EMCOMSI Package Builder: Easily create MSI packages and convert EXEs to MSI!

EMCO MSI Package Builder

 

Create MSI Packages and Convert EXE to MSI With No Hassle

 

EMCO MSI Package Builder is an innovative installation editor designed for an effortless creation of MSI packages. It helps you create MSI packages automatically by using the changes tracking technology, or manually by using the visual editor. The application can be used to repackage legacy installations and convert EXE to MSI files in order to customize installers and prepare them for a silent remote deployment. Thus created packages can be deployed through Group Policy or EMCO Remote Installer.

 

 

What is EMCO MSI Package Builder?

 

EMCO MSI Package Builder is an installation authoring tool designed to help administrators to create, maintain and distribute Windows Installer packages. It can be used to create MSI packages easily, to modify existing installations and to repackage setups from the EXE to MSI format.

 

EMCO MSI Package Builder is specially designed to repackage non-silent EXE installations into silent MSI packages and is one of the most capable packaging tools on the market. Using it you can easily convert installations into MSI packages. The program allows to repackage complex installations, including those that deploy Windows services, drivers, etc. The program can package installations into MSI, App-V, MSIX/AppX formats.

 

EMCO MSI Package Builder: How to Create an MSI Package?

 

How to make MSI packages and what are the advantages of using EMCO MSI Package Builder? The application simplifies installation authoring by making use of the visual editor and changes tracking technology, which is used to generate installation project data. To create an MSI, you can certainly follow the traditional way and specify the installation resources and actions through the visual editor, but it is more efficient to use the Live Monitoring technology. 

 

How Installation Repackaging Works?

 

Installations monitoring is the primary repackaging method available in EMCO MSI Package Builder that allows you to convert almost any non-silent EXE installation into a silent MSI package. Usually, this kind of repackaging is required to deploy software on remote PCs, because only silent installations can be deployed remotely.

 

EMCO MSI Package Builder incorporates the best-in-class Live Monitoring technology used for repackaging. It integrates into Windows to capture file system, registry and permission changes performed by the repackaged installation. During repackaging, you just need to follow the installation steps of the repackaged installation manually. After you select the installation options, the monitored installer applies the corresponding file system, registry and permission changes that are captured by EMCO MSI Package Builder.

Once the installation is completed, EMCO MSI Package Builder automatically generates an MSI package that includes the captured changes, so the MSI installation is identical to the original installation and includes all the customizations you applied during the monitoring process. When you install the MSI, it applies the same changes that were applied when you deployed the original installation manually.

 

After the installation is repackaged, you can review the changes captured by EMCO MSI Package Builder. The program intellectually interprets raw-data file system and registry changes into Windows objects, so you can see, for example, Windows services and drivers that were deployed by the monitored installation and edit them through visual editors, if required, to generate a modified MSI.

 

Advantages of the Live Monitoring Technology

The Live Monitoring technology used in EMCO MSI Package Builder is the most capable installation repackaging technology available on the market today. It has the following features that allow you to perform repackaging quickly and easily.

• Successful repackaging of simple and complex installations. It does not matter what kind of changes are performed by the repackaged installation - EMCO MSI Package Builder can repackage anything, including complex Windows drivers, services, permissions, etc.
• Changes are captured on the fly. An MSI package is generated immediately after the monitored installation is finished. Using other repackaging solutions, you need to make Windows snapshots before and after the installation to compare them, so an MSI generation takes too long.
• Monitoring is started and stopped automatically. The program tracks the system information and knows when monitoring should be started and stopped without the risk of losing important data.
• Repackaging is automated from start to finish. You just follow a simple wizard and get a generated MSI at the end.
• Unwanted changes are filtered out. The program has a set of filters to avoid capturing changes performed by unrelated processes. Any captured change is associated with the process that generated it, so unwanted changes are removed automatically.

 

Repackaging Limitations

EMCO MSI Package Builder allows you to repackage almost any installation, but still here are a few cases when repackaging using the Live Monitoring technology is not possible.

• Windows cloning. It is impossible to repackage Windows itself, because the repackaging technology is designed to be used for applications only. There are third-party tools that can clone Windows images, so you can use them if needed.
• Installation of Windows components. During repackaging, EMCO MSI Package Builder captures file system and registry changes, but when you install a system component such as .NET Framework, for example, it installs resources into protected areas of the file system and registry, so it is not possible to reproduce those changes. In this case, if the repackaged installation supports silent deployment, you can use the wrapping approach to repackage the installation.
• Installation of system software that modifies Windows on reboot. When Windows is modified on reboot, it is not possible to capture and reproduce those changes, so use wrapping instead or repackaging for installations that apply such changes.

 

The limitations listed above are common for all repackaging tools, and there is no way to bypass them using the Professional edition of the program. The MSI Package Builder Enterprise edition allows you to use the wrapping method that should be used instead of repackaging to avoid the above limitations. The Architect edition of the program can also generate App-V packages if you need to repackage applications into App-V. The recently introduced MSIX/AppX package formats are also supported by the Architect edition of the program.

 

When monitoring is enabled, the application detects the file system and registry changes undertaken on a PC and uses them to build an MSI. You can make the required changes manually to get an installation that will reproduce them or monitor actions of the existing installations in order to convert them from the EXE to MSI format. 

 

Compare Features and Select the Edition

 

The program is available in three editions with the different set of the features.
 

