Hi @sanderson , The AdminStudio Package Feed Module is an add-on feature and service to the AdminStudio Professional and Enterprise editions. It allows you to search and download over 3,000 installers from hundreds of software vendors along with supported silent command-line options right from within AdminStudio.  AdminStudio's Distribution Wizard can quickly publish installers, MSIX, and virtual packages up to ConfigMgr (formerly SCCM), whether those packages were downloaded from the Package Feed Module or imported into AdminStudio from other places like your file shares. The Distribution Wizard will take the package and publish it along with all of the Application Model information like Dependencies, Requirements, Detection Methods, and more, providing you the same end results as using the ConfigMgr admin console, but saving you a fair number of clicking. AdminStudio Enterprise users can even publish multiple package to ConfigMgr in one action, saving even more time.  Package Feed Module is hosted in Flexera's cloud but requires AdminStudio to download the packages and silent command-line options. It is not available and is not used as a standalone product, but rather it's a new source to import packages from into AdminStudio to start the Application Readiness journey, saving time from researching the correct packages and silent switches. The packages and their silent switches from Package Feed Module would be downloaded in AdminStudio, at which point you have multiple options to prepare that application depending on with what you are working. Since you would be downloading these packages and switches into AdminStudio, it's easy to then prepare them and then publish them by working within AdminStudio. AdminStudio uses industry standards like MSI and popular technologies like the PowerShell App Deploy Toolkit & WiseScript for wrapping applications, so you're not locked into any proprietary technology or method.  Once those packages make it into ConfigMgr (or another supported deployment solution), you can use all the other deployment tools and processes to manage and update those packages. AdminStudio makes it quicker and easier to manage these packages, so you're going back and using AdminStudio to help prepare new versions as they come out; it is your pre-deployment solution for all of your application packages to prepare them for ConfigMgr. ... View more

AdminStudio does not currently have specific support for Git repositories. The AdminStudio Application Catalog uses standard Windows file/folder structures and read/write access in order to import application packages into the Catalog and reference back to those package files. While local file structures (e.g. C:\share) are supported and will work, with shared Application Catalog across multiple team members, it's recommended to store your working packages on a network share and import them from using UNC paths (e.g. \\file_share\packages) in order to maintain consistency and access across your AdminStudio IT Pro users. If a Git or other kind of repository is used and the folder path to the package is fluid and changes over time as packages are checked in and out from this repository, then this will not operate consistently with the Application Catalog. This would require constant updating of the package's folder path each time it changes, which is not ideal. AdminStudio expects a constant path back to the packages, so the OS compatibility testing can be done as well as publishing these packages up to your distribution system by using the AdminStudio Distribution Wizard. I would recommend you submit support for Git and/or repositories as an idea to our Flexera Feedback section of our Community. You can see other AdminStudio users' ideas and vote on which ideas are Nice-to-Have, Important, or Critical for you; conversely other users can vote for your ideas the same way. ... View more

When you copied the response code from Flexera, did you first save the file?  While it looks the same, if the next is not encoded using Unicode UTF-8, then when you paste the text into the text box in AdminStudio, this error will come up. More info on converting ANSI (another common text encoding to UTF-8) can be found at this third-party link: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/convert-file-ansi-utf8-43115.html Error 51306 refers to our FlexNet Operations product we use to manage license activation. I found this KB article on our Supplier division's Knowledge Base about the issue: https://community.flexera.com/t5/FlexNet-Operations-Knowledge/Activation-not-possible-when-NOTICE-filed-is-not-UTF8/ta-p/2621 Following these instructions, you'll be able to load the saved file into the offline activation dialog to insert the response code that way. If you are experience any issues with activating AdminStudio, please contact our Technical Support team and they can help you resolve this.  ... View more

