How to Prepare Win32 App Installation source for Intune Using Intune WinAppUtil

Microsoft Intune Win32 apps provide us with greater control over the deployment of applications. We can deploy 32-bit and 64-bit applications through Microsoft Intune Win32 apps. Before you can add a Win32 app to Microsoft Intune, you must prepare the app by using the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool intunewinapputil.

The Win32 apps support the deployment of multiple files via IntuneWin wrapper / Intune WinAppUtil (intuneWinAppUtil.exe). The Intune Win32 content prep tool can be used to wrap multiple files, such as an MSI with a transform (MST). The Win32 app also supports the deployment of .EXE files by converting them to .intunewin format. Microsoft Win32 content prep tool helps you to prepare a Win32 app installation source for Microsoft Intune deployment.

Intune Prep Tool for the Win32 app allows the creation of a single package for deployment through Microsoft Intune.

Prerequisites

  • Microsoft Intune allows the deployment of up to 30 GB-sized apps. If your package size is more than 30 GB, then perform the cleanup to reduce the size and then create an Intune wrapper.
  • Windows 10 1607+ versions are supported for Intune win32 app deployment.

Preperation

  • Download the Intune Win32 content prep tool (intuneWinAppUtil.exe)
  • Create a folder structure to copy installation files in a folder. The intuneWinAppUtil.exe must be located outside the app folder to avoid package contamination. See the example below
    • D:\Source\Notepad++ 7.9.1\<Installation Files>
    • D:\Source\intuneWinAppUtil.exe
  • Copy all the installation files and other supported files (if any) inside the single source folder (Notepad++ 7.9.1 in this case)
  • Copy the intuneWinAppUtil.exe outside of the installation source folder (D:\Source, in this case). The Intune Win32 prep tool zips all files and folders when it creates the .intunewin file. Hence, it’s important not to keep the tool in the application installation source folder. Otherwise, the tool will also be included in the application installation package.

Create Intunewin File using Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool / Intune WinAppUtil

Let’s understand how to use the Intune Prep Tool intunewinapputil to create an Intunewin package for Win32 app deployment.

Follow the steps below to create a wrapper using IntuneWinAppUtil.

  • Open the command prompt and change the directory to the root of the folder you created.
  • Run IntuneWinAppUtil.exe and provide the following details.
    • Source folder: Provide the complete path for the application source
    • Setup file: Provide the name of the main setup file that needs to be executed to start the installation of the application.
    • Output folder: Provide the name of the output folder where the resulting intunewim file will be created
    • Catalog folder: Yes or No, based on whether you want to use the catalog or not.

Prepare win32 app installation source using Intune Win32 Content preparation tool | Intune WinAppUtil | intunewinapputil

You can also use the command below to skip the prompts.

IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c "D:\source\Notepad++7_9_1" -s setup.exe -o "d:\Source" -q

As you see in the folder below, the intunewin file is created in the root folder with the .intunewin extension. You need to upload the Intune Win file to Intune when creating the Win32 app for the respective application.

Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool / Intune WinAppUtil / Intune Content Prep Tool | intunewinapputil.exe

Please check out this post if you would like to know the steps to deploy a Win32 app in Intune: Deploy Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 19.02 through Intune

The Win32 app can also be deployed directly from the Microsoft Store: Deploy Win32 App using Microsoft Store app (new) | Intune

The recent addition is the Enterprise App Catalog, which streamlines the deployment using an app catalog maintained by app vendors: Deploy Win32 App Using Intune Enterprise App Catalog

For full details, see Microsoft’s official guide on preparing Win32 app content for Intune. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/intune-service/apps/apps-win32-prepare?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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