Microsoft Launches Preview on Windows Virtual Desktop for All

Already at the Ignite 2018 Microsoft had announced "Windows Virtual Desktop" as a new service, which enables virtual Windows desktops to be made available in the Azure data centers. Since then the service has been reserved for a closed user group, now Microsoft has released the PreView for the public. According to the software company, Windows desktops and applications such as Office365 ProPlus can be deployed and scaled to Azure in minutes.

Windows Virtual Desktop is not only limited to Windows 10, but also offers the option for Windows 7 virtual desktops from the cloud, which will be supported by Microsoft for another three years after the end of Extended Support for Windows 7 in January 2020. Enterprise customers can avoid purchasing the Windows 7 Extended Security Update if they outsource their Windows 7 workload to Azure.

However, to deploy the virtual machines in a Windows Virtual Desktop environment, an Azure subscription is required. This means, the costs of the subscription will increase, as the virtual machines represent a consumption of Azure resources. Microsoft recommends that you consider using Azure Reserved Instances and Windows 10 Multi-Session. However, there is no additional cost for licenses if customers have an active Microsoft 365 F1, E3 or E5, Windows 10 E3 or E5, or Windows VDA subscription. The same applies if desktops and applications are deployed over RDSH and users have a valid RDS-CAL.

While desktops and applications can be deployed in any Azure data center, the Windows Virtual Desktop management solution will only be deployed from two US Azure regions during public preview. Thus, using the preview will inevitably result in the transfer of data to the U.S..

Source: Microsoft