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Enterprise management of WebView2 Runtimes

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WebView2 is a component that developers use to build their applications, and the developers can deploy a self-updating Evergreen WebView2 Runtime onto user devices to power their applications. This article discusses how IT admins can manage WebView2 applications and the WebView2 Runtime.

Feedback from IT admins and developers is welcome, through the WebView2 Feedback repo.

Group policies for WebView2

IT admins can use group policy objects (GPO) to configure policy settings for WebView2. The following policies are relevant to WebView2.

Update policies

Microsoft Edge - Update policies are available for IT admins to manage the installing and updating aspects of the WebView2 Runtime. The Microsoft Edge browser and WebView2 Runtime are updated using the same update mechanism. Unless a policy, such as Update, is channel-specific, it applies to both the browser and WebView2 Runtime.

For example, UpdateSuppressed allows IT admins to set the time during each day at which to suppress auto-update for both the browser and WebView2 Runtime. This enables IT admins to configure preferences and proxies once for both the browser and the WebView2 Runtime, to control their network bandwidth/traffic or for other purposes.

IT admins can follow Microsoft Edge's guide to configure Microsoft Edge - Update policies.

Browser policies

Microsoft Edge - Browser policies doesn't apply to WebView2 applications. This is by design, because apps and browsers have different use cases, and IT admins might not be aware of what applications use WebView2.

Applying browser policies on WebView2 would have unintended consequences. For example, IT admins can block JavaScript in the browser, and that would break WebView2 apps that use JavaScript. To prevent that, browser policies are separate from WebView2 policies.

WebView2-specific policies

WebView2-specific policies are available to for you to manage WebView2 directly. However, we recommend that WebView2 app developers implement their own group policies to manage the use of WebView2, because it's easier for administrators to manage the app instead of managing WebView2 directly.

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) enables information technology administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates. You can use WSUS to fully manage the distribution of updates of WebView2 that are released through Microsoft Update to computers on your network.

The recommended way of receiving WebView2 updates is by using the default Microsoft Edge updater. Any modification of update and servicing paths should be done with caution.

WebView2 Deployment and Update using WSUS

WebView2 options in Configuration Manager exist under the Microsoft Edge Management node. For more information, visit Update Microsoft Edge.

See also