January 21, 2025

Announcing Windows Administrative Template (ADMX) Profiles

Introducing Windows Administrative Template (ADMX) Profiles from Omnissa—transforming Windows device management in the Workspace ONE UEM console. Experience enhanced functionality and streamlined administration for both Windows Desktop and Server environments. 

There’s a new type of Windows profile coming to the Workspace ONE UEM console.  Omnissa is introducing Windows Administrative Template (ADMX) Profiles, which will provide more options and streamline management of Windows devices. 

Baselines and Profiles are the two key ways to manage Windows devices.  Omnissa has long recommended to primarily configure Baselines and secondarily designate Profiles, and this hasn’t changed.

But what is changing is where, how, and why to configure the new ADMX Profiles.  Let’s delve into how ADMX Profiles function in terms of both the administrative interface and underlying technologies, as well as how the impact on managing both Windows Desktop and Windows Server devices.

What’s Different About ADMX Profiles?

The basic concept of Windows Profiles remains the same, but the appearance and functionality is being upgraded. 

First, let’s look at the admin UI and its new features. 

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Figure 1: ADMX Profile configuration

Note some new features:

  1. Administrative Templates.  Administrative Templates will deploy settings based on Intelligent Hub.  Windows Server cannot be managed by OMA-DM, and thus complete policy management via Intelligent Hub is essential for this platform. 
  2. Alignment with standard AD GPO/ADMX settings.  Administrators can be assured that specific Workspace ONE policy settings affect the same registry settings as AD GPOs. 
  3. Windows Desktop and Windows Server versions.  The bubbles on the right indicate which specific Windows Desktop and Windows Server versions can be configured with each setting.  Yes, you read that right, Windows Server support is on the horizon!

Underlying Changes to ADMX Profiles

With a few exceptions, the current Windows Profile options rely on OMA-DM to disseminate and manage Windows Desktop settings based on Microsoft Configuration Service Provider policies (CSPs).  Windows Server can only consume ADMX Profiles, whereas Windows Desktop can consume either ADMX Profiles or CSP Profiles.  Some existing Profile settings, such as BitLocker, depend on Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub, but with the new ADMX Profiles, all Profile settings enabled via Administrative Templates (ADMX) are now handled by Intelligent Hub.  Of course, each setting should only be configured within one Profile.

Figure 2: The Windows device type being managed impacts profile options

Windows Baselines have always been governed by Intelligent Hub, so this is not a drastic change.  In addition, basing all policy options on Intelligent Hub aligns better with new Workspace ONE capabilities, such as the Windows Desktop multi-user functionality that was released earlier this year. 

In addition, some third-party ADMX templates, such as Edge, Chrome, and Microsoft 365, will be supported out of the box.

Want to Learn More about ADMX Profiles?

Whether you plan to manage Windows Desktops and/or Windows Servers with ADMX Profiles, you’re invited to the Omnissa Community webinar on Wednesday, January 22nd, at 11:00 AM learn more about ADMX profiles.  In this session, you’ll also see a demo of ADMX Profiles and see a demo, as well as learn about Windows Server.

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Jo Harder

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Senior Technical Marketing Architect, End-User Computing, Omnissa. Jo has been working with EUC technologies since 1999 and now focuses on Workspace ONE UEM, specifically Windows and Security. She holds CISSP certification, and her resume includes past roles in Sales, Product Management, Technical Product Marketing, Cloud Architecture in FinTech, Consulting, and Technical Readiness.