Scope tags

Scope tags determine which IT administrators can see and manage this application package within Microsoft Intune.

Configuration Options:

Click on Fetch data button to query your Microsoft Intune tenant and refresh the list of available Scope Tags.

Use Select a scope tag to select tags retrieved from your Intune account to assign to this application.

Return codes

Return codes tell Microsoft Intune how to interpret the exit codes returned by the underlying installer executable upon completion.

Intune uses these return codes to determine whether the installation succeeded, requires a restart, failed, or should be retried automatically.

Return Code: Enter the numerical exit code returned by the installer executable (e.g., 0, 3010, 1618).

Code Type: Map the specific return code to one of the following Intune interpretation types:

• Success: Indicates the application was installed successfully without requiring further action.
• Soft reboot: Indicates a successful installation, but a system restart is required to finalize changes. Intune will notify the end user.
• Hard reboot: Indicates a successful installation requiring an immediate system restart.
• Retry: Indicates a temporary failure during installation. Intune will attempt to re-run the installer.
• Failed: Indicates an unsuccessful installation attempt.

Remove Button: Click to delete a custom or default return code mapping from the list.

Add Return Code Button: Click to create a new return code mapping row.

Device Install Status

The Device install status section displays detailed installation telemetry for each specific device targeted by the deployment.

• Device name: The hostname of the targeted machine in Intune.
• UPN: The User Principal Name (primary account email) associated with the device owner or active user.
• Device platform: The operating system platform running on the device (e.g., Windows 10/11, macOS).
• App version: The exact version of the application package being deployed to the device.
• Status: The current deployment state reported by the Intune Management Extension (e.g., Installed, Failed, Install Pending, Not Applicable).
• Status details: Extended error codes, exit descriptions, or specific messages reported by Intune when an installation fails or requires user action.
• Last modified: The timestamp indicating when Intune last updated the status record for the corresponding device.

User Install Status

The User install status section shows deployment progress and device counts for each targeted user

• User name: The display name of the targeted user account.
• UPN: The User Principal Name of the targeted user account.
• Failures: The total count of devices associated with this user where the application installation failed.
• Installs: The total count of devices where the application was successfully installed for this user.
• Pending: The total count of devices where the application deployment is currently queued, downloading, or awaiting installation triggers.

For enterprise IT administrators and application packagers, managing software deployment across Microsoft Intune, SCCM (MCM), or custom CI/CD pipelines has long been fragmented. Deployment commands, detection scripts, icons, and packaging notes often end up scattered across internal spreadsheets, SharePoint sites, or local personal drives. When a packager leaves the company, or an application moves to a new system, vital operational knowledge is frequently lost.

With the release of PacKit 3.0, Advanced Installer introduced a groundbreaking solution to this industry-wide pain point: the Open Package Manifest.

What is the Open Package Manifest and how to enable it?

The Open Package Manifest is an open, vendor-neutral, and platform-agnostic specification designed to describe Windows application deployment metadata independently of the tool that built it.

Instead of locking packaging data inside a proprietary cloud database or a specific software vendor’s UI, the Open Package Manifest ensures that packaging information travels directly alongside the application payload.

To enable it, just go to the Settings view and enable the Save applications as fragments option:

Core Principles

1. The PacKit Folder as the Single Source of Truth

Under this paradigm, every application version resides in its own dedicated directory containing the raw installer (MSI, EXE, PowerShell script, MSIX, etc.) alongside a standardized packit folder. This folder holds data like:

• Application descriptions and publisher metadata.
• Silent install and uninstall command lines.
• Detection scripts and extracted icons.
• Target platform assignments and configuration properties.

Because all metadata is stored locally alongside the binaries, sharing a package with a colleague or moving it between environments is as simple as copying the folder.

