Intune Knowledge Base

Overview A Win32 app is the application type Microsoft Intune uses to deploy classic Windows desktop software, the kind that ships as an EXE or MSI installer rather than from the Microsoft Store. It is the most capable app type in Intune because it gives you full control over how the software is packaged, installed, … Read more

Overview Deploying a Windows app with Intune looks like a single button click in the admin center, but underneath it is a staged pipeline: you upload a package with deployment metadata, you assign it to users or devices, the device checks in for policy, and a client-side agent does the actual download, evaluation, installation, and … Read more

Overview The Intune Management Extension (IME) is the Windows client agent that turns a Win32 app or PowerShell-script policy in the cloud into an actual install on the device. It is the component that downloads content, checks whether a device qualifies for an app, runs the install or uninstall command, decides whether the app is … Read more

Overview Every Win32 app you deploy with Intune runs its install command in one of two security contexts: System or User. This single setting, called Install behavior on the Program tab, decides which account the installer and detection logic execute under, and it is one of the most common reasons a package that installs perfectly … Read more

Overview When you assign a Win32 app in Intune, the service does not just push an installer and hope for the best. It follows a defined lifecycle: it checks who and what the app is assigned to, confirms the device meets the requirement rules, runs detection to see if the app is already present, executes … Read more

Overview A .intunewin file is the only package format Microsoft Intune accepts for Win32 (line-of-business desktop) apps. You produce one by feeding an installer and any supporting files through the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool (IntuneWinAppUtil.exe), which compresses and encrypts the whole folder into a single, uploadable payload. Without this wrapping step there is no … Read more

Overview The Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool, run as IntuneWinAppUtil.exe, is the utility that wraps a Windows installer and its supporting files into the .intunewin format that Intune requires for Win32 app deployment. Without this step, Intune has nothing to upload: the portal only accepts the .intunewin container, not a raw .exe or .msi sitting … Read more

Overview A silent (or unattended) install switch is the command-line argument that tells an installer to run without showing a window, asking questions, or waiting for a click. Microsoft Intune deploys Win32 apps non-interactively, usually in the local SYSTEM context with no interactive desktop, so any installer that pauses for user input will stall, time … Read more

Overview Packaging is where most Win32 app problems are created or prevented. A clean, predictable package installs the same way on the first device and the ten-thousandth, reports its status honestly, and can be diagnosed in minutes instead of hours. The opposite — a cluttered source folder, an install command that prompts, or a detection … Read more

Overview The install and uninstall commands are the exact command lines Intune runs on a Windows device to put a Win32 app on the machine and to take it back off again. They are configured on the Program tab when you add a Windows app (Win32), and they are run by the Intune Management Extension … Read more