Using the Application Conversion Project Wizard to Perform an End-to-End Conversion

AdminStudio 2021 | 21.0 | Automated Application Converter

When using Automated Application Converter to perform conversion, you need to perform the following tasks:

• Task 1: Add virtual machines to use during conversion
• Task 2: Add packages to convert
• Task 3: Perform conversion

You can perform these tasks all at once using one wizard (Application Conversion Project Wizard) or perform these tasks separately using three different wizards:

• Virtual Machine Import Wizard 
• Package Import Wizard 
• Application Conversion Wizard 

The following instructions explain how to use the Application Conversion Project Wizard to perform these three tasks using the same wizard.

Note:For instructions on how to perform these conversion tasks separately, see:

• Adding Virtual Machines Using the Virtual Machine Import Wizard
• Adding Packages from an AdminStudio Application Catalog or
Adding Packages from a Local Machine or Network
• Performing a Conversion Using the Application Conversion Wizard

To get started using the Application Conversion Project Wizard, perform the following steps:

To get started using the Application Conversion Project Wizard:

1. Perform the steps in Preparing Your Virtual Machines for Use With the Automated Application Converter to prepare your virtual machines to use for automated repackaging.
2. Launch the Automated Application Converter by doing one of the following:
• On the Windows Start Menu, point to All Programs, AdminStudio, AdminStudio Tools, and click Automated Application Converter.
• Launch Repackager, and then click the Automatically Repackage Installations on Your Virtual Machines link on the Repackager Home Page.

The Automated Application Converter opens.

Note:See Automated Application Converter User Interface for more information.

3. Create a new project or open an existing project, as described in Opening a Project.
4. On the Tools menu, click Project Wizard (or click the icon in the toolbar). The Welcome to the Application Conversion Project Wizard panel opens.
5. Click Next. The Select Package Source panel opens, prompting you to select the source that contains the packages you want to convert.
6. Select one of the following options:

Option

Description

AdminStudio Application Catalog

Select this option to connect to an AdminStudio Application Catalog and add all of the installations in that catalog to the list of packages to convert.

If you select this option, the Connect to an AdminStudio Application Catalog panel opens, prompting you to login to an Application Catalog.

Tip:To select packages from Microsoft Configuration Manager to convert, first import those packages into the Application Catalog, as described in Importing From ConfigMgr (Formerly called as System Center Configuration Manager).

Browse local machine and network

Select this option to browse a local or network machine to add installations to the list of packages to convert.

If you select this option, the Select Packages panel opens, where you are prompted to select an installation file or a directory of installation files to add to the list of packages to convert.

Note:For information on the rules that the Automated Application Converter uses to determine which packages in the selected directory’s subdirectories would be added to the list on the Selected Package List panel, see Automated Application Converter’s Selection Rules When Adding Packages from a Directory.

If you connected to an Application Catalog, the Select Packages panel opens.

When you have finished this step, packages will be listed and selected on the Selected Package List panel, and an icon indicates each package’s virtualization readiness status.

One of the following icons is listed in each package’s Virtualization Readiness () column:

Icon

Meaning

Description

Ready

Package is ready to virtualize; no repackaging is required.

Note:If a Windows Installer package does not contain any custom actions, conditional components, or unsupported tables, repackaging prior to virtualization is not required.

An example of an unsupported table is the IniFile table, which changes files on the target machine in ways that cannot be statically determined.

Requires repackaging

Package must be repackaged before it can be successfully virtualized.

Virtualization not supported

Automated Application Converter has determined that virtualization is not supported due to one of the following issues:

• Package contains DLL surrogates.
• Package installs boot services.
• Package contains OS integrated files.
• Package relies on a system-level driver.
• Package’s .sft file name is over 56 characters in length.

Important:Packages with a status of Virtualization not supported will not be virtualized. In order to virtualize the package, you must first override the status and change it to Ready to Virtualize or Requires Repackaging.

Note:For more information, see Application Virtualization Compatibility Tests.

Virtualization not recommended

Automated Application Converter has determined that this package is not recommended for virtualization due to one of the following issues:

• Package does not contain a shortcut.
• Package includes a custom shell extension.
• Package utilizes ClickOnce technology.

Note:For more information, see Application Virtualization Compatibility Tests.

Unknown

The Automated Application Converter was unable to determine whether this package is ready to be virtualized directly or whether it requires repackaging.
7. Click Next. The Select Virtual Machine Source panel opens, prompting you to select the type of virtual machine that you are going to use for automated repackaging.

Note:If none of the packages selected on the Selected Package List panel require repackaging in order to be converted into a virtual package, the Select Virtual Machine Source panel will not be displayed. Instead, the Initial Configuration Complete panel will open.

Select one of the following options and click Next:

Option

Description

Microsoft Hyper-V Server

Select this option to connect to a Microsoft Hyper-V Server. You will then be prompted for login information on the Select Virtual Machines from a Microsoft Hyper-V Server panel.

VMware ESX or ESXi Server

Select this option to connect to a VMware ESX or ESXi Server. You will then be prompted for login information on the Select Virtual Machines from a VMware ESX or ESXi Server panel.

Browse local machine

Select this option to connect to a VMware Workstation virtual image installed locally. The Select Virtual Machines opens, where will be prompted to select either a VMware Workstation image or directory of images.

When you have finished this step, the virtual machines will be listed (but not selected) on the Select Virtual Machines panel.

