Intune Application Deployment – LOB vs Win32

When defining an Application Packaging & Deployment Strategy, using an .msi file format has been a long standing recommended practice for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) allowing the use of an Application Object as oppose to the Package Object when creating and configuring the applications objects within ConfigMgr.

Prior to the introduction of Windows Apps (Win32), for Intune applications we were restricted to deployment via a single file .msi, .appx, .appxbundle, .msix, and .msixbundle application objects known as Line of Business (LOB) apps.

Windows Apps (Win32) allows deployment of multiple files via its IntuneWin wrapper. It also allows us to configure additional parameters during creation of the application and deployment which is a limitation of LOB. This capability provides a greater amount of control for deploying applications to Windows, using Intune natively for those customers who may not have an investment in ConfigMgr.

LOB application objects in Intune are created using: .msi, .appx, .appxbundle, .msix, and .msixbundle file format.

• LOB Objects limits us from capabilities such as detection methods, configuring error codes and dependencies.
• LOB objects must be a single file format for example an MSI with a transform cannot be deployed using this method.

Win32 application objects are created using IntuneWin file format.

• Win32 Objects provide us greater control over the deployment of the app and allows us to configure additional parameters like ConfigMgr Application Objects such detection method & dependencies to later retire, remove or upgrade an app.
• The IntuneWin wrapper can be used to deploya single or multiple files such as MSI using a transform and MSP.
• When using a mix of LOB & Win32 during Autopilot the app can fail, therefore choose carefully which apps are created as LOB and Win32 when using Autopilot.

Further reading about creating Apps in Intune here: Add a Windows line-of-business app to Microsoft Intune | Intune Standalone – Win32 app management

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