PACE Suite is an advanced software packaging tool with intuitive user interface and set of features providing (re)packaging in Windows Installer and various virtualization formats.

Key advantages
out-of-the-box application packaging solution
intelligible wizards for running complex user scenarios
high performance when generating large packages
per-user license valid for any number of physical and virtual machines

PACE Suite is an advanced application packaging tool with intuitive user interface and set of features providing successful (re)packaging in Windows Installer (convert EXE to MSI) and various virtualization formats. PACE Suite is a customer-driven product. We encourage all our customers to request adding new features to the product backlog. Anyone who reports us a missing valuable feature gets the 100% discount for a PACE Suite license in reward.

Repackaging any installation to MSI/MST/App-V/ThinApp
Convert EXE to MSI, MST (a pure Windows Installer), Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V 5.0-5.1) and VMware Application Virtualization (ThinApp 5.0-5.2) packages. PACE Suite has the most accurate and precise capturing engine that detects system changes in two modes: Monitoring and Snapshotting.

32-bit and 64-bit platforms support
Capture 32-bit and 64-bit applications on any platform you have for any platform you need.

Smart detection of embedded vendor MSI packages
PACE capturing engine instantly detects all hidden or wrapped vendor MSI installations and copies them to a project location, and you have the option to continue customizing detected packages via transform.
Note, that according to the Microsoft packaging best practices it is not recommended to repackage vendor MSI.

Capturing permission changes
None of the filesystem or registry permission changes will be lost. Captured permission changes could be included in the package using SecEdit tool.

Excluding/including captured resources at any time
PACE Suite keeps all of the resources that have been excluded and allows you to include them back at any moment after the capturing has been completed.

Modifying existing projects
With PACE application packaging tool, you do not need to recapture the application again if you need to make small changes. Just open your existing project, update or add more resources (e.g. import files or registry) according to your needs and generate a new version of MSI/MST/App-V/ThinApp packages.

Using global editable exclusion lists
Exclusion lists automatically filter all captured resources, which ensures the creation of pure packages. Exclusion lists are completely editable, so you can adapt them according to your needs.

Environment variables and advertised information handling
Be sure that high-level constructs like Environment Variables and Services are captured, and you can modify them before building a package.

Continue capturing after system restart
PACE knows when a system was rebooted during the capturing and allows you to continue repackaging the installation.

Creating blank MSI packages
Create a new blank MSI package and add necessary resources manually.

Creating transforms for customizing MSI packages
Use transform files (MST) to customize vendor MSI packages. With PACE, you can either create a transform at the very beginning of editing a package or save all your changes as a transform later.

Creating Patch packages (MSP)
Create Patch packages with help of PACE Suite to deliver application updates. PACE provides you with two approaches to creating patches: (1) Save MSI database changes as Patch; (2) Generate Patch as a difference between new and old packages.

Merge Modules (MSM) support
PACE monitors specified pools of Merge Modules and replaces captured resources with appropriate modules. Another available option in PACE is importing Merge Modules to MSI package manually.

Manipulating contents of an MSI in a convenient tree-like interface
Review and modify package resources such as files, registry, features-components in a convenient tree-like interface with complementary functionality presented in wizards.

Importing files and registry to package
With PACE, you can import files, registry, and shortcuts at any stage of packaging. Our application packaging tool includes advanced wizard for importing resources allows you to control many options like INI files handling, feature-component assignment, Media (CAB) options, etc.

You were really looking forward to it, admit it. Let’s jump straight to the big announcement – PACE Suite 5.1 now supports creation of MSIX packages – the newest package format for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. You can leverage all the benefits of Microsoft’s latest format in a familiar, easy-to-use interface of PACE Suite.

There are many other new features to explore, of course. Start with creating Windows Installer Merge Modules and properly deliver shared resources such as files and registry to the system with your packages. Our new approach in MSI Editor is as simple as it gets – just select components, which you want to export, and the export settings.

Clean and user-friendly UI is our forte, and we’re glad to prove it once again with our new Package Summary tab. Read on to have a first look at our new design.

Enhanced Package Designer, easier management of package upgrades, updates to Docu Generator, and more – take a look at everything that’s new below and please enjoy PACE Suite 5.1!
 
Create MSIX packages in PACE Suite
MSIX is Microsoft’s newest packaging format, built to be safe, secure and reliable. It is based on a combination of .msi, .appx, App-V and ClickOnce installation technologies. PACE Suite 5.1 add the support of MSIX, and you can now leverage all the benefits of the latest packaging format in our user-friendly MSI Generator.

Here are the highlights of what you can do with MSIX in PACE Suite:

Select the MSIX/APPX output package format
Create main and modification packages
Declare the app capabilities
Select the package supported platforms
Generate packages for all of the specified processor architectures at once
Combine the generated packages into the bundle
Manage the signature settings for packages and bundle
Generate the AppInstaller file for the non-Store distribution and auto-update of your app
Edit Manifest manually during the package building
Control UWP apps (like shortcuts) and their appearance settings

Using the familiar and intuitive interface of our MSI Generator, you can easily repackage existing Win32 apps to the MSIX. As usual, to create an MSIX package, you can either capture source installation using the Capturing wizard or create a blank project from the scratch and import the necessary resources manually.

Create Merge Modules (MSM)
Create Windows Installer Merge Modules with new PACE Suite to properly deliver shared resources such as files and registry to the system within your packages.

To create an MSM, open your MSI package with MSI Editor, select components, which you want to export to Merge Module, and specify the exporting settings. Also, you can easily replace the exported components with the created Merge Module.

 
Manage package upgrades
The package upgrade is the built-in functionality of the Windows Installer – all you need is to add upgrade codes of the old packages into your new package and specify the upgrade settings.

With MSI Editor, you can easily integrate the upgrade of old MSI packages by simply selecting MSI files, which you want to upgrade. MSI Editor will do the rest – import codes, max and min versions, add the necessary properties and standard MSI action for performing the upgrade.

Control Apps & Features appearance
Control how the MSI package will be displayed in the Apps & Features list (also Programs and Features in the Control Panel).

In addition to selecting the ARP icon, ‘Remove’, ‘Repair’, and ‘Modify’ buttons, the latest version of MSI Editor allows managing support properties such as product, support URLs, contacts and others. Also, here you can change app details, which will be displayed in the app list.
 
New Package Summary Tab
The brand new and cleaner Package Summary tab displays the general information about the app inside your package, main package IDs such as product, upgrade and package codes, a beautiful complexity estimation chart, and the link to the help documentation.

Only for V.I.P