VMware is adding more functionality to the Windows 11 on Arm64 platform, and continuing to innovate on the Workspace ONE platform to bring management to any device, from anywhere, for any user, securely.
Workspace ONE UEM 2210 release now provides the Intelligent HUB Application for Windows 11 on ARM64 providing these improvements in Phase 1:
- Hub based enrollment
- Application installation using Software Distribution (SFD)
- Hub App Catalog
- BitLocker Encryption Management for ARM64
- Sensors based on CIM queries
- Scripts
If you are an IT administrator or product evaluator who is tasked to manage device compliance and software distribution for Windows 11 on ARM64 devices, this blog is for you. Today these devices include the Microsoft Surface ProX, Lenovo ThinkPad, Samsung Galaxy Book, and HP Folio, just to name a few, and this list is growing.
Workspace ONE HUB enrollment for Windows 11 on ARM
Similar to other Windows devices beginning with Workspace ONE 2210, you can enroll Windows11 on ARM through the Hub Enrollment method. This enables you as administrator to instruct the user to go to http://www.getwsone.com and download the https://packages.vmware.com/wsone/AirWatchAgentarm64.msi file.
The Installation package for HUB is an MSI file so it can be started both through the interactive prompts or silently without user prompts.
Installation Procedure
- On a Windows 11 on ARM device, log in with a user account that has administrative privileges.
- Open a browser and navigate to http://www.getwsone.com and select Download Hub for Windows ARM64 https://packages.vmware.com/wsone/AirWatchAgentarm64.msi to download and start the installation process.
- Launching the AirWatchAgentarm64.msi without command line parameters launches in the default method of Interactive installation and prompts the user for information.
- The user fills out the necessary enrollment information, including email or server name and Organization Unit (OU) for enrollment, and agree to the license terms.
- Once enrolled, the Hub Application launches and the device begins applying policies and downloading any applications for the user or device.
Silent Enrollment
IT can automate the enrollment of the device through scripting of the Silent Enrollment, as follows:
msiexec /i "AirWatchAgentarm64.msi" /q ENROLL=Y SERVER=dsABCD.awmdm.com LGName=CompanyOG USERNAME=staging@OGname.com PASSWORD=P@ssw0rd ASSIGNTOLOGGEDINUSER=Y /LOG %temp%\WorkspaceONE.log
Note: These are the simplest form of MSI installation parameters, and can be added to a deployment command or script.
For more information on the entire process, see: Onboarding Windows Devices Using Command-Line Enrollment: Workspace ONE Operational Tutorial.
Application Installation using Software Distribution (SFD)
Similar to other Windows devices, Workspace ONE can distribute software to Windows 11 on ARM64 using the Software Distribution Agent.
A few months ago, Workspace ONE announced the support for ARM64 devices and the specific APPX file format. For more details, see: Workspace ONE UEM Enhances support for Windows on ARM devices.
Workspace ONE UEM version 2210 offers support for the MSIX and MSIX Bundle to distribute software to Windows 11 devices.
(Note: We recommend testing the deployment of applications because not all applications are compatible with ARM64, or some may have specific requirements.)
HUB Catalog on ARM64
The HUB Catalog is available for Windows 11 on ARM64 devices listing applications that the users can install, and the status of applications being installed by UEM.
BitLocker Encryption Management for ARM64
For Windows 11 on ARM64 devices, you can now control Bitlocker encryption directly from the console, similar to other Windows devices.
Sensors based on CIM queries
You can now run UEM Sensors on Windows 11 on Arm64 devices. The limitation is that because of the architecture of Windows on ARM, you can only run CIM-based queries (WMI queries are not supported). This is the recommended approach for all device queries by Microsoft.
Warning: Do not use a WMI query for ARM64 like this one:
Get-WmiObject -Query "not good on ARM64'"
Instead of the WMI query, use the equivalent CIM query:
Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT * from Win32_Process WHERE name LIKE 'P%'"
Scripts for Windows 11 on ARM
Scripts are also available for Windows 11 on ARM. Under Resources Menu, you can select Windows as the target operating system. The scripts are available in the UEM console in the following areas:
You can navigate to the scripts by clicking Resources > Scripts:
Scripts are displayed as follows:
I hope this information was helpful.
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