Windows Admin Center is a utility developed by Microsoft to make it easier for IT admins and organizations to manage their infrastructure, including security, networking, updates, storage, and more. Microsoft regularly releases new versions of the tool to introduce new features and enhance existing capabilities. Now, it has rolled out version 2211 of Windows Admin Center.
In terms of platform updates, Windows Admin Center version 2211 lets you manage a Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC)-enforced infrastructure through a modern interface. Microsoft claims that this is very easy to use and offers better security. Moreover, the Redmond tech giant is also making it easier to navigate through settings by offering a search box with smart keywords on the Windows Admin Center, Cluster Manager, Server Manager, and Computer Management pages.
In addition, the tool now supports 400% zoom which should make the UI more accessible for the visually impaired. Importantly, with Azure AD Graph being deprecated by the end of this year, Windows Admin Center has been migrated to Microsoft Graph. Microsoft has assured customers that all the existing features and new ones are available through Microsoft Graph APIs. Finally, there is also support for self-signed certificates in Chromium-based browsers.
Moving over to Azure Stack HCI updates, there is a new cluster properties page along with a tool to resize volumes from Fixed to Thin (but not the other way around). Similarly, Arc-enabled servers now have a dedicated section in the Azure Arc preview tool with overview and registration pages. Additionally, GPU-P is now supported on Azure Stack HCI. It enables customers to share/partition a physical GPU across multiple virtual machines. Other updates in this space include the general availability of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and a better experience for cluster create.
In-app updates have been deprecated and the Redmond tech firm has recommended leveraging Microsoft Update to update Windows Admin Center. There is also a known issue where you'll be redirected to the Azure Global Sign-in page when registering a Windows Admin Center gateway in the Azure China or Azure US Gov cloud domains. The only workaround is to use an older version of Windows Admin Center.
There are some updates to Windows Admin Center in Azure listed below too:
- Support for Azure AD authentication
- General availability of Azure Virtual Machines
- Public preview for Arc-enabled infrastructure
Microsoft has also highlighted new extensions and plugins from its partner ecosystem with offerings from Advantech, BiitOps, Dell, Lenovo, HPE, and more. You can find additional details here.
You can install version 2211 of Windows Admin Center by following this guide. Do note that any further feedback regarding the software should now be provided via the feedback portal here rather than the GitHub forum.
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