February 25th, 2025 update: This minor build update makes quality improvements around localization, installation, and the "All Connections" page. If you are having challenges with these scenarios, please ensure you are using this build (2.4.2.1).

 

Windows Admin Center provides a convenient method for IT admins to investigate and manage their Windows Servers. Over the last seven years, one of the top customer requests has been performance. With this release, we are ensuring that we deliver the solution that customers desire. This release marks a new era for Windows Admin Center as the platform for the future, bringing efficiency and convenience to you while bridging the gap in feature parity for virtual machine management.  

 

This 2410 release marks the general availability of our “modernized gateway” or “v2” effort years in the making. In addition, this build comes with new additions to core tools like the virtual machines tool, the security tool, a new LAPS tool, and bug fixes.  

 

As always, thank you to our customers, partners, and fans. Your continued support of Windows Admin Center has been critical to its continued success.

 

We’ve been working behind the scenes to ensure that Windows Admin Center is up-to-date, secure, and reliable. Read on to learn about the new features and updates!

What's new in Windows Admin Center v2410

Platform updates

 

Upgrade to .NET Core 

The Windows Admin Center frontend user-interface (UI) is built on Angular, which is in turn built on our shell. The shell hosts all the core services and most of our UI components, our solutions like server and cluster manager, and, on top of that, every extension that you use for server management.

Our front end interacts with our backend, which is also known as our gateway. The gateway hosts our authorization structure, our PS services, our gateway plug-ins, and plays a critical role in every single experience that you use in Windows Admin Center.

 

 

 

 

In this release, we have upgraded our backend from .NET 4.6.2 to .NET 8, bringing enhanced security and improved cryptography to our product. This also includes support for HTTP 2, reducing latency and enhancing the responsiveness of Windows Admin Center. Combined with improved performance, providing faster load times, you’ll be able to get your tasks done more quickly and efficiently.

 

Developers of Windows Admin Center extensions, please read the “Backend upgrade impact on extensions” section later in this post to understand how your extension might be affected.

 

Updated installer 

While modernizing our gateway, we also made the installer more flexible by providing increased customization options including network access settings, selecting trusted hosts, providing a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for your gateway machine, and more. For more details about the installer, read the Updated installer details section of this blog post.  

 

 

 

 

Data migration

To ensure that your user and environment data is transferred to the right places with our backend upgrade, we've implemented a data migration flow to make the transition to our latest build seamless. Much of this data will be automatically transferred, but there are a few areas where additional information from the user is required. For details about the migration experience, read on to the Migrating your data section. 

 

Settings update

As part of our gateway modernization effort, you may notice that your Windows Admin Center settings look a little bit different.

 

 

 

 

As we discussed in the 2211 Windows Admin Center release, we have deprecated the in-app update experience and have consequently removed the settings blade for Updates. Additionally, the Access and Shared Connections blades are now available on local gateway installations (also known as “desktop mode” in older gateway builds).

 

The Access page allows you to access Windows Admin Center PowerShell APIs by retrieving an access key for your user account. This blade is not available if you’re choosing to open Windows Admin Center with NTLM log-in.

 

Multi-process, micro-service based

The 2410 build also leverages microservice architecture. Prior to this upgrade, Windows Admin Center performed all tasks in a single process. With our new model, we start one process for Windows Admin Center on application startup that serves as a process manager. As you use Windows Admin Center, additional sub-processes are spun up to perform specific tasks.

 

Additionally, gateway plug-ins that are compatible with the upgrade backend will also run their own collection of sub-processes under the Windows Admin Center service manager to perform their functions.

 

Changing from a monolithic service to a microservice model helps our 2410 build be more flexible, scalable, and resilient.

 

Kestrel HTTP web server

Previously, Windows Admin Center utilized Katana components, including a web server, on the backend. With the 2410 build, we’ve shifted to an ASP.NET Core Kestrel web server.

 

Kestrel is the recommended web server for ASP.NET Core applications. Kestrel is:

• High performing: Kestrel is optimized to handle a large number of concurrent connections efficiently.
• Lightweight: Optimized for running in resource-constrained environments, such as containers and edge devices.
• Security hardened: Kestrel supports HTTPS and is hardened against web server vulnerabilities.