The AdminStudio Application Catalog (App Catalog) requires the use of Microsoft SQL Server in order to operate, this is a requirement spelled out in the System Requirements in the AdminStudio release notes: https://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/adminstudio2019r2sp1/rn/AS2019ReleaseNotes.htm#asreleasenotes_3152363033_1041418 (This is the System Requirements for the current version of AdminStudio as of this post, please check out Flexera HelpNet for the latest version of AdminStudio documentation, including the Release Notes: https://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/?product=AdminStudio) SQL Express is the free, limited version of SQL Server and can be used to host an AdminStudio Application Catalog, particularly when you're first evaluating the solution.  Do know that because it's free, SQL Express has some limitations compared to the full-feature licensed versions of SQL Server, particularly how large a single database, and thus Application Catalog, can get. More information on these limitations of SQL Express can be found on this third-party site here: http://www.capstanservices.com/technology-news-1/2019/7/11/sql-server-express-limitations-of-the-free-version-of-sql-server (This is a third-party site and posting this link does not mean Flexera recommend or otherwise support this third-party.) Using SQL Express or a full SQL Server instance to host an Application Catalog, the Package Feed Module functionality in AdminStudio would becomes available to use. ... View more

For creating virtual applications like Microsoft App-V or VMware ThinApp with AdminStudio, if the installer package starting off with is MSI-based, then AdminStudio can perform a direct conversion from MSI to these virtual formats without needing a virtual machine to perform a capture (like the native Microsoft App-V Sequencer or VMware ThinApp Setup Capture programs require). However, many MSIs have attributes that don’t lend themselves to direct conversion to a virtual format; these attributes would include things like Conditionalized Components and Custom Actions. For these installers as well as any non-MSI installers, AdminStudio can automate the use of virtual machines to perform capturing the original installer and taking that capture and creating a virtual application package from this. More information in the AdminStudio product help here: https://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/adminstudio2019r2sp1/adminstudio.htm#helplibrary/Vam_RootTopic.htm (Note this link is for the current release of AdminStudio as of the date of this posting, please consult HelpNet  for the latest version of the AdminStudio product help) Creating MSIX packages in AdminStudio is similar to how to create these virtual applications. ... View more

Thanks @sanderson, this is a fairly common question we get.  Of course, MSIs are easier to work with and deploy, so if there is a way to get to the underlining MSI installer for a particular application (if there exists one), then that's the best way to go. AdminStudio can perform extraction of MSIs from certain EXEs for the purposes of OS Compatibility Testing within the Application Manager.  However, it doesn’t perform this extraction for the user to take and use the MSIs directly. Partially, this is because not all MSIs extracted out of an EXE setup (typically called a setup bootstrap) can work by themselves. This page provides a very good and succinct discussion of extracting MSI installers from EXEs: https://www.codetwo.com/kb/msi-from-exe/ Note: this is a third-party site that Flexera is in no way affiliated This also assumes that the underlining installer is a Windows Installer-base setup. Not all EXEs have MSIs inside to extract them.  For certain EXEs, there is no way to perform any extraction as the installer logic is contained in and performed by the EXE itself. In this case, repackaging this kind of setup using AdminStudio's Repackager tool would result in a brand new, MSI-based setup that would replicate the end result of the original EXE installer. A virtual machine would typically be used here to perform the initial capturing of the original installer and allows for easy reverting back to a clean state after the capture has been completed and the captured information and Repackager project is saved elsewhere. ... View more

If you want AdminStudio to connect to and publish anything into SCCM, then AdminStudio needs to have access to at least one user account that has the right permissions in SCCM. AdminStudio supports two methods to authenticate with AdminStudio Windows Authentication The IT user running AdminStudio connects with their own Windows user account to SCCM Server Authentication They use an existing or set up a new service account and share the credentials out among the IT users In either user case above, the account provided to AdminStudio will need the Application Administrator Role assignment in SCCM. Both authentication methods mentioned above are discussed as part of the help article Creating a New Distribution System Connection found in the AdminStudio 2019 R2 help here: https://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/adminstudio2019r2sp1/adminstudio.htm#helplibrary/AMDistSettings_New.htm (AdminStudio version and related help is current as of this posting. Please checkout the documentation for the latest version via the links found in the Community > AdminStudio main page) Thanks @sanderson for posting this! ... View more