Microsoft Windows 11 will be available starting October 5th. For some of you, this is cause for celebration since Windows 10 has been around since 2015 and Windows 11 brings some cool new user functionality. For others, the thought of upgrading thousands of users to Windows 11 can be daunting.
VMware is excited to announce Workspace ONE support for Windows 11. VMware Workspace ONE and VMware Horizon can help ease that transition by providing what you need to help you plan for the OS and hardware upgrades and deliver your virtual desktops and apps. With in-depth testing, VMware is ready to support your Windows 11 upgrades.
Get Ready for Windows 11 with VMware Workspace ONE
The excellent news is that Workspace ONE Sensors combined with Workspace ONE Intelligence dashboards and reports can provide you with all the information you need to plan for the upgrades. For an in-depth step-by-step on how to retrieve all OS data and create custom dashboards to determine which devices are ready for upgrade and which ones are ready for refresh, check out the Windows 11 Readiness with Workspace ONE blog.
Upgrade to Windows 11 with Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
All the great management and security features provided by Workspace ONE UEM are fully supported for Windows 11. For more information, see Windows 11 Readiness for Workspace ONE UEM (85839). Workspace ONE UEM enables cloud-native modern management where admins do not have to touch the physical device and yet, can still provide the Windows 11 upgrade. Using Workspace ONE UEM, you can easily manage the upgrade through the cloud, delivering the upgrade through the air as well as any subsequent needed patches and upgrades to keep your users always up to date. Additionally, you get all the security benefits that Workspace ONE offers including automatic remediation of security vulnerabilities and the ability to protect data on the device or in transit with full BitLocker lifecycle and native per-app VPN.
Virtual Delivery of Windows 11 With VMware Horizon
Similarly, to physical machines running Windows, Windows 11 has been tested as a desktop workload and runs well on VMware Horizon. Admins will maintain the needed control and security to enable anywhere access and end-users will receive the benefit of Windows 11. Today, the following versions of Horizon are fully supported on Windows 11:
- Horizon 8 – version 2106
- Horizon Clients – version 2106 and 5.5.2
- App Volumes 4 – version 2103.4
- Dynamic Environment Manager – version 2106
Additionally, Windows 11 is supported across all Horizon Pods including on-premises or in a hybrid/multi-cloud environment including VMware Cloud on AWS, or Google Cloud VMware Engine, while the fully managed solution Horizon Cloud on Azure is currently being tested. To make some of the new Windows 11 features work, a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip will be required. The good news is the ESX has supported virtual TPM chips for some time and won’t prevent you from you realizing the security benefits it provides.
Get Started
With anything new, it’s exciting and everyone wants to use it right away. If you find your organization wants to upgrade to Windows 11, Workspace ONE and Horizon can provide all the tools you need to get started. A great starting point is the Windows 11 Readiness with Workspace ONE where you can check your OS and device readiness. To learn more about these solutions visit:
1 The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for VMware’s offerings in this presentation remain at the sole discretion of VMware.
