01 Tools / Public repository
AppUpdater
Application packaging and updates for Microsoft Intune.
Creates Intune packages, detection scripts and update tasks from Windows installers.
Workflow
- 01Choose installer
- 02Generate package
- 03Deploy with Intune
- 04Keep devices current
Problem
Packaging applications for Intune Win32 deployment is repetitive and error-prone: each installer has to be wrapped manually, detection and deploy scripts hand-written, and a way found to keep the app current on devices. There was no reusable tool that could take any installer and produce a hardened, self-updating Intune deployment in minutes.
Background
Noticed the same packaging headaches recurring internally, and that the business wasn't willing to pay for a licensed tool to solve it. Having already worked through the same underlying pattern once, for the NetDocuments tool, that combination — a proven approach and no appetite to buy a packaged answer — was what pushed generalising it into a tool that could point at any installer.
Implementation
Built AppUpdater — a PowerShell tool with a dark-theme WPF GUI that turns any .exe or .msi into a complete Intune Win32 deployment. It auto-detects installer metadata, generates three upload-ready artifacts (the .intunewin package, detection script, deploy script), and provisions a self-updating agent using a SYSTEM scheduled task with a custom COM DACL granting users trigger-only rights. Optionally deploys its own Cloudflare Worker: a TOTP-protected dashboard, centralised manifest hosting, and per-device telemetry. A full offline mode needs no cloud at all.
Challenges
Generalising a one-app deployment into a tool that handles arbitrary installers meant auto-detecting silent-install arguments and processes-to-kill from metadata alone. Security was non-negotiable: every downloaded binary is Authenticode-verified, secrets live in Credential Manager or Worker Secrets, and the dashboard uses PBKDF2-SHA256 with rate-limited login and optional TOTP.
Results
Any installer becomes a secure, self-updating Intune package in minutes with nothing to install beforehand. Productises the NetDocuments deployment pattern into a reusable tool, published source-available under BUSL-1.1.
Project outcomes
AnyInstaller → Intune
0Tools to pre-install
2 minCloud setup