How to Manage Hardware Compatibility
Applies To: Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring
Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) can collect information on both make and model of client computers if you deploy the “Allow Hardware Compatibility Checking” Group Policy. If this policy is configured, then as soon as the MBAM client is deployed on a client computer, the MBAM agent will report the make and model information for the computer to the MBAM server.
Note
The MBAM Hardware Compatibility feature is not enabled by default. It can be enabled by selecting the Hardware Compatibility sub feature under the Administration and Monitoring Server feature during setup. For more information about how to set up and configure Hardware Compatibility, see Planning Hardware Management for MBAM.
How to Manage Hardware Compatibility
Open a web browser and navigate to the Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring website. Select Hardware in the left menu bar.
On the right-side pane, click Advanced Search and filter to display a list of all computer models that have a Capability status of Unknown. This returns a list of computer models matching the search criteria. Administrators can add, edit, or remove new computer types from this page.
Review each unknown hardware configuration to determine whether the configuration should be set to Compatible or Incompatible.
Select one or more rows, and then click either Set Compatible or Set Incompatible to set the BitLocker compatibility, as appropriate, for the selected computer models. If set to Compatible, BitLocker tries to enforce drive encryption policy on computers that match the supported model. If set to Incompatible, BitLocker will not enforce drive encryption policy on those computers.
Administrators should monitor regularly the hardware compatibility list to review new models discovered by the Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring agent, and then update their compatibility setting to Compatible or Incompatible as appropriate.