A problem is just a solution waiting to be found

Software Center customization: Display custom tabs with Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime

Posted on by Remy Kuster

In my post about the MECM 2103 upgrade I made a list of my top 5 new features of MECM version 2103. One of these new features is Improved user experience and security with Software Center custom tabs. You can now use the Microsoft Edge WebView2 browser control in MECM version 2103 and with this control more websites should work with custom tabs without displaying script errors or security warnings. We had a lot of script errors before when using custom tabs to websites, but now these errors should be gone. In this post I will show you how you can enable custom tabs with Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime.

  • WebView2 Runtime doesn’t install Microsoft Edge (full browser) on the device and doesn’t require Microsoft Edge to be installed on the device.
  • When WebView2 Runtime is installed on the device, no change is made to the user’s default browser selection.
  • In order to display custom tabs with Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime in Software Center you must run MECM version 2103.
  • If the client device isn’t running .NET Framework version 4.6.2 or later, it falls back to use the Internet Explorer browser control.

Microsoft Edge WebView2 browser control

The Microsoft Edge WebView2 control enables you to embed web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) in your native apps. The WebView2 control uses Microsoft Edge (Chromium) as the rendering engine to display the web content in native apps.

With WebView2, you may embed web code in different parts of your native app. Build all of the native app within a single WebView instance. So the Software Center application now will have an Edge Chromium rendering engine instead of the Internet Explorer 11 it has by default.

Enable custom tabs with Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime

Open your MECM console and go to: \Administration\Overview\Client Settings. Right click on your client settings that you want to change and click properties.

In the left section select Software Center and select Customize on the right.

Select the Tab Tabs and check the selectionbox: Display custom tabs with Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime

If not already installed, the Configuration Manager client installes the runtime on the device. If you select this option, you agree to the MS Edge WebView2 runtime license terms.

Click Add Tab. Enter the Tab name and the Content URL. Click OK.

Click OK and OK again.

Go to your collection or device right click select Client Notifications and select Download Computer policy to trigger the changes you just made.

Click OK.

Software Center

Lets see what happens in Software Center. Log in to a workstation and open Software Center. You will now see the added custom tab.

But more important we want to know If WebView2 runtime is installed by the client.

I noticed that the folder C:\Windows\CCM\ClientUX\Microsoft.WebView2.FixedVersionRuntime.87.0.664.41.x86 was added om my client device.

So in order to be 100% sure I added a goolge custom tab and went to a detect my browser page: SUCCES!

When opening Task Manager you can also see that the Process msedgewebview2.exe is started in the user context.



Theme: Overlay by Kaira.