Installation

Intune Commander is distributed as source code and can be built and run using the .NET 10 SDK. This guide covers building from source, running the application, and platform-specific considerations.

Building from Source

Clone the Repository

Clone from GitHub

Clone the Intune Commander repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/intune-commander.git
cd intune-commander

Verify .NET SDK

Ensure you have .NET 10 SDK installed:

dotnet --version

The output should show version 10.0.x or higher.

Build the Application

Restore dependencies

Restore NuGet packages for all projects:

dotnet restore

This downloads all required dependencies including:

Avalonia 11.3.x
Microsoft.Graph.Beta 5.130.x
Azure.Identity 1.17.x
LiteDB 5.0.x
And other packages

Build all projects

Build the solution:

dotnet build

This compiles:

Intune.Commander.Core (business logic library)
Intune.Commander.Desktop (Avalonia UI application)
Test projects

Verify the build

Ensure the build completed successfully with no errors. You should see output similar to:

Build succeeded.
    0 Warning(s)
    0 Error(s)

Run Unit Tests

Verify the build by running unit tests:

# Run all unit tests (excludes integration tests)
dotnet test --filter "Category!=Integration"

# Run tests with coverage (40% threshold enforced)
dotnet test /p:CollectCoverage=true /p:Threshold=40 /p:ThresholdType=line /p:ThresholdStat=total

# Run a specific test class
dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~ProfileServiceTests"

Integration tests require Azure AD credentials and are skipped by default. See the repository documentation for integration test setup.

Running the Application

Development Mode

Run directly from source using the .NET CLI:

dotnet run --project src/Intune.Commander.Desktop

The application window will launch and display the login screen.

Debug Configuration

When running in Debug mode, you get:

Verbose debug logging in the Debug Log window
Source maps for easier troubleshooting
No code optimizations
Full exception details

Release Build

For better performance, build in Release configuration:

# Build release version
dotnet build --configuration Release

# Run release version
dotnet run --project src/Intune.Commander.Desktop --configuration Release

Release mode provides:

Optimized compiled code
Smaller binary size
Faster startup and runtime performance
Information-level logging only

Platform-Specific Notes

Windows (Fully Supported)

Windows 10 1809+ is the recommended and fully supported platform with all features available.

Installation Steps:

Install .NET 10 SDK from dotnet.microsoft.com
Clone and build as described above
Run using dotnet run --project src/Intune.Commander.Desktop

Features Available:

✅ Interactive browser authentication
✅ Client secret authentication
✅ All Intune object type management
✅ PowerPoint export
✅ LiveCharts dashboards
✅ Local encrypted cache and profile storage

File Locations:

Profiles: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Intune.Commander\profiles.json
Cache: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Intune.Commander\cache.db
Cache encryption key: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Intune.Commander\cache-key.bin
Data Protection keys: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Intune.Commander\keys\

macOS (Limited Support)

macOS has significant Avalonia limitations that affect authentication and UI behavior.

Known Limitations:

Interactive browser authentication does not work reliably due to Avalonia browser integration issues
Device Code authentication is required instead of browser popup
Some UI rendering differences compared to Windows

Recommended Setup:

Install .NET 10 SDK:
```
brew install dotnet@10
```

Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/intune-commander.git
cd intune-commander
dotnet build

Use Client Secret authentication instead of Interactive:
- Create a client secret in your Azure AD app registration
- Configure your profile with authMethod: "ClientSecret"
- Provide the client secret in the profile

File Locations:

Profiles: ~/Library/Application Support/Intune.Commander/profiles.json
Cache: ~/Library/Application Support/Intune.Commander/cache.db
Cache encryption key: ~/Library/Application Support/Intune.Commander/cache-key.bin
Data Protection keys: ~/Library/Application Support/Intune.Commander/keys/

Linux (Planned)

Linux support is planned but currently limited. Initial support will focus on headless/Core scenarios.

Current Status:

Core libraries (Intune.Commander.Core) are fully compatible
Desktop UI (Avalonia) has not been tested on Linux
Planned use case: Scheduled report generation without UI

Expected File Locations:

Profiles: ~/.config/Intune.Commander/profiles.json
Cache: ~/.config/Intune.Commander/cache.db
Cache encryption key: ~/.config/Intune.Commander/cache-key.bin
Data Protection keys: ~/.config/Intune.Commander/keys/

Future Plans:

Headless mode for automated exports
CLI interface for scripting
Docker container for scheduled tasks

Self-Contained Deployment

For distribution to machines without .NET SDK installed, create a self-contained deployment:

Windows x64

dotnet publish src/Intune.Commander.Desktop \
  --configuration Release \
  --runtime win-x64 \
  --self-contained true \
  --output ./publish/win-x64

This creates a standalone executable with all dependencies included:

Intune.Commander.Desktop.exe
.NET runtime libraries
All NuGet package dependencies

macOS x64

dotnet publish src/Intune.Commander.Desktop \
  --configuration Release \
  --runtime osx-x64 \
  --self-contained true \
  --output ./publish/osx-x64

macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon)

dotnet publish src/Intune.Commander.Desktop \
  --configuration Release \
  --runtime osx-arm64 \
  --self-contained true \
  --output ./publish/osx-arm64

Self-contained deployments are larger (150-200 MB) but don’t require .NET SDK installation on the target machine.