 

Additionally, Kestrel supports the HTTP/2 web protocol, where previously we had only supported HTTP1.1 with the Katana components. The upgrade from HTTP1.1 to HTTP/2 brings reduced latency to our application as well as increased responsiveness through enhanced features like multiplexing and server push.

 

Switching to a Kestrel web server will also allow for Windows Admin Center to potentially enable cross-platform support in the future.

 

Changing Windows Admin Center configuration after install

With this build, we’ve also changed the mechanism to modify settings of your Windows Admin Center installation after install. In the Program Files for Windows Admin Center, we’ve included a PowerShell module called Microsoft.WindowsAdminCenter.Configuration.psm1. This module allows you to modify your Windows Admin Center configuration after installation and can be found in the PowerShellModules folder of your installation (C:\Program Files\WindowsAdminCenter\PowerShellModules\ by default).

 

To use this module, run one of the included commands. For example, to change the ports Windows Admin Center is using, run the following command:

Set-WACHttpsPort -Wacport <port> -ServicePortRangeStart <port> -ServicePortRangeEnd <port>

Core tools

Virtual machine tool update

The Virtual machines tool continues to be one of our most-used tools. The management of virtual machines is absolutely critical for the overall infrastructure management experience. We continue to improve our Virtual machine tool experience based on customer feedback.

 

This release, our primary goal was to provide you with your list of VMs as soon as possible so you are empowered to efficiently carry out your administrative tasks. To make this easier, we’ve added a toggle in the top right corner of the Virtual machines tool that will allow you to switch between a “detailed” mode and a “light” mode.   

 

Today, we invite you all to use the tool and share your feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights:  

• The actions performed on a VM (e.g. start, pause, import move etc.) now only update the VM selected without reloading the entire table, saving customers valuable time 
• We improved the inventory page’s responsiveness by rewriting how we load and display data; so today - clicking, hovering scrolling and even grouping and searching is a lot better than what it used to be
• To prioritize loading the VM list first, certain operations are deferred until after the initial load (e.g., cluster node check) 
• To optimize performance, we have reduced the number of columns in the default view to show only essential information about the VM to you. Note that this can be toggled off using the “Detailed Mode” toggle to switch back to the previous experience  
• In default mode, we now show you the computer name of running Windows VMs and their operating system versions, we’ve categorized this information with the goal to make discovery easy for users.

In addition, we’ve got more feature work to share. Today, we are also announcing some changes to the feature that supports managing a VM on Windows Admin Center.

The Move and Import VM got a face lift! We’re glad to share with you that we are converting the single form experience to a wizard that guides the user through typical steps a user interacts with when importing or moving a VM (and/or its resources). With is change we usher in the ability for you to;

• Change the destination of the stored resources association with the VM different locations configurable by you - the user
• Reconfigure virtual switches at the destination if needed
• We now provide proper validations of your VM configuration before you perform the action to move or import VM
• These processes will also include better notification and progress update for users to track the status of their VM’s operation.

Although we are actively still developing these scenarios, we will like to invite you to turn on this feature and try out the new Move and import VM. To enable these features, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to your Windows Admin Center settings by selecting the gear in the top right corner of the header.
2. Navigate to the “Advanced” tab.
3. Add the following experiment key(s):
   • msft.sme.hyperv.newImportFlow
   • msft.sme.hyperv.newMoveVmFlow

The first key enables the new import VM experience, and the second key above enables the new move VM experience.

WS2025 Security baseline

Microsoft provides a tailored security baseline for Windows Server with hundreds of security settings. It supports security best practices based on Microsoft recommended security baselines and industry best practices. Customers can apply the security baseline throughout the device lifecycle starting from initial deployment using Microsoft provided ‘PowerShell tooling’ or Windows Admin Center, supported by the new security configuration platform, ‘OSConfig’. Customers can leverage the ‘inbuilt drift control mechanism’, one of the salient features of the security configuration platform which helps ensure that the system starts and remains in a known good security state.

