Migrate MSI-based Apps

Applies to: Patch My PC Cloud

Important This documentation is for a pre-release feature still under development and, therefore, incomplete. As a result, both functionality and documentation are subject to change. Once this feature is released, it will be announced and this banner removed. Patch My PC (PMPC) Cloud evaluates ConfigMgr applications using an initial full scan when the environment.

When applications are inventoried from ConfigMgr, PMPC Cloud analyses the application metadata to understand how the application is installed and how it should be migrated. As part of this process, the installation command line is evaluated and the primary installer file is identified from the application’s content source folder.

Identifying an MSI-based App

ConfigMgr does not explicitly label an application as MSI-based. In most cases, the easiest way to confirm that an application is MSI-based is to select the application from the Migration dashboard and review the Installation Program field.

If the Installation Program contains both msiexec and a .msi file reference, the application can be considered MSI-based.

During the migration deployment flow, the Installer Type field also indicates when an application is being treated as MSI-based.

If an application is identified as MSI-based, as much existing metadata as possible is captured to support migration, drawing from both the ConfigMgr application and the MSI properties table. This includes analysing the installation command line, the primary installer file, conflicting processes, and any supporting content, to help ensure the application behaves the same way after it is migrated to Intune.

Migration Behavior of MSI-based Apps

The information analysed is used to determine how the application is migrated and how the installation is executed. All supporting files found in the original content source folder are included as part of the migration.

The only exception is the primary installer itself. When an application is migrated as a PMPC Catalog App, the original installer and version are replaced with the latest version available in the PMPC catalog. When migrating as a PMPC Custom App, the original installer and version are retained and used.

MSI properties (PROPERTY=value) are preserved and applied to the deployment that is created.

Detection rules are carried across during migration, however, the default Patch My PC detection rule, which detects applications based on the MSI product code, is enabled by default in the migration flow. If required, this can be changed to Use Custom on the Detection Rules tab to use the detection rules defined in ConfigMgr instead.

When the application is migrated, PatchMyPC-ScriptRunner.exe becomes the new primary installer and invokes the original MSI. This approach preserves the original installation behaviour while allowing the deployment to take advantage of additional Patch My PC customisations that would not be available with a "lift and shift" migration.

Preserved Properties of MSI-based Apps

The following information indicates the properties that are carried forward from the ConfigMgr application to the migration deployment flow when the application is either matched to a PMPC Catalog App or a PMPC Custom App. See How Migration Type is Determined to understand how Configmgr applications are matched during migration.

PMPC Catalog App Properties Preserved

• Source Files (the main MSI-based installer will be replaced with the current version of the matched application in the Patch My PC catalog)

• DisplayName

• MSI Properties (not visible in the Deployment created but are present in the app metadata)

• Return Codes

• Vendor

• Description

• Information URL

• Privacy URL

PMPC Custom App Properties Preserved

• Source Files

• DisplayName

• Vendor

• Description

• Version

• MSI Properties

• Installer Type

• Return Codes

• Information URL

• Privacy URL