Cache Tool etc.). The list is dynamic and only shows the services and processes that are actually applicable to your environment. For example, below are three suggestions from MSIX Hero, one about still active Windows Update, one about running process (msiexec), and one about a generic setting which is already correctly set-up.

• MSIX Tooling: This is an experimental view which shows which apps capable of creating, editing or repackaging to MSIX format are currently installed. The selection is currently limited to apps distributed in MSIX format and listed here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/partners. If some app from the list is not yet installed, a button to open its Store page will be shown:

Future versions of MSIX Hero will expand this concept by also including selected apps not available in the Store. A feedback about priorities is always welcome!

Capabilities

Capabilities are one of the core security features of APPX/MSIX apps. A declarative manifest from a developer defines upfront what each app may ask for and which extra security/privacy risk is to be attributes with it. The capabilities are easy to discover in manifest files (XML), but reading them is tedious and sometimes confusing due to their cryptic names.

This is where MSIX Hero jumps in, by providing a human-friendly overview of capabilities, separating them to functional groups and with a nice touch of icons and actual name. For example, this is what Adobe XD MSIX app can access when installed on your machine:

Other improvements

• In the Dependencies tab, Windows 10 names for both minimal and tested OS are now clickable and open Wikipedia article about Windows 10 version history.

• Opening MSIX Log Viewer is now much faster. Additionally, it fetches more records at once.
• Progress bar for loading packages is now displayed directly over the package lists (does not cover the sidebar or other controls) and its messages are now using a slightly different wording.

Resolved issues

• Sometimes when refreshing the list of installed packages for all users and having at the same time a specific package selected, the refresh routine would enter an endless loop. This is now fixed.
• For early Windows 10 versions not supporting MSIX, a caption MSIX Core was added automatically. This is now fixed, the caption is only added if and only if the actual target device family name is MSIXCore.Desktop.
• In previous build due to a regression it was sometimes possible to de-sync normal packages view and its wider variant with columns. This is now fixed.
• Opening a package without a manifest file could crash the Package Expert window. The issue is now fixed.

Download

The app will be updated automatically in few hours if you installed it from app installer file. New users can download MSIX Hero from the Download page.

Your feedback is important, let me which other features you would like to see in MSIX Hero.

MSIX Hero has been updated (both MSIX and app installer remote package) to version 0.5.14.0.

Feature highlight

• NEW PSF fix-ups have now a dedicated tab. The new tab shows a pretty detailed, yet human-friendly overview of config.json and supports the following:
  • Redirection fixup
  • Trace fixup
  • Electron fixup
  • Other fix-ups are displayed but their config is treated as raw JSON file.

PSF tab is disabled for packages that do not use PSF.

By the way, this view is currently read-only. In one of the next updates, MSIX Hero will also get its own WYSIWYG config.json editor, which will reuse large parts of this new UI.

Other changes and improvements

• NEW New header with basic package information in Package Expert and package sidebar.

• IMPROVED Algorithm for automatic calculation of required VHD size (MSIX app attach) has been improved in this build and accounts now for some NTFS pecularities.
• FIXED In several dialogs, the main action button (for saving, creating etc.) was always disabled even on the confirmation screen. In this build, the button will be disabled as soon as the confirmation screen is shown.
• FIXED Previous version displayed wrong version of package authoring tool for MSIX built with RayPack. In this version, the version is accurate.
• FIXED Changing package selection was previously causing unnecessary second loading of manifest file. This has been fixed in this build.

Go to Downloads to get the new version, or start your currently installed MSIX Hero to trigger an auto-update.

Hello, here is another update to MSIX Hero. Main feature highlight of this new version 0.4.0.0 is the ability to display Package Support Framework scripts. Also, this update fixes several issues and improves UI, especially the package sidebar.

Changelog

• NEW MSIX Hero is showing PS1 scripts (a relatively new function added recently to the Package Support Framework). The sidebar shows the name, a few basic information about each script and it displays a link that can be used to open the script in a default editor.

• IMPROVED New design of the package sidebar. Some tabs were moved around so that similar or related information are next to each other. Redirections (fix-ups), traicing information and other features of PSF are now displayed in the same tab. Similar visual tweaks have been done in the Dependencies tab.

• IMPROVED Added keyword highlighting in the application list. Additionally, it is now possible to search for versions.

• IMPROVED Several important values in the package sidebar (for example package full name or family name) are now selectable.
• IMPROVED Changed the caption from Desktop Bridge and Desktop Bridge + PSF to Win32 and Win32 + PSF respectively.
• IMPROVED The ribbon and tab items are now subtly animated when changing the selection.
• FIX Fixed a bug with recognition of framework and UWP apps.
• FIX After refreshing the package selection was not properly restored.
• FIX Sorting by name was using internal name instead of the display name.
• FIX Missing icon in UAC Dialog during self-elevation.

Additionally, this version has tons of internal changes for new upcoming features. Stay tuned for next updates 🙂

More information

• Run scripts with the Package Support Framework
  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/psf/run-scripts-with-package-support-framework

Version 0.3.30.0 is now available for download for new and existing users. This is a minor update which focuses on the following improvements:

• NEW Ability to configure tools invoked in package context
• NEW Support for arguments and running tools as administrator
• IMPROVED Improved look and feel of the in-ribbon gallery with tools
• IMPROVED Added shield (UAC) icons to several actions in the main ribbon that require admin rights
• IMPROVED Forward and backward compatibility of application settings
• FIX Removed UPDATE tab from the settings, they are now only available in the About window
• FIX Wrong icon for removing package from the context menu
• FIX Fixed a few minor bugs in the settings when opening the dialog for the second time in a row