2. Platform Agnostic & Automation Friendly

The Open Package Manifest is designed to act as a common language across different deployment ecosystems:

• Multi-Tool Compatibility: Whether a package was created using Advanced Installer, WiX, Inno Setup, or custom scripts, the manifest can describe its deployment requirements.
• Deployment Targets: The manifest can be consumed to push applications directly into Microsoft Intune, SCCM, PDQ Deploy, or custom repository managers.

3. Complete Governance and On-Premises Control

For organizations with strict compliance requirements (e.g., healthcare, government, energy), keeping full governance over application packages is critical. The Open Package Manifest runs entirely on-premises without requiring mandatory external databases or cloud synchronization.

Using the Open PowerShell Module

To ensure true openness, PacKit published a dedicated, free PowerShell Module on GitHub.

This allows IT teams and software developers to programmatically generate, validate, and consume package manifests without relying on a GUI.

Conclusion

The Open Package Manifest shifts application packaging from an isolated, vendor-locked task into a portable, version-controlled standard. By enabling application metadata to reside alongside installer binaries, PacKit 3.0 provides IT administrators with a reliable, scriptable, and platform-independent foundation for Windows package management.

For more details, code samples, and community contributions, check out the PacKit Webinar on YouTube or visit the open-source repository on GitHub.

This functionality is available for free during the trial period. After the trial expires a PacKit Plus subscription will be required to continue using it.

Along with Intune Upload, App Assignments feature enables you to fully manage the whole Intune deployment process in a fast and efficient way, directly from PacKit.

In this section you can assign the application in Microsoft Intune to certain user groups and devices.

To use this feature you will be prompted to log in to Intune.

[Add Available]

Use this button to assign the application as Available. The Add Available dialog will be displayed giving you the option to Include/Exclude certain user grops. You can also use Add to all users or Add to all devices to include all users and devices.

Using [Create new group] pushbutton, you can create a new Entra ID group. This will be a security-type group with “Assigned ” member type. Just specify a name for the group in the designated field and click on [Create] pushbutton.

[Add Required]

This option assigns the app as Required and will be installed on the devices of the selected groups. The Add Required dialog will be displayed giving you the option to Include/Exclude certain groups. You can also use Add to all users or Add to all devices to include all users and devices.

Using [Create new group] pushbutton, you can create a new Entra ID group. This will be a security-type group with “Assigned ” member type. Just specify a name for the group in the designated field and click on [Create] pushbutton.

[Add Uninstall]

Using this option, the app is removed from devices in the selected groups if Intune has previously deployed the application to the device through an ‘Available for enrolled devices‘ or ‘Required‘ assignment using the same deployment. The Add Uninstall dialog will be displayed giving you the option to Include/Exclude certain groups. You can also use Add to all users or Add to all devices to include all users and devices.

Using [Create new group] pushbutton, you can create a new Entra ID group. This will be a security-type group with “Assigned ” member type. Just specify a name for the group in the designated field and click on [Create] pushbutton.

General

Here you can configure PSADT Templates.

Project

Save applications as fragments

This option ensures that the data of each application of your workspace (XML manifest, scripts, icon, etc.) is stored individually in a subfolder (.packit) next to the package. This is our recommended approach as it eliminates workspace merge conflicts and makes application data portable and sharable between team members or parsed by external tools.

About

In this section, you can check for PacKit updates and see the current installed version.

Wrap with PSADT

Use this button to wrap the package with the PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit. PacKit uses the latest version of this tool and updates the new PSADT wrapper with the package data from your workspace, using placeholders in the script to synchronize its contents.

You can choose which PSADT Template will be used to perform the wrap. To configure the available PSADT templates or to add a new one, click on the Manage PSADT templates hyperlink.

PowerShell Script Editor

This section will be available after clicking on the Wrap with PSADT button.

The PSADT script can be edited using our built-in editor or by directly editing the PS1 file using your preferred editor.

