2024.1 Release Notes

Components in this release

Component

Version

Environment Manager Agent

10.13.0.0

Environment Manager Server

10.13.0.0

Environment Manager Console

10.13.0.0

Database Schema

10.4.202

Important install and upgrade information

This upgrade section contains functionality changes that have been introduced in Management Center v10.1 or above. Any information that is new to this release is specifically listed as Environment Manager 2024.1.

When upgrading server and database infrastructure it is best to upgrade by no more than two major versions in each step. Upgrading three or four versions in one operation is not a method that has been tested and could produce unexpected behavior.

For further details relating to upgrades and compatibility please refer to the following Ivanti Community article.

Windows Server

Environment Manager 2024.1 Personalization Server requires Windows Server 2012 R2 SP1 or above. Microsoft mainstream support for both Windows Server 2008 and R2 ended on 13 January 2015, and we support Windows Server 2008 R2 beyond this date on a best-efforts basis.

Windows client

Support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 has been deprecated for the Environment Manager Agent, therefore the Environment Manager 10.x Agent now requires Windows 7 SP1 or above and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or above. Microsoft extended support for Windows XP ended on 8 April 2014, and mainstream support for Windows Vista ended on 10 April 2012.

In addition, both Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 must be updated to support SHA-256.

For details on SHA-256 requirements, please refer to this Ivanti Community article.

SQL Server

Support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 has ended. The Environment Manager 10.x Personalization Server requires SQL Server 2012 SP2 or above. Microsoft mainstream support for SQL Server 2008 and R2 ended on 8 July 2014.

Please refer to 2024.1 Release Notes for further details.

Product licensing

Environment Manager 10.x and above requires a v2 product license key, and this key must be deployed to all endpoints to which the Environment Manager v10.x Agent is deployed. The new license key can be installed alongside the existing 8.x license key and should be deployed at the same time or before the Environment Manager Agent is deployed. The new license key is deployable via Management Center 10.x and is available from Ivanti Licensing Support.

For further information on Licensing queries, refer to this Ivanti Community article.

User personalization data

Personalization groups are no longer used as a container for user personalization data. Personalization groups now are used only for assigning settings to users. If a user falls into a different Personalization group due to a membership rule, hierarchy change, or because their Microsoft Entra ID changes, their personalization data moves with them automatically.

During the upgrade process, user personalization data that may have been orphaned due to previous user movement between Personalization groups are merged. Where there is a conflict, the most recent user personalization data are used. Pre-upgrade SQL scripts are included with the Personalization Server installation package to show the impact of any changes prior to upgrade.

File-based registry (FBR)

Environment Manager 8.x used a file-based registry (FBR) to personalize virtualized registry keys and values. In version 10.x, the FBR mechanism has been replaced with registry hives for efficiency and performance. FBR files created in 8.x versions of Environment Manager will not be upgraded until the global setting UpgradeFbrToHive is set to True. Once the UpgradeFbrToHive has been set to True (Not Reversable), the FBR files on the endpoints are converted to registry hives at next logon or application launch. The old FBR files remain in place for a period of at least 30 days, after which time they are deleted if they have not been accessed by version 8.x agents.

For customers who want to stage the implementation of the New Registry Hive format from 8.x, first enable the UpgradeFbrToHive setting to True after Server Upgrade to 10.1 FR1 and then target specific Endpoints for 10.1 FR1 Agent deployment in a controlled manner (for example, via Management Center).

Please note that in this scenario, if a user roams between 8.x and 10.1 FR2 Agents, the 8.x Agent continues using the Legacy FBR and the user settings are partitioned between 8.x FBR & 10.x Hive formats.

Personalization Operations

If you are upgrading from an older version of Personalization Operations, please note that some updates to the software affect HTML files which may have an extended cache expiry time. To force a full refresh following upgrade, users are advised to refresh their browser's cache. From the Personalization Operations console, select Ctrl + F5.

SQL Server Certificate validation for Personalization Server

The Server Configuration Portal (SCP) now enables greater security for communications between the Personalization Server and its SQL Server instance. This is set up when creating the database connection in the portal, and existing connections may be changed to use these options. The options are shown as checkboxes, and they are:

  • Encrypt Connection: All data transfers between the server and SQL are encrypted. This might affect performance.

  • Validate Server Certificate: The SQL certificate must be signed by a root certificate in the Personalization Server’s trusted root store, and the DNS name on the certificate must match the name used by Personalization Server for the SQL instance.

You must select Encrypt Connection to select Validate Server Certificate.

PowerShell cmdlets maintain the default security for backward compatibility, but we have added the new parameters -ValidateServerCertificate and -EncryptConnection to support the new feature. Refer to the Server Configuration Portal Scripting Guide for more information.

New features and product updates

To learn more about the latest features and improvements, refer to What's New in Environment Manager?.

Product update

We will deprecate the Personalization Merge Replication feature in the next scheduled release (2024.3), so please consider transitioning to GeoSync as an alternative solution.

Customer bugs fixed

Article ID

Title

000086349

Process start trigger does not process actions after upgrading to Environment Manager 2023.1.

000087710

Endpoint analysis logs do not show all computer and pre-session events.

000087712 Lockdown does not work with the title bar right click.
000088467 Icon positions fail to roam when personalized on Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022.
000088783 Key not valid for use in specific state error when importing server configuration.
000089704 Applications crash when using Environment Manager 2023.3 lockdown actions.
000089774 Environment Manager console hangs after using Add/Remove feature in Windows Settings Group.
000090640 Registry value name prefix is not honored in ADMX policy action.
000090939 Personalization change tracking disabled for primary administrator.
000091005 Desktop icon position resets after toggling Explorer hidden items.

000091171

Duplicate Environment Manager configuration folders and files created in Windows temp folder.

000091190

Personalication analysis error: FBR: Failed to read data, unable to cast object of Type 'FBRStringdata' to type 'System.String'.

Known issues and limitations

The known issues and limitations are detailed on the Ivanti Community site.

Supported operating systems and technologies

The supported operating systems and technologies are detailed in the Environment Manager Maintained Platforms Matrix.

Required utilities and components

Component

Required utilities and components

Database Server

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP2 or above – all editions

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2014 SP1 or above – all editions

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2016 or above – all editions

Personalization Server

  • Microsoft Windows Installer 5.0

  • .NET Framework 4.8 Web Server (IIS): Common HTTP Features: Default Document Directory Browsing

  • HTTP Errors Static Content HTTP Redirection Performance

  • Static Content Compression Security: Request Filtering Basic Authentication

  • IP and Domain Restrictions Windows Authentication Application Development:

    • .NET Extensibility 4.8

    • ASP.NET 4.8

  • ISAPI Extensions SAPI Filters Management Tools:

    • IIS Management Console
    • IIS Management Scripts and Tools
  • .NET Framework 4.8 Features:

    • .NET Framework 4.8
    • ASP.NET 4.8
  • WCF Services:

    • HTTP Activation TCP Port Sharing
    • IIS URL Rewrite Module 2 Windows PowerShell 3.0 or above
  • Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 Redistributable

Console

  • Microsoft Windows Installer 5.0

  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8

Client

  • Microsoft Windows Installer 5.0

  • XML Lite 1.0.1018.0

  • Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0

  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 Redistributable

Please ensure that your endpoints are fully up to date with the latest Microsoft patches.