Deploy Win32 Apps with Endpoint Manager (Intune)

In September 2019, Microsoft announced that Intune was finally able to distribute Win32 applications. This was a major show stopper to go full MDM for Windows 10 devices for many companies and would keep using SCCM/MEMCM to fulfill this duty. In this post, we will detail how to deploy Win32 Apps with Endpoint Manager. We’ll deploy Google Chrome with the MSI installer as an example.

Win32 Apps Endpoint Manager Prerequisites

• Download the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool from GitHub

Prepare Endpoint Manager Win32 application

First, you need to “wrap” all the required files into an Endpoint Manager (Intune) format. To do so, Microsoft has a tool that will “convert” your application into a .intunewin file at the end of the process. The generated .intunewin file contains all compressed and encrypted source setup files and the encryption information to decrypt it.

• Download the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool and have the desired application source files (In our case Google Chrome)
• Open a command prompt as admin and browse to the folder of IntuneWinAppUtil.exe
• Run the following command line
  • IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c <source folder> -s <source setup file> -o <output folder>
  • In this example we used Google Chrome : IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c C:\temp\Installers -s GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise.msi -o C:\temp

• The resulting file is a 72Mb .intunewin. Keep this file for the next steps
• At this point, the source files are ready for Intune

Create Intune Win32 Application

• Go to the Endpoint Manager portal
• Browse to Apps / All Apps and click Add

• Select Windows app(Win32) from the App type drop list

• On the App Information pane click Select App package file and select the previously created .intunewin file and click Ok

• Complete the missing App Information. Click Next

• Depending on the application format, install and uninstall command lines will be auto-completed. Adjust the parameter if needed. Click Next

• On the Requirement pane, OS architecture and minimum OS are required. Click Next

• Detection rules work the same way as in ConfigMgr application model. In the case of an MSI, it is simple. Select Manually configure detection rule, select rule type MSI and the MSI Product Code should be auto-populated. Click Next

• On the Dependencies tab: Software dependencies are applications that must be installed before this application can be installed. Adjust if needed. Click Next

• Modify the Scope tags if needed

• On the Assignment tab, select the group of users or computer to deploy the Win32 App

• Review your Win32 App setting and click Create

• At this point, it will upload the.IntuneWin file.

• Soon after, a notification will display to say it’s ready to go!

Deploy and Test your Win32 App

• On a target computer by your deployment, open the Company portal

• Installation are log in the IntuneManagementExtension.log that can be found under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs

• In the Endpoint Management console, you can browse to Apps / All Apps / Google Chrome and select Device Install Status

If you encounter an issue during the deployment, it’s like in the SCCM world. You must troubleshoot your deployment based on the error code.

We’ve gathered extra resources for better Win32 App troubleshooting :

• Error Codes For Troubleshooting App Installation Issues – Contains a list of common error codes
• Details on Intune Win32 Application Troubleshooting

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