Azure Virtual Desktop Blog articles

Announcing public preview of redundant TCP support for RDP Multipath for Azure Virtual Desktop

Rinku_Dalwani — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:00:28 GMT

Reliable connectivity is essential for ensuring consistent productivity in Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) environments. Network variability—whether due to packet loss, NAT misconfiguration, UDP‑restricted networks, or restrictive enterprise network policies—continues to be one of the most common causes of session interruptions across enterprise virtual desktop deployments.

To improve connection resiliency across a broader set of network conditions, we’re excited to introduce redundant TCP transport paths for RDP Multipath, now available in public preview for Azure Virtual Desktop.

This builds upon the existing RDP Multipath capability that continuously evaluates multiple network paths and dynamically switches to the most reliable path at runtime—without requiring changes from IT administrators or users.

How does this feature work

RDP Multipath establishes multiple network paths between the client and session host based on available network routes and real-time network conditions. This allows Azure Virtual Desktop to continuously evaluate path health and dynamically select the most reliable transport during a session.

In its initial phase, RDP Multipath focused on UDP-based RDP Shortpath connections using STUN (Simple Traversal Underneath NAT) and TURN (Traversal Using Relays around NAT). This enabled sessions to transition between redundant UDP paths if degradation or failure was detected, improving reliability and performance.

When UDP-based connectivity is available, it remains the preferred transport due to its performance and reliability advantages. Multipath continues to maintain multiple UDP paths as the primary active transport, enabling efficient failover across available routes.

Enhanced resiliency with redundant UDP and TCP paths

With this update, Azure Virtual Desktop expands Multipath capabilities by introducing support for redundant TCP standby transport paths alongside existing UDP paths.

For customers already using Multipath over UDP, this adds an additional layer of resiliency through alternate TCP paths. For environments that previously relied on a single TCP connection, this update enables multiple TCP paths—helping reduce the impact of transient network issues and path instability.

If the active transport path becomes unavailable or degraded, Azure Virtual Desktop automatically switches to the next best available UDP or TCP path. This helps maintain session continuity without requiring user reconnection.

If all transport paths are temporarily disrupted — such as during a local network failure or ISP outage—the session automatically reconnects once connectivity is restored.

Improved reliability for TCP-only (UDP-restricted) environments

In environments where UDP connectivity is unavailable or restricted, sessions rely entirely on TCP-based Reverse Connect transport. Previously, these environments typically operated with a single active TCP connection between the client and session host, making them more susceptible to transient network degradation.

With this update, Azure Virtual Desktop can now establish multiple standby TCP transport paths—even in TCP-only scenarios. This allows sessions to dynamically transition between available TCP routes if the active path becomes degraded or fails.

As a result, customers benefit from improved session continuity and more consistent connectivity, even in environments with restrictive network configurations or where UDP traffic is blocked.

How to enable this feature

For public preview, you can test the feature by tagging your host pool to the validation ring. By default, this feature is enabled for everyone in the validation pool, providing seamless integration and enhanced connectivity without requiring any changes from IT departments or end users. Redundant TCP transport paths are currently supported only on Windows devices using Windows App on Windows client, version 2.0.1069.0 or later.

How to opt-out from this feature

If you wish to disable the feature, you can opt out the host pool from the validation ring. This self-help option allows you to revert to the previous configuration if necessary.

Learn more

To learn more about the feature please check here 

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop now supports Windows Server 2025 and Windows Server 2022

Michelle_Moya — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:00:12 GMT

Managing applications in virtualized desktop and server environments has traditionally required IT teams to bake apps directly into base images, driving image sprawl, slower updates, and higher operational overhead. App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop changes that model by enabling applications to be delivered dynamically to user sessions, without installing them on the session host.

Since we announced general availability for App attach, support from customers and partners has grown significantly, especially among customers affected by the impending end of support for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) Server components in April 2026.

App attach continues to expand support for dynamic application delivery across a broader range of deployment scenarios. We’re excited to share that App attach now supports Windows Server 2025 and Windows Server 2022 session hosts in Azure Virtual Desktop.

