Windows Admin Center Preview 1812 released. This is the first release where you’ll be able to preview the dark UI theme, which is still a work in progress.
Other new features are:
- Power configuration tab on the server settings page, where you can change the configured power profile.
- If the server has an IPMI-compatible BMC, you’ll find the BMC serial number and a hyperlink to its IP address on the Server Overview page.
- If Windows Admin Center is installed in service mode, you can now use PowerShell to automate the following (examples included below):
- Import/export of connections (with tags)
- Extension management
We have also improved the High-Availability deployment experience and script.
Dark Theme (preview)
To enable the dark theme, enter the experiment key msft.sme.shell.personalization on the advanced tab of the global settings. This will enable a new personalization tab, where you can toggle to the dark theme.
NOTE: Dark theme is still a work in progress, please do not report bugs at this time.
Configure Windows Admin Center using PowerShell
After installing this release, you’ll find two new PowerShell modules that you can use to automate Windows Admin Center configuration when it is installed as a server service.
NOTE: Windows Admin Center installed in desktop mode is not supported.
Extension management
# Add the module to the current sessio
Import-Module "$env:ProgramFiles\windows admin center\PowerShell\Modules\ExtensionTools"
# Available cmdlets: Get-Feed, Add-Feed, Remove-Feed, Get-Extension, Install-Extension, Uninstall-Extension, Update-Extension # List feeds Get-Feed "https://wac.contoso.com"
# Add a new extension feed
Add-Feed -GatewayEndpoint "https://wac.contoso.com" -Feed "\\WAC\our-private-extensions"
# Remove an extension feed Remove-Feed -GatewayEndpoint "https://wac.contoso.com" -Feed "\\WAC\our-private-extensions"
# List all extensions
Get-Extension "https://wac.contoso.com"
# Install an extension (locate the latest version from all feeds and install it)
Install-Extension -GatewayEndpoint "https://wac.contoso.com" "msft.sme.containers"
# Install an extension (latest version from a specific feed, if the feed is not present, it will be added)
Install-Extension -GatewayEndpoint "https://wac.contoso.com" "msft.sme.containers" -Feed "https://aka.ms/sme-extension-feed"
# Install an extension (install a specific version)
Install-Extension "https://wac.contoso.com" "msft.sme.certificate-manager" "0.133.0"
# Uninstall-Extension
Uninstall-Extension "https://wac.contoso.com" "msft.sme.containers" # Update-Extension
Update-Extension "https://wac.contoso.com" "msft.sme.containers"Export/import of connections
# Add the module to the current session Import-Module "$env:ProgramFiles\windows admin center\PowerShell\Modules\ConnectionTools" # Available cmdlets: Export-Connection, Import-Connection
# Export connections (including tags) to .csv files Export-Connection "https://wac.contoso.com" -fileName "WAC-connections.csv"
# Import connections (including tags) from .csv files
Import-Connection "https://wac.contoso.com" -fileName "WAC-connections.csv"Windows Admin Center Known Issues
Extension Manager
If you have upgraded from an older version, extension manager will display an old version number for pre-installed extensions, however the actual tool UI will be up to date. This will block you from removing pre-installed extensions. Extensions from feeds will continue working normally.
To resolve this issue, close Windows Admin Center, delete the ‘%ProgramData%\Server Management Experience\Extensions’ directory, and restart Windows Admin Center.
