Free MSIX Packaging Tool for the Package Support Framework

This post provides a free MSIX Packaging tool for the Package Support Framework (PSF), and is hosted in the PowerShell Gallery.

Most of us already know that native MSIX has its limitations (at time of writing) in terms of compatibility with some applications.  For example, once we package an application into MSIX format we may find that it has issues finding DLLs, or generates Access Denied warnings amongst other annoying things.

So the folks over at Microsoft created the Package Support Framework (PSF), which was later forked by the great Tim Mangan to include additional functionality.  The PSF essentially comprises of an executable which acts as the “PSF launcher”, a bunch of associated DLLs that provide “fix-ups”, and a config.json file which tells the launcher what to fix!

How Does The Package Support Framework Work?

In simple terms, we redirect any problematic shortcuts to the PSF launcher instead of the original executable.  The PSF launcher then reads the associated config.json file which tells it what to do in terms of which executable to launch (the original executable) and which fix-ups to apply at runtime.

Why AlkanePSF?

When I originally wrote this (over a year ago), injecting the PSF into an MSIX package manually was a bit laborious and fiddly to say the least.  The official MSIX packaging tool GUI didn’t support PSF configurations at the time (if I recall), and amending JSON files is prone to human error.  So I created this PowerShell module called AlkanePSF that makes life easy (or easier).

The advantages of this scripted approach are that:

• It doesn’t require the MSIX packager.  You can extract, inject fix-ups, recompile and sign on-the-fly.
• It could be used as part of an automation pipeline to inject fixes into a bunch of packages on a file share, or perhaps at the end of an automated conversion batch.
• It supports Tim Mangan’s PSF (which includes fix-ups like the MFR fix-up), which the official MSIX packaging tool doesn’t natively support.
• It’s fast when making fix-up modifications and re-retesting packages.

Caveats

• Whilst it does support every fix-up type, it doesn’t support every single fix-up configuration.

Assumptions

• You’ve already packaged your MSIX, launched it and it doesn’t work.
• You might have run some process monitoring, and have an understanding of which fixups you might need to apply.  Maybe read the Package Support Framework Overview first.
• You have a code signing certificate and a password.
• You have a basic understanding of fix-ups.  If not, use the links below to understand the different types.

Available Cmdlets

Set-AlkanePSFConfiguration – Configure AlkanePSF for input and output.

Install-AlkanePSFPrerequisite – Installs Windows SDK/Microsoft PSF/Tim Mangan PSF.

New-AlkanePSFStagedPackage – Extracts/stages MSIX.

Get-ApplicationId – Returns a list of application IDs from the AppxManifest.xml (for reference)

Add-AlkanePSFApplication – Adds an application from the AppxManifest.xml to “fix”.  This must be called for any application that requires fixing.

Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup – Adds a FileRedirectionFixup to the application.

Add-AlkanePSFRegLegacyFixup – Adds a RegLegacyFixup to the application.

Add-AlkanePSFEnvVarFixup – Adds a EnvVarFixup to the application.

Add-AlkanePSFDynamicLibraryFixup – Adds a DynamicLibraryFixup to the application.

Add-AlkanePSFMFRFixup – Adds a MFRFixup to the application (Tim Mangan only).

Add-AlkanePSFTraceFixup – Adds support for the trace module.

Add-AlkanePSFStartScript – Adds a StartScript.

Add-AlkanePSFEndScript – Adds an EndScript.

Add-AlkanePSFCapability – Adds capabilities (Such as elevation)

Add-AlkanePSFDependency – Adds dependencies (Such as Visual C++)

Remove-AlkanePSFApplication – Removes applications from AppxManifest.xml

Remove-AlkanePSFShortcut – Removes shortcuts from AppxManifest.xml

Add-AlkanePSFStringReplace – replaces strings (using a regular expression) in the AppxManifest.xml

Add-AlkanePSFProtocol – Adds a protocol for a given application ID

Set-AlkanePSF – Updates AppxManifest.xml, generates config.json.

New-AlkanePSFResourcesPRI – Recompiles resources if we need to add new assets.

New-AlkanePSFMSIX – Compiles and signs new MSIX.

Usage of Free MSIX Packaging Tool for the Package Support Framework

One day I’ll get around to documenting it properly.  But until that day:

Install and import the module:

Install-Module AlkanePSF
Import-Module AlkanePSF

And use it like so (I’ve provided some example cmdlets and their arguments)

cls

#configure AlkanePSF
Set-AlkanePSFConfiguration -MSIXInputFilePath "C:\Alkane-SampleApp-1.0.0\Alkane-SampleApp-1.0.0.msix" `
-MSIXOutputFilePath "C:\Alkane-SampleApp-1.0.0\Fixed\Alkane-SampleApp-1.0.0.msix" `
-MSIXCertificateFilePath "C:\Alkane.pfx" `
-MSIXCertificatePassword (ConvertTo-SecureString "certpass" -AsPlainText -Force) `
-MSIXArchitecture "64" `
-PSFType "TM" `
-TimManganZipUrl "https://github.com/TimMangan/MSIX-PackageSupportFramework/blob/develop/ZipRelease.zip-v2024-10-26.zip?raw=true"

#install prereqs (SDK, Tim Managan's PSF etc)
Install-AlkanePSFPrerequisite -ForceReinstall $false

#Stage and extract our MSIX package (in the same location as our input MSIX) so we can apply fixups
New-AlkanePSFStagedPackage

#Get list of applications for our reference
Get-ApplicationId

#********************************************
#Add apps we want to fix - every fixup needs an app
#********************************************