Benefits of App attach support for Windows Server

With App attach now supported on the two most recent versions of Windows Server, organizations can dynamically deliver MSIX, AppX, and App‑V packaged applications to server‑based multi‑session environments using the same deployment workflows they use today. This means customers can:

Deploy applications to Windows Server 2025 and Windows Server 2022 session hosts
Apps no longer have to be baked into the base image.
Maintain a single golden image
Reduce image sprawl by managing applications independently from the operating system.
Bring their existing App‑V packages to Azure Virtual Desktop
Continue deploying previously packaged applications using the same App attach workflows without repackaging and without App-V Server infrastructure which reached end of support on April 14.
Accelerate application onboarding for pooled host pools
Assign and update applications independently of infrastructure lifecycle events such as scaling, reimaging, or host replacement.
Enable Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid customers to benefit from dynamic app delivery
Organizations migrating to Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid can leverage App attach to dynamically deliver applications to their session hosts without a complicated application migration.

Get started using App attach for dynamic application delivery on session hosts running Windows Server 2025 and Windows Server 2022—visit our App attach documentation to learn more.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

RDP Shortpath (UDP) over Private Link is now generally available

Rinku_Dalwani — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:00:00 GMT

UDP support over Private Link for Azure Virtual Desktop is now generally available. This release enables a direct, high‑performance, UDP‑based RDP connection between AVD session hosts and clients over Azure Private Link using RDP Shortpath for managed networks.

This capability complements the existing TCP-based RDP connectivity over Private Link. Together, these options support customers with strict private network boundaries by allowing RDP traffic over both TCP and UDP transports, using defined private IPs when Private Link is in use.‑based RDP connectivity over Private Link. Together, these options support customers with strict private network boundaries by allowing RDP traffic over both TCP and UDP transports.

Standard AVD RDP connectivity connectivity already provides high resiliency and strong security with lower operational complexity and reduced risk of misconfiguration. It also supports private network options for UDP without requiring Private Link, making it the recommended connectivity model for the majority of deployments.

The addition of UDP support over Private Link is primarily intended for customers who already rely on Private Link and need tighter control over the IP addresses used for RDP traffic. This allows more precise routing and policy enforcement in highly restricted or regulated network environments.

To use UDP transport over Private Link, administrators must explicitly enable UDP in the updated Networking settings in the Azure portal. Until this setting is enabled, AVD connections over Private Link will continue to use the existing WebSocket‑based TCP transport, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity.

This opt-in model provides predictable and secure transport behaviour, giving administrators full control over when and how UDP is introduced into managed or constrained network environments.‑in model provides predictable and secure transport

How to enable UDP over Private Link

To use UDP-based transports such as RDP Shortpath for managed networks over Azure Virtual Desktop Private Link, you must explicitly enable UDP on the workspace or host pool and ensure that public Shortpath options are disabled.

To enable UDP:

In the Azure portal, open your Azure Virtual Desktop Host pools or Workspaces resource.
Go to Networking → Public access.
Under Public access, choose one of the following:

o Enable public access for end users, use private access for session hosts, or

o Disable public access and use private access
When either of these options is selected, the portal displays an additional opt in checkbox:

4. Turn on Allow Direct UDP network path over Private Link to allow UDP‑based transports (for example, RDP Shortpath for managed networks).

5. Go to the RDP Shortpath tab and disable the public Shortpath options:

o RDP Shortpath for public networks (via STUN)

o RDP Shortpath for public networks (via TURN) The portal will block Save and show a Configuration Error if these public options are still enabled.

6. Select Save.

Important Note:

The UDP opt‑in checkbox is mandatory for enabling RDP Shortpath over Private Link.
If this checkbox is not selected, RDP Shortpath will be blocked for all Private Link connections, and sessions will continue using the WebSocket‑based TCP transport.

Also note that opting in for UDP does not automatically complete the end‑to‑end Shortpath setup. You must still configure the required Shortpath settings on your session hosts and network. For full configuration steps, see the official guidance for RDP Shortpath for Azure Virtual Desktop in the Azure Virtual Desktop documentation.

