Admin By Request for Windows 8.7 is now live. This release includes some frequently requested features for pre-approval rules, along with improvements to Entra-registered account handling.
More Granular Pre-Approval Rules
The biggest updates in this release are around pre-approval flexibility.
Digital Certificate AND Application Name matching lets you approve specific applications from a vendor instead of everything they sign. If you want to pre-approve Adobe Acrobat but not every Adobe-signed application, you can now do that. This was one of our most requested features.
Version-based pre-approval gives you control over which versions of an application get automatic approval. You can set rules to approve versions above, below, or between specific version numbers. Useful when you want users to stay on supported versions or avoid known problematic releases.
Entra-Registered Account Support
Subsetting now works with Entra-registered accounts. Work or school accounts added to Entra now collect groups properly, giving you the same subsetting flexibility you have with other account types.
Stability and Security Updates
As always, this release includes security patches and bug fixes. We’ve addressed several issues reported by customers to improve overall reliability.
Making it Easy to Manage Privilege as You Grow
Simple policies work fine when you’re managing 50 endpoints. Everyone gets the same rules, exceptions are rare, and manual approvals don’t pile up. That breaks down as you grow. At 500 endpoints, you’re dealing with multiple departments with different software needs, so approval requests start overwhelming your IT team if you can’t automate intelligently.
Vendor-level approvals seem like the obvious answer, but they’re too broad. Microsoft certificates cover Visual Studio Code and also PowerShell scripts and admin tools you don’t want everyone running. You end up choosing between trusting too much or reviewing too much manually.
The new certificate AND application name matching fixes this. Approve Visual Studio Code for your developers without auto-approving every Microsoft-signed executable. You get automation where you need it without losing control.
Version rules handle a different scaling problem. Software vendors ship bad updates. You need to block specific versions without manually reviewing every request for that application. Version-based pre-approval lets you say “approve everything except 2024.002.20759” or “only versions above X” and move on.
Both features address the same core issue: as your environment grows, you need policies that can be specific without being manual. This release gives you that flexibility.
What’s Next
Version 8.7 is available now for download. Auto-update will be scheduled once we’re confident in the release’s stability across different environments.
Existing customers can download the latest version from their admin portal. If you’re a new customer and have questions about any of these features (or about our products in general), we’d be happy to help – just book a demo here.
