Automating the Repackaging Process of SCCM Applications in a Remote Virtual Machine

1. Export and parse the applications list from the SCCM catalog

As mentioned above, the applications we will convert are existing applications that are available in SCCM but do not meet the standards of the packaging industry.

We’ll focus on legacy EXE installers to convert them into MSI and MSIX.

Advanced Installer offers the capability of creating both MSI and MSIX packages at once. This functionality is useful because if there are files that are not supported by the MSIX technology due to its limitations (e.g. drivers) then you will need to have an MSI package ready for testing/deployment.

Here’s what the .csv demo catalog file contains:

"DisplayNameSCCM,""Title"",""Version"",""Location"",""Commandline"""

If we were to put the .csv content into a table, it would look like this:

Here's an example of the script to handle the SCCM export:

$Applications = Get-CMApplication -name "K*"
ForEach($Element in $Applications)
{
    $csv = New-object psobject -property @{ 
    'Commandline' = ([xml]($Element.SDMPackageXML)).AppMgmtDigest.DeploymentType.Installer.CustomData.InstallCommandLine
    'Version' = $Element.SoftwareVersion
    'Location' = ([xml]($Element.SDMPackageXML)).AppMgmtDigest.DeploymentType.Installer.Contents.Content.Location
    'DisplayNameSCCM' = $Element.LocalizedDisplayName
    'Title' = ([xml]($Element.SDMPackageXML)).AppMgmtDigest.Application.DisplayInfo.Info.Title
    }
    $csv | select-object 'DisplayNameSCCM','Title','Version','Location','Commandline' | Export-csv -Append -path ('FileSystem::' + $Outfile)
}

After we export the applications from SCCM, we need to parse them using a simple script as such:

param ($inputList)
# get .csv structure
$header   = 'DisplayNameSCCM' ,'Title','Version','Location','Commandline'
#get packages
$packages = Get-Content $inputList
# parse packages
$packages = $packages[2..($packages.Count - 1)]
$packages = $packages.Replace("`"", "")
# save .csv file temporary
$packages | Out-File -FilePath ($inputList + "-temp")
#parse temp .csv file
$parsedPackages = Import-csv -Path ($inputList + "-temp") -Header $header
$parsedPackages
#remove temp .csv file
Remove-Item -Path ($inputList + "-temp")

Once we have parsed the entire list of applications, we can execute the script that handles the automation using Advanced Installer Repackager automation functionality. But first, we need to make sure we are connected to a remote virtual machine.

2. Prepare the Host OS to connect to the RemoteVM

In order to manage VMs from vCenter, we need to use the Vmware.PowerCLI module. Run the following command from an elevated PowerShell Window:

if(!(Get-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable))
    {
        Write-Host "Installing VMware PowerCLI module...`n" -foreground Yellow
        Install-Module VMware.PowerCLI -AllowClobber
    }

The above cmdlet requires admin privileges, so make sure to run PowerShell with administrator rights.

3. Configure the virtual machine on the vCenter

Advanced Installer Repackager has a built-in functionality for connecting to a Hyper-V server or vCenter that runs VMware.

Check this step-by-step guide on how to connect to a virtual machine.

For the repacking process, we configured a Windows 10 21H1 (64-bit) as you can see below:

For a better repackaging experience on both VMware and Hyper-V virtualization providers, install the Advanced Installer tools.

To prevent having to reinstall the tools, copy and install Advanced Installer Tools (osprovision.exe) from the following directory, then save the snapshot.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Caphyon\Advanced Installer 19.2\bin

Here's the flow of using a virtual machine:

You can read more about the best practices when it comes to repackaging in the Repackaging Best Practices.