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Your first package

Seven minutes end to end, using 7-Zip as the running example. The walkthrough goes Capture → Build → Pre-Ship → Rollout and finishes with a deployable SCCM Application (or an Intune Win32App). If MAS was installed twenty minutes ago and one profile is defined, this chapter should just work.

4 min read
Applies to v2.0+
Last updated 2026-07-19
PUBLISHED

Seven minutes end to end, using 7-Zip as the running example. The walkthrough goes Capture → Build → Pre-Ship → Rollout and finishes with a deployable SCCM Application (or an Intune Win32App). If MAS was installed twenty minutes ago and one profile is defined, this chapter should just work.

Prerequisite: a profile that points at either a SCCM site or an Intune tenant. See Required settings.

What you need on disk #

  • 7z2409-x64.msi (or any small MSI you already have — Firefox ESR, Notepad++, WinMerge all work identically).

That's it. No accompanying scripts, no manifest file, no pre-built folder — MAS derives everything from the installer.

Capture (~90 seconds) #

  1. Open MAS. The Welcome page shows a large drop zone that says Drop an installer to begin.

  2. Drag 7z2409-x64.msi onto the drop zone.

  3. MAS switches to the Capture page. Within a couple of seconds the Capture summary card populates:

    Field Filled from
    Product name MSI ProductName property
    Version MSI ProductVersion
    Publisher MSI Manufacturer
    UpgradeCode MSI UpgradeCode property
    Silent switch MAS Catalog match (falls back to /qn for MSI)
    Detection rule MAS Catalog match (falls back to MSI product code)

    A green Catalog-hit badge appears next to Silent switch if the entry came from the MAS Catalog rather than a plain default. For 7-Zip x64 the Catalog match is exact.

  4. Click Continue → Build.

Everything captured is editable — click any field to override. The canonical use of Capture is to accept the Catalog defaults and move on.

Build (~2 minutes) #

  1. The Build page loads with a workspace pre-populated from the captured metadata. Left rail: the file tree of the workspace MAS is about to write. Right rail: a live preview of Invoke-AppDeployToolkit.ps1.
  2. The default script contains one Install step: Start-ADTMsiProcess -Action Install -FilePath "$dirFiles\7z2409-x64.msi". The Uninstall and Repair branches are present but empty by default.
  3. Leave every toggle at its default:
    • Deferral policy: AllowDefer = false (silent, unattended).
    • Close running apps: none.
    • Reboot handling: AllowRebootPassThru = false.
  4. Click Build. MAS writes the workspace to %LOCALAPPDATA%\MilochApplicationStudio\workspaces\7-Zip-24.09-x64\, copies the MSI into Files\, and confirms with a green Build succeeded toast.

Open the workspace folder from the toast to inspect. The folder matches the PSADT v4 template: Invoke-AppDeployToolkit.ps1, Invoke-AppDeployToolkit.exe, Files\, SupportFiles\, AppDeployToolkit\.

Pre-Ship (~2 minutes) #

  1. Click Continue → Pre-Ship. The Pre-Ship page opens the Ship drawer.
  2. Package name defaults to 7-Zip 24.09 x64. The rename step ensures the SCCM Application (or Intune Win32App) carries the final display name that end users and admins will see; adjust the convention if the site uses one (e.g. IGEL - 7-Zip 24.09 x64).
  3. Detection rules default to the MSI product-code rule captured earlier. Two others are prefilled if the MAS Catalog knows them (registry uninstall entry, executable version). Untick the ones the target platform doesn't need — SCCM requires at least one, Intune the same.
  4. Signing section: if a code-signing certificate is configured in Settings → Signing, MAS shows Signing armed. Skip this for a first run — an unsigned PSADT payload is a valid package.
  5. Preflight card shows green checkmarks for Workspace valid, Detection rules present, Package name unique on the target. Click Ship.

Rollout (~2 minutes) #

MAS' Ship queue picks up the job.

  • For SCCM: MAS calls the ConfigMgr PowerShell provider to create the Application with all captured properties in one New-CMApplication call (this pattern lifts the CIVersion from 4 to 2 on a fresh app). Content is copied to the site server via UNC, the DP distribution is triggered, and (if the profile carries a default deployment collection) a deployment is created.
  • For Intune: MAS packages the workspace to .intunewin, uploads it via the Microsoft Graph beta endpoint, and posts the assignments the profile carries by default (Available for All Users, Required for a specific group, etc.).

The Ship drawer updates each stage — Renamed, Detection rules attached, Content distributed, Assignments posted — with an OK / Failed marker per stage. A green Completed toast fires when every stage on every target finishes.

Verify the result in the SCCM Admin Console under Software Library → Application Management → Applications or in Intune under Apps → All apps. The new Application / Win32App carries the display name, detection rules and (if signing was armed) a signed payload.

What you have now #

  • A packaged 7-Zip 24.09 available in the deployment platform.
  • A workspace folder at %LOCALAPPDATA%\MilochApplicationStudio\workspaces\7-Zip-24.09-x64\ that can be re-opened from Home → Recent projects.
  • A Memory-DB row with the full audit trail for this run. The Recent Projects list shows a Reopen button that lands directly in the Rollout drawer.

The next installer follows the same path in less time — the muscle memory of Capture → Build → Pre-Ship → Rollout is the whole point of MAS.

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