Windows 11 preview is now available on Azure Virtual Desktop
Published Aug 19 2021 12:26 PM 30.2K Views
Microsoft

Azure Virtual Desktop has become a popular cloud VDI platform to run desktops and apps in the cloud and deliver a full Windows experience to users virtually anywhere. Organizations today use it with Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows Server … and now we are pleased to offer Windows 11 on Azure Virtual Desktop. Windows 11 is the operating system for hybrid work and learning. It delivers a more streamlined, more personal computing experience that doesn’t compromise performance, security, and manageability. 

 

For Windows 11, Azure Virtual Desktop still provides exclusive support for multi-session, an important option that helps you optimize costs by running multiple users on a single Azure virtual machine. You can use Trusted Launch (available in preview) to enable TPM 2.0 and secure boot as part of the VM configuration to take full advantage of the security capabilities in Windows 11.  The user experience with Azure Virtual Desktop is intended to be identical to the local PC experience. Some higher-end graphics effects, such as transparencies, animations, and rounded corners, may require using Azure Virtual Desktop with an Azure VM with the right GPU support.   

 

Getting started 

Azure Virtual Desktop is a great place for customers to set up their validation environment to try out this new operating system. Enterprise and Education customers can use Azure Virtual Desktop to test Windows 11 now that it is available in the Windows Insider Program. 

 

You can visit the Azure Marketplace to choose from three Windows 11 images: 

  • Windows 11 Enterprise (Preview) 
  • Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session (Preview) 
  • Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session + Microsoft 365 Apps (Preview) 

 

Please join the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community to share your feedback and compare notes with other users. 

19 Comments
Copper Contributor

Where are these images available? every location I try when creating one as an AVD VM it's stating it's not available.

It's letting me create a stand-alone VM though.

Brass Contributor

same here, am I missing something!?

 

nigelm_0-1629458382007.png

 

Brass Contributor

Same here, when i go to the portal to create a single vm I can create the vm. If I try it via arm with the exact same information I got from the creation process template it is not available. Also over powershell i can't get any Windows 11 offer. 

Copper Contributor

adityaj141_0-1629464408725.png

Windows 11 shows OS name as windows 10 ent multi session and version is 21h2. Could you please provide more details on this. Also I am not able to select this Windows 11 image when creating AVD Host Pools with Virtual Machine (Session Host VM), it is not available.
Microsoft

Hi everyone, 

 

Please let me post the detailed instructions on how we can test Windows 11 in AVD. 

 

Option 1 – Create an image

Navigate to the Azure Marketplace and subscribe and add the offer to your tenant  

Create a VM

Generalize and prepare an image following the process outlined here

Follow these steps to create a host pool

 

Option 2 – Manual registration

Navigate to the Azure Marketplace and subscribe and add the offer to your tenant  

Create a VM using Windows 11 images as source

Navigate to Azure Virtual Desktop

Create a host pool without adding any VMs

Generate a registration key

StefanGeorgiev_0-1629524726389.png

 

Then add the VM created via the manual registration process follow the process here starting at 4:58 to register your VM with the host pool.

 

Happy testing 

 

Stefan

Copper Contributor

Hello, is Win11 enterprise multi-session (preview) support TPM 2.0. I have chosen with Gen2, but there's no Trusted launch (secure boot, vTPM) list under Advanced tab. VM generation is on the bottom.

Huafang_0-1629546215843.png

 

While still on the Advanced tab, scroll down to Trusted launch, and then select the Trusted launch checkbox. This will make two more options appear - Secure boot and vTPM. Select the appropriate options for your deployment.

Brass Contributor

@Stefan Georgiev Hi Stefan, 

is there any way to get the image via Get-AZVMImagesku
I would like to test the Image within our deploymentprocess. 

Brass Contributor

Thanks a lot. Just deployed a test Host Pool with sysprepped Win11 image.

Brass Contributor

That worked @Stefan Georgiev  Thanks - the OS is showing as Windows 10 for some strange reason? 

 

nigelm_1-1629738575956.png

 

 

nigelm_0-1629738400003.png

 

 

 

Brass Contributor

Seems like the process to follow is in this blog.

 

How to deploy Windows 11 in an AVD environment (rozemuller.com)

Brass Contributor

Sounds very nice, but when these devices will be enrolled to Intune automatically, can you confirm they will also support Intune SCEP/NDES profiles as well, to be able to deploy SCEP-based user certificates? 

 

Copper Contributor

Is there a way to use Windows 11 Preview in Azure VM Image Builder Devops.
There is a field to specify the base image.
I changed “MicrosoftWindowsDesktop:office-365:20h2-evd-o365pp” to”MicrosoftWindowsDesktop:windows-11-preview:win11-21h2-avd” but then it says it can’t find the image.

Brass Contributor

@dextraa9791 via powershell and ansible I now can get the image offer. Try again with "windows11preview" instead of "windows-11-preview", I guess that should work with the Image Builder Devops now, too. 

Copper Contributor

Switching to Dev channel works - but new builds, e.g. 20449.1000 or 20454.1000 Previews cannot be installed (always error 0x80070002 after reboot). I think, only Beta channel is supported on Azure Virtual Desktop. Or did I miss something?

Copper Contributor

Worked just fine until today when the new image arrived (the previous one did not install at all, 70002 error like everyone else):

 

TommyZoFly_0-1631742269411.png

 

And as promised by MS, I get the same on my MacBook using Parallels on intel. Question is now - revert from my stylish MacBook Pro to a "new" clumsy plastic laptop with the design from say 1990 or ditch Windows 11 totally. The later hangs on Visual Studio Mac and Core 6.0 rc just released.

Can't say that I feel good about MS decisions and not even supporting their own Azure hardware, I know its dev channel, but anyhow..

Copper Contributor

Oh, I just read about the "Trusted launch", sorry, but will dig into it and hopefully that will get us going again!

 

Preview: Trusted launch for Azure VMs - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Docs

Copper Contributor

.. Just to follow up- the brand new trusted launch vm does not update and continues with error 7002. So frustration even if it's a prerelease - you can't even install it on a brand new image. Sorry to say, but giving up now.

Copper Contributor

I think the Azure Windows 11 Preview VM is only for the upcoming Windows 11 final release (October 05) and not for next preview releases in the DEV channel. Switch back to Beta channel, update to 22000.194 with todays cumulative update (KB5005635)  - and wait for the final release.

Copper Contributor

With this post being 5 months old, just wanting to know if and when the "Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session + Microsoft 365 Apps" preview image will move to GA? I see the "Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session" has.

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