Create msix package manually without GUI or msi installer

Question

Can anyone give me a hint how I can manually define a msix package? My application has no msi package (yet), so I can’t simply convert it. Is there a way to create like a configuration file where I define manually which files need to go into the msix package? The MSIX GUI Creator doesn’t give me enough control either. Any link or help is highly appreciated

Answer 1

As Stein recommended, an easy way is to get the Express edition from Advanced Installer and just create an empty new project (not convert an old installer, it can do that too), and then add in Files and Folders page all the resources you want to include in the package.

In the rest of the views from the project you can define your application details, digital signature configs, capabilities,... basically anything that would would need to manually define in the AppxManifest.xml file you can define through its GUI.

And if you are really getting started with MSIX, the tutorial I wrote is also a good reference to start from.

Disclaimer: I work on the team building Advanced Installer.