There are two very different conversations about application packaging. The first is "we need to get our App-V packages onto MSIX before Microsoft finishes retiring App-V." The second, quieter one is "why does every single application still take a specialist half a day to package by hand?" Systech delivers both as a managed service: the App-V to MSIX migration, and the CI/CD packaging workflow that stops packaging being a manual bottleneck ever again.

In short: Systech delivers App-V to MSIX migration and CI/CD application packaging as one managed service. We own the migration end to end, inventory, repackaging, remediation and phased rollout, and then build an automated packaging pipeline so every future application flows through the same governed, tested, signed and auditable path. Migrating the format without automating the packaging usually lands you back at a manual bottleneck within a year.

Here's what each of those actually looks like when we run it for you, and why doing the first without the second usually means you're back where you started within a year.

How does a managed App-V to MSIX migration work?

We've written separately about what App-V to MSIX migration actually involves: why packages don't just convert, where connection groups and customised sequencing need rebuilding rather than converting, and the stage-by-stage plan that avoids surprises. This post is about the same work delivered as a service, so it isn't your team learning MSIX under deadline pressure on top of the day job.

When Systech runs an App-V to MSIX migration, we own the whole thing: inventory of what's genuinely in use, prioritisation and retirement of packages nobody needs, repackaging into MSIX, real-world testing and remediation, and a phased rollout validated against a pilot group before the estate moves. You get a supported, modern packaging format and a team that does this every week, rather than a half-finished project that stalled on the three applications nobody could get working.

"Migrating to MSIX fixes the format. It doesn't fix the reason packaging was painful in the first place, which is that it's still being done by hand."

Where an application's original install media or source is long gone, we capture it from its running state using EtherApps Forge, the application capture and repackaging platform from our partner EfficientEther, and bring it forward onto MSIX with the rest. Nothing gets left behind because it was too awkward.

What do most migrations skip?

Here's the pattern we see constantly. A business finishes an App-V to MSIX migration, everyone breathes out, and eighteen months later packaging is exactly as slow and manual as it was before, just in a newer format. Because the migration moved the packages, but nobody changed how packaging gets done.

Manual packaging has the same three problems whatever format you're on: it's slow, it depends entirely on who's doing it, and it has no audit trail. Every application is a bespoke effort, quality varies with the packager, and when the one person who knows the tricks is on leave or leaves for good, so does the capability.

The fix isn't a better packager. It's a pipeline.

What does a CI/CD application packaging workflow do?

Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) is a standard discipline in software development, and it applies just as cleanly to application packaging. Instead of a person manually building, testing and deploying each package, the work runs as an automated, repeatable pipeline that you can see, govern and trust.

A six-stage CI/CD application packaging pipeline: source, package, automated test, sign, publish, deploy
Packaging as an automated pipeline: every application through the same governed, auditable path.

Systech builds and sets up that pipeline for you. A typical packaging workflow we implement runs through these stages automatically:

  • Source. Application source, installers and packaging recipes live in version control, so every change is tracked and nothing depends on a file on someone's desktop.
  • Package. The MSIX (or other format) build runs automatically from that source, producing a consistent package every time rather than a hand-crafted one-off.
  • Automated test. The package is install-tested and smoke-tested automatically, catching the failures that used to surface only when a user hit them.
  • Sign. Code signing is applied as a governed, automated step, so every package that ships is signed correctly and consistently.
  • Publish. The finished package is published to your distribution point, Intune, Configuration Manager, or an App Attach share for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365.
  • Deploy. Deployment to the right user or device groups is triggered from the pipeline, with a clear record of what shipped where and when.

The result is packaging that scales. A new application version goes through the same governed path as every other, in a fraction of the manual time, with a full audit trail and no dependency on a single specialist.

Why do migration and CI/CD belong together?

Do the App-V to MSIX migration on its own and you've modernised the format but kept the bottleneck. Build the CI/CD workflow without migrating and you're automating a pipeline for a format that's being retired. Done together, they compound: you land on a supported, modern packaging format and a repeatable, automated way of maintaining it, so the next hundred packages don't cost what the last hundred did.

"The goal isn't a one-off migration. It's an application estate that stays current on its own, because keeping it current stopped being manual work."

Where does this fit with App Attach and virtual desktops?

If you run Azure Virtual Desktop or Windows 365, the payoff is bigger still. MSIX packages produced by the pipeline can be delivered with Windows App Attach, streamed into virtual desktop sessions on demand rather than baked into every image. That means a lighter base image, faster updates, and applications assigned per user or group, all fed automatically by the same packaging workflow. The pipeline doesn't just build packages, it keeps your virtual desktop estate current without a rebuild every time an app changes.

Where this leaves you

If you still have App-V packages, the clock on that format is running, and migrating them is worth doing properly rather than under pressure. But the bigger win is changing how packaging works, from a manual, specialist-dependent task into an automated, governed pipeline your team can rely on. Systech's Application Packaging & MSIX service delivers both: the App-V to MSIX migration itself, and the CI/CD packaging workflow that makes sure you never have to fight this battle by hand again. It starts with a free assessment of your current packaging estate and where automation would save the most.

RM
Ryan Mangan

Founder & CTO of Systech IT Solutions, Microsoft MVP and Chartered Fellow of the BCS, and author of the bestselling Mastering Azure Virtual Desktop. Ryan has spent nearly two decades helping organisations adopt Azure, Microsoft 365 and modern workspace technology pragmatically.