 

Apply the recommended Windows Server security baseline:

• Center for Internet Security (CIS) Benchmark
• Defense Information Systems Agency Security Technical Implementation Guides (DISA STIG)
• Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS 140) requirements for the OS
• Azure Compute Security baselines

The security baseline settings have been verified for compatibility and performance impact. Support of those security baselines is intended to make it easier for customers to help meet their compliance and regulatory requirements.

You can learn more about all the new Windows Server 2025 security features and updates here: Windows Server 2025 security book.

 

Windows LAPS

Introducing Windows LAPS in Windows Admin Center. Now, you can use Windows LAPS to manage your passwords on your LAPS enabled machines within the domain. With this tool, you can reveal and copy passwords of a given machine. View the corresponding password expiration time and update time stamp. Not only that, but you set the expiration time and reset passwords for multiple machines at a time, making password management and authentication more secure, simpler, and efficient.

 

Software Defined Networking

Windows Server 2025 introduces numerous networking advancements and innovations, offering a top-tier management experience via Windows Admin Center. For host management, we are introducing Network ATC, which simplifies the deployment and network configuration management for Windows Server 2025 clusters, fully managed through Windows Admin Center. Additionally, we will soon enable operational network diagnostics with Network HUD, which will alert users to networking operational issues, with alerts surfaced in WAC. Finally, AccelNet will facilitate the management of high-performance networking (SR-IOV), all through Windows Admin Center.

In terms of workload management, significant progress has been made with Software Defined Networking (SDN). The central infrastructure component for SDN, the Network Controller, is now hosted directly as Failover Cluster services on Windows Server 2025 hosts, rather than in virtual machines. This can be deployed and managed through Windows Admin Center. New security features, such as tag-based segmentation and default network policies, will protect workloads from external and lateral threats, all managed through Windows Admin Center. For customers expanding to multiple locations, Windows Admin Center-based SDN multisite management ensures seamless network connectivity across these locations.

 

 

GPU-P

Management of GPUs is becoming even more critical in the age of artificial intelligence. Windows Admin Center continues to simplify GPU management by enhancing security, efficiency, and performance. In this release, we’ve made the GPU tool compatible with Windows Server 2025 Datacenter and Azure Stack HCI 24H2 OSes, enhancing the AI capabilities of these OSes with GPU Partitioning (GPU-P). GPU-P empowers customers to partition a supported GPU and assign those partitions to different VMs in a failover cluster.  This means that multiple VMs can share a single physical GPU, giving each VM an isolated fraction of the physical GPU's capabilities.  Read more about GPU-P in this article.

 

 

 

 

Installing and using version 2410

Updated installer details

With version 2410, we’ve made changes to our installer to offer more flexibility to the user. When running the installer, you will be presented with two different installation modes: express setup and custom setup.

 

Express setup

The express setup option does not allow for the configuration of the following features:

• Login authentication mode
• Host access network names
• Internal and external network ports
• Certificate type and thumbprint
• Endpoint FQDN
• Trusted hosts mode
• WinRM over HTTPS

 

If you would like to configure any of these features, please use the custom setup option instead.

 

When you select express setup, the installer will use the operating system of your machine to determine the port Windows Admin Center is accessible through. If you run the installer on a client machine, Windows Admin Center will be accessible through port 6600 and will use internal ports 6601-6610. If you run the installer on a server machine, Windows Admin Center will be accessible through port 443 and will use internal ports 6601-6610. The exception to this rule is if you have a previous version of Windows Admin Center installed—then the installer will pick up that port instead (6516 by default).