Placeholders are used to synchronize the script with the values you specify in the GUI. The following placeholders are supported in the PowerShell script editor :

{{APPLICATION_NAME}}

• points to the name of the app

{{APPLICATION_VENDOR}}

• points to the manufacturer of the app

{{PACKAGE_VERSION}}

• points to the version of the package

{{OS_ARCHITECTURE}}

• points to the operating system architecture

Use [Load Script…] and [Save Script…] pushbuttons to reload and save the script if the file was modified outside of PacKit.

Light(Default), Dark or High Contrast viewing modes can be selected.

Add packages to your workspace

To add a package, just click on [Import application] button. There are five options:

• Import from disk – pick a folder from your local drive containing any package type (eg. .msix, .msi, .exe, .msixbundle, or ps1)
• Import from catalog – choose a package from the WinGet Catalog
• Import from MECM
• Import from Intune
• Import from csv file.

The catalog currently uses the WinGet gallery as the main source for download URLs. These packages are downloaded directly from the URL found in the package manifest of the WinGet repository; most of the time this URL points to the original vendor download location.

PSADT (version 3.x) packages can also be imported with Add from disk option in a very time-efficient manner. A new entry in the workspace will be automatically populated with the package info, ready for deployment. With one-click, you can generate an intunewin and upload it to your Intune tenant, eliminating the need for manual copying of your package details

Our Import from csv file feature helps migrate packages from SCCM to Intune easily. Just export your SCCM packages as .csv file and import it to PacKit and all your apps will be added to your workspace. Intune deployment is then one click away! For more information regarding .csv file import see our dedicated how to article.

Clone a package to add a new version

With this option, you can easily update a custom package from your workspace (Winget packages be automatically updated by PacKit); just right-click on a package in the list → select “Clone” from the context menu and pick the new version of your package:

The package will be duplicated in your workspace, including its description, icon, command lines, user assignments, and detection criteria from the previous application, providing one click to Intune deployment.

A future version of PacKit will include an additional download source, with packages handpicked and vetted by our team. This new repository will also include additional package configurations, recommended for enterprise deployment. If you are looking for any specific package or configuration, please email us or submit a ticket to our Community area.

Operating system architecture

Specify the required OS architecture:

• 32-bit
• 64-bit
• 32/64-bit

Minimum operating system

Specify the Minimum OS version.

Detection Method

In this section, you can configure the Intune Detection Rules for the package. You can specify a custom script, file path, registry, or MSI product code.

Rules format

The rules for detecting the presence of the app can be established in the following way:

• Use a Custom Detection Script – you can use one of our default Template script files (either for WinGet or for generic EXE files) for the app presence detection rules using Load Template button. You can also use our built-in editor to enhance it. The scripts return “0” for success and “1” for failure. To use your own custom script, click on Browse button and pick the file from disk.
• Manually configure detection rules – specify the Rule Type :

We recommend encoding your script as UTF-8 BOM. When the script exits with the value of 0, the script execution was successful. The second output channel indicates that the app was detected. STDOUT data indicates that the app was found on the client. We don’t look for a particular string from STDOUT.

Rule type

1. MSI – specify a MSI Product Code

2. File – specify the Path, File or Folder name and Detection Method

3. Registry – specify a registry Key Path, Value Name and Detection Method

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Connect & Load

Click on this button to log in to your Intune account and fetch the packages into PacKit.

Intune Applications

Once the connection with the Intune server is established, the list of packages is displayed:

Search applications…

Use this field to filter the applications list according to your keyword.

Import

Click on this button to import the selected packages in your workspace.

Application list

This list will display the following information regarding your MECM packages:

• Application
• File Name
• Version

In this view, you can customize the PSADT Template used to wrap your packages. By default, PacKit uses the Standard V4 PSADT Template. Also Standard V3 PSADT Template is available and can be used if desired.

Custom Templates

In this section you can add your own custom PSADT template by clicking on [+Add template…] button and picking the folder that contains it.

The latest template available can also be downloaded by clicking on the [Download..] button.