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psappdeploytoolkitv4-intune-deep-dive

PSAppDeployToolkit v4: Enhancing Intune Deployments with User Notifications and Reliability 🚀

Introduction

Deploying applications via Microsoft Intune has become the standard for modern endpoint management. However, when deploying Win32 applications, Intune runs installations under the SYSTEM context, which has historically caused problems for displaying user notifications or prompts.

This is where PSAppDeployToolkit (PSADT) v4 steps in. With its improved framework and integration options, PSADT ensures:

  1. User-friendly prompts and dialogs (e.g., welcome screens, progress bars, reboot messages).
  2. Graceful pre- and post-installation handling (stopping processes, detecting installs).
  3. Seamless compatibility with Intune's Win32 app packaging and deployment.

In this blog post, we’ll deep dive into how PSADT v4 works with Intune, and provide you with step-by-step instructions and code examples to leverage its full potential.

Challenges with Intune and Win32 App Deployments 🛑

Before we explore the solutions, let’s understand the core challenges:

  1. SYSTEM Context: Intune runs deployments as SYSTEM, which cannot display UI elements to the active user session.
  2. No User Interaction: Without user prompts, users might:
    • Experience sudden app closures.
    • Miss installation progress updates.
    • Be surprised by unexpected restarts.
  3. Limited Logging: Intune’s logging is basic, making troubleshooting difficult.

While Intune provides a robust deployment pipeline, these limitations can reduce user satisfaction and delay issue resolution.

How PSAppDeployToolkit v4 Solves These Problems 🛠️

1. ServiceUI.exe for User Prompts 🪄

To display popups and dialogs in the user session when running from the SYSTEM context, PSADT leverages ServiceUI.exe. This tool comes from the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and allows a process to interact with the active user session.

When used correctly, ServiceUI.exe enables PSADT’s interactive features, such as:

  • Welcome prompts
  • Progress bars
  • Restart notifications

2. Built-In Detection of User Sessions

PSADT intelligently detects:

  • Whether an active user session exists.
  • If no user is logged in, it suppresses popups and silently installs the app.

This dual behavior ensures smooth deployments in both interactive and non-interactive environments.

3. Robust Logging and Error Handling

PSADT v4 generates detailed logs during every step of the deployment process, stored locally for easy review. This complements Intune’s limited reporting capabilities.

4. Improved User Experience with Interactive Prompts

With PSADT v4, you get a polished, branded user experience, featuring:

  • Customizable welcome messages for users to defer or close applications.
  • Real-time progress bars to communicate installation status.
  • Flexible reboot prompts that allow users to delay restarts.

These features ensure that your deployments feel smooth and professional, reducing end-user frustration.

Step-by-Step Guide: Using PSADT v4 with Intune and ServiceUI 🚀

Follow these steps to successfully integrate PSAppDeployToolkit with Intune to display user-facing notifications.

Step 1: Obtain ServiceUI.exe

  1. Download and install the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).
  2. Extract ServiceUI.exe from the following location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Templates\Distribution\Tools\x64\ServiceUI.exe
  3. Place ServiceUI.exe in the root folder of your PSADT deployment package alongside Deploy-Application.ps1.

Your folder structure should look like this: plaintext C:\Apps\MyAppDeployment\ |-- Deploy-Application.ps1 |-- ServiceUI.exe |-- Files\ (App installers or dependencies)

Step 2: Customize Deploy-Application.ps1

Here’s how you configure PSADT for user-friendly prompts during installation.

Welcome Message and Process Closure

# Show welcome message and prompt to close conflicting apps
Show-InstallationWelcome -CloseApps 'AcroRd32' -AllowDefer -DeferTimes 3

Installation Progress Notification

# Show a progress bar during installation
Show-InstallationProgress -Status "Installing Adobe Acrobat Reader DC... Please wait."

# Execute the installer silently
Execute-MSI -Action Install -Path "Files\AcroRead.msi" -Parameters "/qn"

Restart Notification

# Prompt the user for a reboot with countdown
Show-InstallationRestartPrompt -CountdownSeconds 300 -DeferTimes 2

Step 3: Wrap the Application with Intune Win32 Content Prep Tool

  1. Download the Win32 Content Prep Tool from Microsoft.
  2. Run the following command to create an .intunewin package: bash IntuneWinAppUtil.exe -c "C:\Apps\MyAppDeployment" -s "Deploy-Application.ps1" -o "C:\Output"
  3. This will generate a file named Deploy-Application.intunewin.

Step 4: Upload the App to Intune

  1. Go to Microsoft Endpoint Manager (https://endpoint.microsoft.com).
  2. Navigate to: Apps > Windows > Add > Win32 App.
  3. Upload the .intunewin file.
  4. Configure the Install Command to use ServiceUI.exe: bash ServiceUI.exe -process:explorer.exe Deploy-Application.ps1 -DeployMode Interactive
  5. Configure the Uninstall Command: bash Deploy-Application.ps1 -DeploymentType Uninstall -DeployMode Silent
  6. Add detection rules for Intune to validate the installation (e.g., file existence): plaintext Path: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader File: AcroRd32.exe Detection Method: File exists
  7. Assign the app to your target user group.

Step 5: Test the Deployment

  1. Deploy the app to a test machine.
  2. Verify the following:
    • PSADT prompts appear for the logged-in user (welcome, progress, restart).
    • The app installs correctly.
    • Logs are created in C:\Windows\Logs\Software\Deploy-Application.log.
  3. If no user is logged in, confirm that the installation runs silently without errors.

Key Benefits of Using PSADT with Intune 🎯

  1. Interactive Notifications: Display progress bars, prompts, and restart messages to users.
  2. User Session Awareness: No user? No problem. PSADT handles silent installs gracefully.
  3. Better User Experience: Inform users about installations instead of surprising them.
  4. Improved Logging: Troubleshoot failures with detailed logs.
  5. Seamless Automation: Combine PSADT’s robust framework with Intune for reliable deployments.

Conclusion

With PSAppDeployToolkit v4 and ServiceUI.exe, you can finally overcome the limitations of Intune’s SYSTEM context for Win32 app deployments.

By following this guide, you’ll:

  • Provide a polished user experience with interactive dialogs.
  • Ensure reliable deployments using PSADT’s pre/post-install logic.
  • Improve troubleshooting with robust logs.

Ready to revolutionize your Intune deployments? Download PSAppDeployToolkit v4 and start building interactive, reliable app deployments today!

Have you used PSADT with Intune? Share your experiences or questions in the comments below! 🚀