 

Custom setup

Selecting custom setup allows you to configure all Windows Admin Center setup options:

• Network access– This page allows you to select how you will be using Windows Admin Center. You may choose to restrict Windows Admin Center access to other users by selecting localhost access only or allow remote access through machine name of FQDN.
• Port numbers – This page allows you to select the ports that will be reserved for Windows Admin Center. Windows Admin Center uses one external port for its primary processes. Other processes use internal ports. There are two internal processes by default, but extensions may define their own services that will require port access. By default, the internal range is 10 ports.
• Select TLS certificate – This page allows you to select Self-Signed certificates or an official TLS certificate that Windows Admin Center should use. Self-Signed certificates include Self-signed CA root certificates and TLS certificates that work with the latest Edge/Chrome browser.
• Fully qualified domain name – This page allows you to provide a fully qualified domain name for network access. This name must match the name on the TLS certificate.
• Trusted hosts – This page allows you to select which type of remote hosts you’d like to manage. You may choose to manage only trusted domain computers or allow access to non-domain joined machines.
• WinRM over HTTPS - This page allows you to select whether to use HTTPS for WinRM communication. WinRM communicates over HTTP by default.

 

Troubleshooting installation

If your installation failed, or you’re having trouble opening Windows Admin Center after install, you may need to uninstall and reinstall. This can also happen if you have an older version of a Gateway v2 preview build installed, and you are trying to update to a newer version. To uninstall, follow the instructions in the Uninstalling and cleanup section of this document.

Migrating your data

Once you have installed version 2410, much of your transferable data is automatically copied over to the new backend, reducing the time it takes for you to get started. However, there are four items that may require user input:

1. Proxy credentials
2. WebSocket Origin configuration
3. Azure registration
4. Extensions

 

We’ll automatically detect which items are relevant for you. You only need to complete this wizard once. Once your data is fully migrated, future releases of Windows Admin Center will have the seamless update experience you know and love.

 

 

 

 

Proxy credentials

Windows Admin Center will not be able to able access Azure services and the public extension feed without proper proxy credentials. If you have a proxy set up, then you will need to enter the proxy address, as well as the username and password to give Windows Admin Center access.

 

 

 

 

 

WebSocket Origin configuration

If you had previously configured WebSocket Origins, you can review and edit them here. To get you started, we have imported the WebSocket Origins list from your previous Windows Admin Center setup. If you no longer wish to use WebSocket Origins, or would like to configure them later, you can skip this step.

 

 

 

 

Azure registration

Windows Admin Center now requires additional redirect URLs to be configured with the Azure App Registration instance. This can only be done through the Azure Portal. Selecting the “Configure” button will programmatically update the Azure App Registration on your behalf. After it is registered, you may need to re-enable Azure login to Windows Admin Center.

 

You will need the elevated permissions on this Azure subscription to perform this re-registration. See our documentation for more information on how to change these permissions.

 

 

 

 

Extensions

Starting in version 2410, we’re using a different link for our default extension feed. You may notice missing extensions from this Windows Admin Center instance, including extensions not installed by default and ones you may have installed from your own feed or from external partners. This page is purely informational. If you do not see an extension on the feed in this build, it might not be compatible with the .NET 8 backend. We’re working diligently with our partners to ensure all extensions are compatible with this new backend. See the Backend upgrade impact on extensions section for more details.

 

 

 

 

 

Review + complete

On this page, review which actions are still remaining to make your transition to this build as easy as possible. Certain actions, like reconfiguring redirect URIs in your Azure app registration, can be done outside the wizard, so you can complete this wizard without completing these steps. Note that completing the migration wizard without successfully completing all steps may result in unexpected errors or behavior. See our documentation for more information on potential issues.

 

 

 

Uninstalling version 2410

To uninstall the Windows Admin Center version 2410, perform one of the following actions:

• In the Apps & Features page of your gateway machine settings, select Windows Admin Center  from the program list and then select uninstall.
• Navigate to the folder where the Windows Admin Center is installed (default directory is C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Admin Center) and select “Uninstall Windows Admin Center”
• Run C:\Program Files\WindowsAdminCenter\unins000.exe

 

Running the installer again will not result in an uninstall option at this time. To ensure your installation was removed successfully, check if a WindowsAdminCenter folder exists in C:\ProgramData or C:\Program Files. If it does not exist in either location, your application has been successfully uninstalled.

 

During the uninstallation process, everything put on the machine during installation will be removed, except for the Windows Admin Center.exe installer file.