8. On the Select Virtual Machines panel, select the virtual machine images that you want to use to perform automated repackaging.
9. For each selected image, click in the Platform column and identify its platform.
10. Optionally, if you want to limit the use of a virtual machine to either repackaging only or testing only, click in the Purpose column and select Repackaging or Testing from the list. The default value is Any.
11. Click Next. The User Credentials panel opens, prompting you to specify the login credentials to use to access the selected virtual machines.
12. Enter login credentials and click Next. The Initial Configuration Complete panel opens, listing a summary of your selections, and prompting you to select whether you want to begin to Virtualize packages with detected settings or to Close wizard to configure packages and machines.
13. Select Virtualize packages with detected settings and click Next. The Select Output Formats panel opens, prompting you to select one or more output formats:

Note:If you have selected Windows Installer packages on the Selected Package List panel, but those packages do not require repackaging prior to virtualization, the Windows Installer Package (*.msi) option on the Select Output Formats panel will be disabled. If you want to force the Automated Application Converter to repackage that package, return to the Selected Package List, click in that package’s Virtualization Readiness column and select Requires repackaging from the list.

14. On the Select Output Formats panel, select one or more of the following formats:

Option

Description

Windows Installer Packages (*.msi)

Select this option to repackage the selected packages into Windows Installer packages (.msi).

Microsoft App-V Packages (*.sft)

Select this option to convert the selected packages to Microsoft App-V virtual applications.

Note:If you select this option, your packages will be converted using the Package Creation method (described in Comparison of the App-V 5.0 Conversion Methods) that is selected on the Project Options dialog box:

• App-V 4.6 with AdminStudio
• App-V 5.x with AdminStudio
• App-V 5.x with Sequencer

However, if a method is selected in the Package Creation field of a package’s Properties window, the selected method will be used.

Citrix XenApp Profiles (*.profile)

Select this option to convert the selected packages to Citrix XenApp profiles.

VMware ThinApp Packages (*.exe)

Select this option to convert the selected packages to VMware ThinApp virtual applications.

MSIX Packages (*.msix)

Select this option to convert the selected packages to MSIX packages.

Note:If you select this option, either one of the following must be selected.

• Certificate File (.pfx)
• Certificate Store

as shown in Editing Package Properties on the Packages Tab >> Setting MSIX Signing Options.
15. Under Place packages under the following folder, select the output location where you want to store the packages.
16. Click Next. The Automated Repackaging on Virtual Machines panel opens, prompting you to select the platform of the virtual machines that you want to use to perform automated repackaging during this conversion process.
17. From the Virtual Machine Platform list, select a platform, or leave Any Platform selected, and click Next. The Application Conversion Project Wizard Complete panel opens.
18. Click Finish to close the wizard and begin converting the selected packages.The conversion process begins. The Results tab opens and messages are displayed in the Output window.

Icons displayed on the Results tab indicate each package’s progress:

Column

Icon

Description

Copy In

Repackage

Copy Out

Operation (copying to virtual machine, repackaging, or copying from virtual machine back to source location) was successfully performed.

Operation (copying to virtual machine, repackaging, or copying from virtual machine back to source location) was successfully performed, but warnings were encountered. View the results AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for detailed information on these warnings.

Operation (copying to virtual machine, repackaging, or copying from virtual machine back to source location) failed.

• Copy In—Error could have been caused by not being able to connect to the virtual machine.
• Repackage—Error means that repackaging has failed.
• Copy Out—Error could mean that you ran out of hard drive space at the package source location or that there is a permission problem preventing you from writing to the selected directory.

View the results AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for detailed information on the errors encountered.

Operation (copying to virtual machine, repackaging, or copying from virtual machine back to source location) was skipped. Possible reasons that the operation was skipped could be:

• Repackaging not required—Because repackaging was not required, these three operations were not required.
• Could not connect to virtual machine—The Automated Application Converter could not successfully connect to the virtual machine, so therefore the Repackage and Copy Out operations were skipped.

Operation (copying to virtual machine, repackaging, or copying from virtual machine back to source location) is currently being performed.

Operation (copying to virtual machine, repackaging, or copying from virtual machine back to source location) is still being performed even though a warning was generated. View the results AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for detailed information on the errors encountered.

Operation was cancelled

Conversion Column

Package was converted to a virtual application successfully.

Package was converted to a virtual application, but warnings were generated. View the results AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for detailed information on the errors encountered.

Package was converted to a virtual application, but errors were generated. View the results AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for detailed information on the errors encountered.

The Automated Application Converter was unable to convert this package to a virtual application.

Conversion is in progress.

Conversion is in progress, but a warning has been generated. View the results AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for detailed information on the errors encountered.

An error was generated when converting one of the virtual formats which caused it to fail. However, the conversion to another one of the selected virtual formats continues.

Conversion was cancelled
19. When conversion is complete, the virtual packages will be listed in a tree structure under the original package on the Packages tab.

20. To view the AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log report, select the top level node of the conversion run log (such as Log started Monday, June 21, 2010...) on the Results tab and do one of the following:
• Click the Results button on the toolbar.
• Select View Report from the shortcut menu.
• Select View Report on the Tools menu.
• Press Ctrl+R.

See AdminStudio Automated Application Converter Log Report for more information.

21. Continue with the steps in Testing Packages and Importing Converted Packages into the Application Catalog.

See Also

Application Conversion Project Wizard