PROFESSIONAL EDITION

The Professional edition includes a visual editor and a changes monitor. It can be used to create MSI packages manually by means of the editor or automatically with the help of the changes monitor. It allows EXE to MSI repackaging and modifying existing installations. The visual MSI editor that can be used to build MSI packages easily.

 

ENTERPRISE EDITION

The Enterprise edition is an advanced builder and repackager that can be used to create MSI packages and convert complex installations into the MSI format. Its changes monitor can track service installations and environment variables changes. It can repackage installations also using the installation wrapping method.

 

ARCHITECT EDITION

The Architect edition includes all the available installations repackaging and MSI editing features. In addition to MSI generation it can also generate App-V, MSIX/AppX packages, so it allows repackaging installations into MSI packages and also converting existing applications into App-V, MSIX/AppX packages. The same installation project data can be used to generate MSI, App-V and MSIX/AppX packages.

 

	Professional Edition	Enterprise Edition	Architect Edition
Generated Packages
MSI Packages Repackage installations into MSI packages. Create a new MSI from scratch automatically using monitoring or manually using the visual editors.	V	V	V
New in v.7 App-V Packages Convert applications into App-V packages. Create an App-V package for any monitored installation. Generate an App-V package for any previously created MSI project.	X	X	V
New in v.7 MSIX/AppX Packages Repackage applications into MSIX/AppX packages. Generate an MSIX/AppX package for any monitored installation. Create an MSIX/AppX package for any previously created MSI project.	X	X	V
MSI Creation Approach
Manual Creation Using Visual Editors An MSI package can be generated using the manually created installation project. In this case all installation resources together with their installation actions are manually defined using special visual editors.	V	V	V
Automatic Creation Based on Monitoring Results The unique 'Live Monitoring' technology can be used to track all changes on file system and registry. These changes are transformed to installation project and used for automatic MSI package generation.	V	V	V
Installations Wrapping Wrap existing one or multiple silent installations in a single MSI package that installs included installations silently. You have to specify silent keys for every included installation.	X	V	V
MSI Importing Import an MSI package previously created by the application to modify it and generate a customized installation.	V	V	V
Supported Installation Resources
Files and Folders Automatically monitor and manually create or edit files and folders. Update file contents.	V	V	V
System Folders Installation paths to file system resources can be defined using special system folders that are converted to OS-specific values during installation. It guarantees resources installation to right system directories, for example to the Program Files, regardless of their different locations or names on different platforms.	V	V	V
Registry Keys and Values Automatically monitor and manually create or edit registry keys. Create, delete or modify a String, Binary, DWORD, Multi-String and Expandable String registry value.	V	V	V
Environment Variables Automatically monitor and manually create or edit user or system environment variables.	X	V	V
Shortcuts Automatically monitor and manually create or edit shortcuts. Configure its name, target, start folder, run parameters, start arguments and comment.	V	V	V
Task Bar and Start Menu Pins Automatically monitor and manually create or edit Windows Task Bar and Start Menu pins	V	V	V
Services Automatically monitor and manually create or edit services. Set or change its state, start options, arguments, execution account and dependencies.	X	V	V
Drivers Automatically monitor and manually create or edit drivers. Basic drivers and driver packages are supported.	X	V	V
Printers Automatically monitor and manually create or edit deployed printer entries.	X	V	V
New in v.7 Software Assets Management Licenses Automatically monitor and manually create or edit software licenses for the deployed software.	X	V	V
Resource Management Options
File Attributes Management Set or modify Read Only, Hidden, System and Compressed file attributes.	V	V	V
Permanence Option for Files Set a special option to prevent file deletion on uninstall.	V	V	V
Update Options for Registry Values Update existing String, Multi-String and Expandable String registry values to replace existing content or append/prepend new content to existing.	V	V	V
Permanence Option for Registry Keys and Values Set a special option to prevent registry key or value deletion on uninstall.	V	V	V
Conditional Creation and Deletion of Environment Variables Create environment variable only if it doesn't exist. Delete environment variable if its value is equal to configured parameter.	X	V	V
Update Options for Environment Variables Update existing environment variable to replace existing content or append/prepend new content to existing.	X	V	V

 

The Main Features of EMCO MSI Package Builder

 

Create MSI Automatically

The innovative Live Monitoring technology saves you the complexity of manual MSI building. Create an MSI using a truly visual approach by performing the required installation actions on your PC. EMCO MSI Package Builder will track your changes and make an MSI file for you automatically. You can modify the installation by using the visual editor.

 

Convert EXE to MSI

An easy EXE to MSI repackaging helps you to convert legacy EXE setups that require interactive installation into the MSI format to prepare them for a silent remote deployment. It's possible to create an MSI from an EXE file in a fully automatic mode using the Live Monitoring technology, which is the most advanced technology available today.

 

Customize Existing Installations

Modification of third-party installations becomes possible with EMCO MSI Package Builder. Change existing installations to meet your needs by repackaging them into MSI packages and use the visual editor to apply changes. Combine installs into one MSI package and apply custom pre- and post-installation changes with only a few clicks.

 

Build MSI for Remote Installation

Get ready for a remote deployment by creating silent MSI packages. All produced setup files can be deployed onto remote PCs within a LAN by using Group Policy (GPO) or EMCO Remote Installer. All installations have preconfigured settings and can be deployed locally or remotely in a silent mode with no user interaction.