 

Partner ecosystem and extensibility

Extension updates

Windows Admin Center is built to be an extensible platform. Our partners help to provide a comprehensive management experience, and we value their contributions to the Windows Admin Center ecosystem. Since our last release, many partner extensions have been updated, including those from Dell, Lenovo, HPE, and more. 

 

Because of our backend upgrade, there are several extensions that are not yet supported with this release. See the Backend upgrade impact on extensions section to learn more.

 

Dell OpenManage

The Dell OpenManage Integration extension has been updated to version 3.3.0. This update comes with the following changes:

• Support for the modernized gateway framework with .Net Core and Angular 15 introduced with WAC 2410.
• Support for Windows server 2025 OS for 15G and 16G PowerEdge servers.
• Azure Alert configuration feature to push Dell iDRAC based hardware alerts to Azure Log Analytics Workspace and configuring alert rules on them.
• Diagnostics feature for downloading the iDRAC and extension logs.
• Warranty feature is now supported for proxy configurations as well.
• Exempt policies are no longer created for Azure policy onboarding to maintain policy versions. The versions are now maintained using existing policy metadata.
• Hardware configuration policy compliance logic has been enhanced to load the compliance report for HCI clusters even when one or more nodes are down.
• Several other defect fixes and enhancements.

 

 

 

 

 

Lenovo XClarity Integrator

The Lenovo XClarity Integrator extension has been updated to version 4.7.1. This update includes the following changes:

• Enhancements
  • Support ThinkAgile MX Best Recipe 2403
  • Support BMU  update type
  • Enhance Labrador package support
  • Fix some known issues
  • Refine UI with Angular 15
  • Update Windows Admin Center SDK sustainability for Azure Stack HCI 23H2
  • Support Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) in Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3 (7D75, 7D76, 7D77)
  • Support specific packages to update in Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V3 (7D75, 7D76, 7D77)
• New software support
  • Lenovo XClarity Administrator 4.1
  • Lenovo XClarity Essentials OneCLI 4.4.1
  • Azure Stack HCI 23H2
  • Lenovo XClarity Controller 2
  • Lenovo XClarity Essentials OneCLI 4.3.0
  • Windows Admin Center 2311
• New hardware support
  • Lenovo ThinkSystem SD530 V3 (7DD3, 7DDA)
  • Lenovo ThinkSystem SD550 V3 (7DD2, 7DD9)
  • Lenovo ThinkSystem SR250 V3 (7DCM, 7DCL)
  • Lenovo ThinkEdge SE455 V3 (7DBY)

 

The Lenovo XClarity Integrator extension is not currently compatible with Windows Admin Center version 2410. Support for this version is expected in the next extension version release.

 

HPE Server and Azure Stack HCI WAC extensions

The HPE Server and Azure Stack HCI WAC extension has been updated to version 1.9.1. This version includes the following changes:

 

• This release makes use of HPESysInfoCmdlets version 1.6.0.1 to provide more network information for Gen11 servers and clusters.
• The HPE smart array controller model in the Azure Stack HCI Storage tab will be displayed when the data is available. The prerequisites include:

1. 1. Agentless Management Service (AMS) and HPESysInfoCmlets must be installed on each server / node. HPESysInfoCmdlets 1.6.0.1 or above is required for better performance and richer data.
   2. HPENVDIMMCmdlets 2.3.0.0 or above also must be installed on systems with Persistent Memory (PMEM), for Server extension to retrieve PMEM information.

 

Dell APEX Cloud Platform

The Dell APEX Cloud Platform extension has been updated to version 2.3.0. This update includes the following changes:

• Support for the modernized gateway framework with .NET Core
• Customization of storage IP/vLAN is now available, including configuration and validation of storage network
• In the Servers tab, a warning is now displayed for users attempting to add a node to cluster that is currently using an Azure proxy server
• In the Updates tab, the LCM functionality now shows error messages when the current version of a component has drift from the target version in precheck

 

DellEMC PowerPath

The DellEMC PowerPath extension has been updated to version 2.0.0. This version includes the following enhancements:

• New multiple selections for disk feature that enables the user to avoid the repetition of same steps for each disk object (ex. Selecting multiple disks and setting policies on all at once)
• The following management activities can now be performed by the user:
  • powermt set persist_path_info
  • powermt set auto_host_registration
  • powermt set path_latency_threshold
  • powermt set perfmon
  • Autorestore
• Under configuration, the user can view array specific properties

 

Other extension updates

• HPE Azure Stack HCI Cluster Deployment and Update Snap-in version 1.4.1 - This version includes a fix for an issue on multi-node clusters where only one node is successfully updated through CAU, support for Azure Stack HCI 23H2 with HPE ProLiant DL 380 Gen 11 Integrated System as well as HPE Gen 10/Gen10 Plus validated solutions, support for Angular 15, and support for Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) enforced mode when HPE SBE Supplemental Policy is installed.
• HPE Storage version 1.1.30 - This version extends support for HPE Alletra 9000, HPE Alletra 6000, and HPE Alletra Storage MP systems.
• Marvell QLogic version 2.4.0 - This version includes added support for Adapter and Port Alias, FC PowerKit installation discovery through registry entries instead of the Get-AppcPackage command, and updated dependent build components to mitigate security vulnerabilities.

 

Backend upgrade impact on extensions

How does the v2 build impact my extension?

Gateway plug-in extensions will be the most impacted by the changes to our backend and the migration to .NET 8. Windows Admin Center gateway plug-ins enable API communication from the UI of your tool or solution to a target node. Windows Admin Center hosts a gateway service that relays commands and scripts from gateway plug-ins to be executed on target nodes. The gateway service can be extended to include custom gateway plug-ins that support protocols other than the default ones (PowerShell and WMI).

 

Because gateway plug-ins communicate with Windows Admin Center’s backend to enable API communication, gateway plug-in code may include components written with the .NET framework version 4.6.2, which will not function with .NET 8. This code needs to be updated to use the .NET 8 framework.

 

Additionally, we’ve modified the way plug-ins work with this build. Instead of developing a C# class which implements the IPlugIn interface from the Microsoft.ManagementExperience.FeatureInterfaces namespace to extend the gateway plug-in, extensions will now be written in the form of ASP.NET MVC controllers. These controllers have increased flexibility compared to the simple C# class and extensive documentation.

 

Learn more about gateway plug-in development in Windows Admin Center here.

 

Impact on tool and/or solution extensions

Solution and tool extensions should be minimally impacted by the changes in the 2410 build. Due to updated publication requirements, many tool and solution extensions built by external partners are not yet available on the 2410 extension feed. You may continue to use these extensions by downloading them from our legacy feed and adding a local file share as an extension feed. We’re working with our partners to ensure most extensions will be available on the 2410 extension feed in the future.

 

Note on published extensions

The following extensions are not currently available on the 2410 extension feed:

• Lenovo XClarity Integrator
• HPE OneView
• HPE Server extension and HPE Azure Stack HCI extension
• HPE Storage manager
• Fujitsu ServerView RAID
• Fujitsu Software Infrastructure Manager (ISM)
• Fujitsu ServerView Health
• Pure Storage FlashArray

 

All partner teams are working diligently to make their extensions compatible with the backend upgrade. When the extensions are available, they will be added to the extension feed.

Known issues

Any users utilizing a high availability (HA) setup should not install this version with the intent to use HA. HA is not currently supported in our .NET 8 backend implementation, nor in the 2410 release. A comprehensive HA solution will be available soon.

Download today!

Phew! If you made it this far in the blog post, thank you so much for reading along! We hope you enjoy this new, modern version of Windows Admin Center and the various new functionality and new extensions now available.

 

Direct Download Link! 

 

As always, thanks for your ongoing support, adoption, and feedback. Your contributions through user feedback continue to be vital and valuable to us, helping us prioritize and sequence our investments.

 

Windows Admin Center is continuously evolving and growing as a tool and a platform, and we are beyond thrilled to have you part of our journey.

 

Thank you,

Windows Admin Center Team (@servermgmt)

 

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