Maximize Application Compatibility, Portability, and Performance
Virtualizing Windows applications used to mean compromise: long packaging cycles, extensive troubleshooting, and countless compatibility tweaks. With Cloudpaging® application containers, you can take even your most complex, legacy, or monolithic Windows apps and deliver them anywhere with minimal change and lightning speed.
Whether you’re a desktop engineer, IT admin, or EUC architect, Cloudpaging provides a modern route to simplifying application delivery and management.
Ready to get started? Here are five practical steps to start containerizing your applications today with Cloudpaging.
1. Identify Applications for Containerization
Before you dive into the tech, determine which applications to prioritize. Start by identifying the Windows applications that:
- Are difficult to manage or update
- Have many dependencies or legacy components
- Don’t work well with MSIX, App-V, or traditional installs
- Need to be delivered across multiple environments (VDI, DaaS, physical PCs)
Examples include RightFax (a healthcare application comprised of multiple application installers), large complex application suites like HER and CAD applications, legacy ERP clients, or anything that requires Active Setup, install-related reboots, or other features that make managing the applications using traditional tooling a challenge.
Pro tip: Start with a “quick win”— an app that’s known to be painful but used frequently. It helps build confidence and internal buy-in.
2. Set Up Your Cloudpaging Packaging Environment
To package with Cloudpaging, you’ll need:
- A Cloudpaging Studio machine (usually a clean VM with snapshots)
- Access to the application installer, plus any runtimes or prerequisites
Cloudpaging captures the installation and encapsulates it into an .stp file. The result? A containerized app that can be dynamically deployed without install-related reboots, aapplication install failures, consistently clean uninstalls, and seamless updates.
Cloudpaging supports a wide range of applications, including those with drivers, COM+ components, drivers, legacy applications, applications dependent on runtimes, and those with custom configurations.
3. Package Your First Application
In Numecent Cloudpager, you can access the Cloudpaging AI feature to quickly and easily get many consumer off the shelf applications packaged for you on demand using our AI packager. This AI service utilizes our custom large language model which has been built with our packaging best practices and expertise built up over more than a decade. It optimally packages the applications into containers doing things like disabling auto-updates, setting an appropriate command line for launching the application from a Storefront and more.
Of course, you can also package your own applications too!
Packaging in Cloudpaging Studio is straightforward:
- Launch Studio and create a new project.
- Run the installer through the capture process.
- Define any launch parameters, environment variables, or file redirection rules.
- Build the project to produce the .CLC and related files.
You can test the output directly using Cloudpaging Player before publishing. Most applications require zero recoding or repackaging effort, even if they’re complex or poorly behaved.
Need to virtualize a suite of apps with shared dependencies? Cloudpaging supports modular packaging and applications can be delivered in a Cloudpager Workpod to allow interoperability. Cloudpaging application containers also offer the flexibility to allow certain local processes visibility to fully isolated applications as needed.
4. Deploy via Cloudpager or Other ESD Tools
Once your package is built, publish it to a Cloudpager tenant. From here, assigned employees can receive the application directly on their desktops or alternatively can access the applications on-demand in a self-service fashion from a Cloudpager Storefront. You can control license limits, enforce expiry, and set custom user access policies.
Alternatively, Cloudpaging containers can be integrated into existing deployment tools such as:
- Microsoft Intune via a Cloudpager Intune Storefront
- Microsoft app Attach in Azure Virtual Desktop via a Cloudpager App Attach Storefront (read our press release with Microsoft)
- Citrix or Omnissa Horizon environments
Because the application runs in a sandbox, it won’t pollute the base image – dramatically reducing the need to rebuild or update your golden image.
5. Monitor, Optimize, and Scale
With your first apps live, it’s time to monitor and optimize:
- Use the Cloudpager Dashboard to view application status, client versions in use, OS versions, application usage information and more.
- Use Cloudpager Reports to view real-time application usage information and generate historical reports on application usage for rationalization purposes.
- Scale out to additional employees or apps as you validate success.
Most organizations start with a handful of apps and quickly expand—especially when they see how Cloudpaging containers eliminates install conflicts, reduces helpdesk tickets, and simplifies image management.
It’s Time to Start Containerizing Your Applications
Application virtualization doesn’t have to be complicated. With Cloudpaging, you can virtualize and deliver even your most stubborn Windows apps—without repackaging nightmares or compatibility headaches. We have customers like Waterman who have containerized and delivered 98% of their applications including large complex suites like CAD applications.
“With Cloudpager, Waterman boosted its software virtualization coverage to 98%, significantly enhancing the performance of substantial software suites like Autodesk, achieving remarkable speeds not previously attainable with software virtualization.” – Stuart Worrow, Group IT Director, Waterman
By following these five steps, you can start modernizing your application estate today with containers, unlocking faster, cleaner, and more scalable application management.
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