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Microsoft recently announced the availability of build 9926 of Windows 10 Technical Preview. This new update includes changes to the user interface that make it easier to view DirectAccess connection status and properties. In this latest build, using the Window Key + I keystroke combination now brings up the Settings menu.
Figure 1 – Settings Window
To view the DirectAccess connection status, click Network & Internet and then click Show available connections.
Figure 2 – Network & Internet (Show Available Connections)
Here you’ll find status information for all network connections including DirectAccess. Right-clicking the Workplace Connection will allow the user to disconnect their session, if that option is enabled on the DirectAccess server.
Figure 3 – DirectAccess Connectivity Status Indicator
Selecting the DirectAccess submenu reveals detailed information about DirectAccess connectivity, including current entry point connection and optional entry point selection, if manual entry point selection is enabled on the DirectAccess server.
Figure 4 – Network & Internet (DirectAccess Advanced Connection Properties)
Laurens de Koning
/ July 30, 2015Hi Richard,
Ever since the Technical Preview versions of Windows 10 were out in the open, we have been testing it to our DirectAccess environment. It works, and I suppose it works just as well now that the Windows 10 Final Build has been released yesterday. However, we currently have “Enforce corporate compliancy for DirectAccess clients with NAP” enabled on our DirectAccess environment.
The thing is, and we have noticed this with the Technical Previews as well, that Windows 10 no longer seems to incorporate a NAP Client/Agent which will send its status to the HRA Server. Hence it will not receive a Health Certificate and therefore will not be able to set up an Intranet Tunnel.
Do you know/have a solution for this problem? I have seen people posting about doing healthchecks using the SCCM (2012) Agent, but we have no experience with that yet. Would/could that work?
Laurens de Koning
/ July 30, 2015*Whoops, accidentally posted too soon* 🙂
Kind Regards and thank you in advance,
Laurens
Richard Hicks
/ August 3, 2015Hi Laurens,
There really is no workaround for this. NAP has been deprecated in Windows 10 and the supporting infrastructure on the client has been removed, as you noticed. NAP integration is also being removed from DirectAccess in Windows Server 2016. Today, if you have configured NAP integration with DirectAccess, Windows 10 clients cannot be supported. It might be possible to get them to work by exempting them from NAP, but I’m not at all familiar with NAP so I can’t say definitively if that will work.
Laurens de Koning
/ August 4, 2015Hi Richard,
Thank you for your reply! So, if I’m not mistaken, the option “Enforce corporate compliance for DirectAccess clients with NAP” will be vanished in the Remote Access configuration in Windows Server 2016?
What if we still want to do a Compliancy Check on our clients to make sure they got an active and up-to-date Virusscanners, Windows Updates and Firewall enabled and so on? Or should we no longer bother to check for compliancy? 🙂
Kind Regards,
Laurens
Richard Hicks
/ August 4, 2015That’s correct. The NAP integration option will not be included in Windows Server 2016. There will be no way to perform compliance checks on DirectAccess clients unless there’s a third-party alternative. I am not aware of anything like that at this time, however.