Add-AlkanePSFApplication -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP"
#Add-AlkanePSFApplication -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -WorkingDirectory "VFS\Alkane" -Arguments @("arg1","arg2") -InPackageContext $true -ScriptExecutionMode "-ExecutionPolicy Bypass"

		
#********************************************
#Define fixups we want to apply
#********************************************

#Add-AlkanePSFTraceFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupTraceMethod "outputDebugString" -FixupWaitForDebugger $false -FixupTraceFunctionEntry $false -FixupTraceCallingModule $true -FixupIgnoreDllLoad $true -FixupTraceLevelProperty "default" -FixupTraceLevelValue "allFailures" -FixupBreakOnProperty "default" -FixupBreakOnValue "allFailures"

#Add env var fixups
#Add-AlkanePSFEnvVarFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupVarName "alkaneenv1" -FixupVarValue "alkanevalue1" -FixupVarUseRegistry $true
#Add-AlkanePSFEnvVarFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupVarName "alkaneenv2" -FixupVarValue "alkanevalue2" -FixupVarUseRegistry $true

#Add DLL fixups
#Add-AlkanePSFDynamicLibraryFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupDllName "alkane1.dll" -FixupDllFilepath "VFS\Alkane\alkane1.dll"
#Add-AlkanePSFDynamicLibraryFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupDllName "alkane2.dll" -FixupDllFilepath "VFS\Alkane\alkane2.dll"

#Add reg legacy fixups
#Add-AlkanePSFRegLegacyFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "FakeDelete" -FixupHive "HKCU" -FixupAccess "FULL2RW" -FixupPatterns@(".+\.exe",".+\.dll")
#Add-AlkanePSFRegLegacyFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "ModifyKeyAccess" -FixupHive "HKLM" -FixupAccess "Full2MaxAllowed" -FixupPatterns@(".+\.exe",".+\.dll")

#Add MFR fixups (only applies to Tim Mangan PSF)
#Add-AlkanePSFMFRFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "overrideLocalRedirections" -FixupName "ThisPCDesktopFolder" -FixupMode "Disabled"
#Add-AlkanePSFMFRFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "overrideLocalRedirections" -FixupName "Personal" -FixupMode "traditional"

#Add file redirection fixups
#Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "packageDriveRelative" -FixupBase "example3" -FixupPatterns @(".+\.log")
#Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "knownFolders" -FixupId "ProgramFilesX64" -FixupBase "example1" -FixupPatterns @(".+\.log")
#Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "packageRelative" -FixupBase "example2" -FixupPatterns @(".+\.log")
#Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "knownFolders" -FixupId "ProgramFilesX64" -FixupBase "example4" -FixupPatterns @(".+\.log")
#Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "packageDriveRelative" -FixupBase "example3" -FixupPatterns @(".+\.log")

#An example of applying dynamic file redirection fixups
$stagingFolder    = "C:\Alkane-SampleApp-1.0.0\Alkane-SampleApp-1.0.0_Staged" 
$vfsFolder    = "$stagingFolder\VFS"

#find unique directories containing log files
Get-ChildItem -Path $vfsFolder -Recurse  -Include *.log | Select -ExpandProperty DirectoryName -Unique | foreach {
    $fullPath = $_.Replace($vfsFolder,"VFS")
    Add-AlkanePSFFileRedirectionFixup -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -FixupType "packageDriveRelative" -FixupBase $fullPath -FixupPatterns @(".+\.log")
}

#********************************************
#Add scripts we want to run for the relevant application(s)
#********************************************

Add-AlkanePSFStartScript -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -ScriptSourcePath "C:\Alkane_SAMPLEAPP_1.0.0\Scripts\ExampleScript.ps1" -ScriptArguments @() -RunInVirtualEnvironment $false -ShowWindow $false -StopOnScriptError $false -WaitForScriptToFinish $true -Timeout 30 -RunOnce $false
#Add-AlkanePSFEndScript -ApplicationId "SAMPLEAPP" -ScriptSourcePath "VFS\ProgramFilesX86\Alkane\example.exe" -ScriptArguments @("-install") -RunInVirtualEnvironment $true -ShowWindow $true -StopOnScriptError $false -WaitForScriptToFinish $true -Timeout 30 -RunOnce $false

#********************************************
#Add capabilities to AppxManifest.xml
#********************************************

Add-AlkanePSFCapability -Capability "allowElevation"

#********************************************
#Add dependencies to AppxManifest.xml
#********************************************

#Add-AlkanePSFDependency -DependencyName "Microsoft.VCLibs.110.00.UWPDesktop" -DependencyMinVersion "11.0.61135.0" -DependencyPublisher "CN=Microsoft Corporation, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US"

#********************************************
#Remove applications from AppxManifest.xml
#********************************************

Remove-AlkanePSFApplication -ApplicationId SAMPLEAPP
Remove-AlkanePSFApplication -ApplicationId SAMPLEAPP

#********************************************
#Remove shortcuts from manifest (-ShortcutName is "like" comparison, hence this example will remove all desktop shortcuts)
#********************************************

Remove-AlkanePSFShortcut -ShortcutName "[{Desktop}]"

#********************************************
#Commit changes to AppxManifest.xml and config.json (set OpenConfigJson to true to view the resultant JSON at the end)
#********************************************

Set-AlkanePSF -OpenConfigJson $false

#********************************************
#Compile and sign (staged package) new MSIX
#********************************************

New-AlkanePSFMSIX

You can quickly tweak and regenerate your MSIX file to test modifications in a matter of seconds – just re-run the script!

Hint: If you want to view the config.json at the end of each compilation, set -FixupOpenConfigJson $true.

This is work in progress, so your feedback in the comments below is always welcome!