Syncfusion License Configuration

The PowerPoint export feature uses Syncfusion.Presentation.Net.Core, which requires a license key.

For Development Builds

Set the license key as an environment variable before building: Windows (PowerShell):

$env:SYNCFUSION_LICENSE_KEY="your-license-key-here"
dotnet build

Linux/macOS:

export SYNCFUSION_LICENSE_KEY="your-license-key-here"
dotnet build

For Published Releases

Embed the license key during publish:

dotnet publish src/Intune.Commander.Desktop \
  --configuration Release \
  --runtime win-x64 \
  --self-contained true \
  -p:SyncfusionLicenseKey="your-license-key-here" \
  --output ./publish/win-x64

Official release binaries have the license key embedded during the GitHub Actions build process. End users do not need to configure a license.

Without a license key, PowerPoint exports will display watermarks. All other functionality remains unaffected.

Troubleshooting Build Issues

Build Fails with NuGet Restore Errors

Solution: Clear the NuGet cache and restore:

dotnet nuget locals all --clear
dotnet restore
dotnet build

Microsoft.Graph.Beta Package Not Found

Solution: Ensure you’re using .NET 10 SDK and have access to nuget.org:

dotnet --version  # Should be 10.0.x
dotnet nuget list source  # Verify nuget.org is listed

Avalonia Designer Issues in Visual Studio

Solution: Avalonia XAML designer requires the Avalonia extension:

Install “Avalonia for Visual Studio 2022” from Extensions → Manage Extensions
Restart Visual Studio
Open .axaml files to see the designer

macOS Code Signing Issues

Solution: For development builds, you don’t need code signing:

dotnet build --configuration Debug
dotnet run --project src/Intune.Commander.Desktop

For published apps, see Apple’s documentation on code signing requirements.

Next Steps

Now that you have Intune Commander built and running:

App Registration

Set up Azure AD app registrations for authentication

Quickstart Guide

Configure your first profile and connect to a tenant

Prerequisites

Review system and permission requirements

Contributing

Learn how to contribute to Intune Commander development

Introduction

Setup

Installation

Installation

Building from Source

Clone the Repository

Build the Application

Run Unit Tests

Running the Application

Development Mode

Debug Configuration

Release Build

Platform-Specific Notes

Windows (Fully Supported)

macOS (Limited Support)

Linux (Planned)

Self-Contained Deployment

Windows x64

macOS x64

macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon)

Syncfusion License Configuration

For Development Builds

For Published Releases

Troubleshooting Build Issues

Build Fails with NuGet Restore Errors

Microsoft.Graph.Beta Package Not Found

Avalonia Designer Issues in Visual Studio

macOS Code Signing Issues

Next Steps

App Registration

Quickstart Guide

Prerequisites

Contributing

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Introduction

Setup

​Installation

​Building from Source

​Clone the Repository

​Build the Application

​Run Unit Tests

​Running the Application

​Development Mode

​Debug Configuration

​Release Build

​Platform-Specific Notes

​Windows (Fully Supported)

​macOS (Limited Support)

​Linux (Planned)

​Self-Contained Deployment

​Windows x64

​macOS x64

​macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon)

​Syncfusion License Configuration

​For Development Builds

​For Published Releases

​Troubleshooting Build Issues

​Build Fails with NuGet Restore Errors

​Microsoft.Graph.Beta Package Not Found

​Avalonia Designer Issues in Visual Studio

​macOS Code Signing Issues

​Next Steps

App Registration

Quickstart Guide

Prerequisites

Contributing

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Installation

Building from Source

Clone the Repository

Build the Application

Run Unit Tests

Running the Application

Development Mode

Debug Configuration

Release Build

Platform-Specific Notes

Windows (Fully Supported)

macOS (Limited Support)

Linux (Planned)

Self-Contained Deployment

Windows x64

macOS x64

macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon)

Syncfusion License Configuration

For Development Builds

For Published Releases

Troubleshooting Build Issues

Build Fails with NuGet Restore Errors

Microsoft.Graph.Beta Package Not Found

Avalonia Designer Issues in Visual Studio

macOS Code Signing Issues

Next Steps