Learn more

For more information about Private Link, check out the following articles on Microsoft Learn:

Private Link for Azure Virtual Desktop – Overview
Learn how Private Link secures feed discovery, feed download, and host pool connections.
Configure Private Link with Azure Virtual Desktop
Step by step guidance for creating private endpoints for workspaces, host pools, and initial feed discovery.
Learn more details about RDP Shortpath for Azure Virtual Desktop.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Azure Virtual Desktop is now available in US Gov Texas in Azure Government

Ron_Coleman — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Today Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is now available in the USGov Texas region of Azure Government, providing customers with an additional region for deploying secure and flexible virtual desktop environments that support a broad range of mission needs.

Key benefits

With this regional expansion, customers can now:

Create host pool objects directly in the USGov Texas region.
Benefit from improved connection performance through reduced latency.
Leverage an additional Azure Government region to support mission needs.

Azure Virtual Desktop is continually improving to offer secure, dependable, and high-quality experiences on Azure Government. With USGov Texas now available, customers have an additional region to set up host pool objects, which can help lower connection latency and enhance user responsiveness.

Availability in multiple Azure Government regions gives customers the flexibility to design virtual desktop environments that align with mission priorities, geographic distribution, and regulatory requirements. The addition of USGov Texas expands these choices while maintaining Azure Government’s strong compliance and security commitments.

Creating host pools in USGov Texas

Customers can now create host pools in the USGov Texas region, helping reduce connection latency and improving how quickly users can access and interact with their Azure Virtual Desktop environments.

Get started

Begin deploying Azure Virtual Desktop in the USGov Texas region today to take advantage of improved performance, reduced latency, and mission‑aligned regional placement. Learn more in the Azure Government documentation.

Now in public preview: Azure Virtual Desktop regional host pools

TomHickling — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:05:02 GMT

Editor's Note: This post was last updated on January 21, 2026.

At Microsoft, we understand customers need a desktop service that is reliable and resilient. That’s why we’ve made service resilience a core architectural design principle within the Azure Virtual Desktop connectivity platform — so your employees stay connected and productive. To deliver enhanced resiliency, we are announcing regional host pools, a new host pool deployment type that is now in public preview.

What are regional host pools?

Today, Azure Virtual Desktop uses a geographical model for all host pools, where the metadata is stored in a geographical database within each of the Azure geographies around the globe. For resiliency purposes, these geographical databases store multiple replicas within the same region as well as in a separate, paired region. This enables local and cross-region recovery. However, having only one database within a geography serving multiple regions introduces a cross-region dependency, where any issue within the region hosting the Azure Virtual Desktop metadata database or with the database itself could impact users connected or trying to connect to host pools in un-related Azure regions.

To reduce the impact of these types of issues and remove the cross-region dependency, we are deploying new Azure Virtual Desktop databases and infrastructure into every Azure region that Azure Virtual Desktop supports. This means any issue will only impact host pools in the same region. These service enhancements will ultimately result in approximately 40 regional databases across Azure. This also significantly improves your ability to meet any data sovereignty requirements your organization may have, as the metadata associated with your host pools is stored within the Azure region you select. In the event of a local database issue, we still store multiple local replicas across availability zones within the region as well as replicate the metadata to a secondary region where there is an Azure paired region for cross-region failover. This paired region is typically within the same country or at least the same Azure geography.

There are no functional differences between existing geographical host pools and the new regional host pools, aside from one additional field to complete within the deployment process. The only differences are the type of database they are stored in, and the supporting infrastructure, the regional location of each database, and the enhanced resiliency they provide.

What are the benefits of regional host pools?

The main benefit of the new regional host pools is the increased resiliency inherent in the underlying database and infrastructure architecture. They will also give you more control to define your data sovereignty requirements by aligning your host pool metadata with each of the Azure regions supported. When this service becomes generally available, we strongly recommend that you create all new host pools as regional host pools to take full advantage of these benefits and consider transitioning your existing geographical host pools over to regional.

Where can you use regional host pools?

Two infrastructures will co-exist until after we have completed deploying all of the new regional infrastructure in all regions that Azure Virtual Desktop supports.

Future changes:

A date will be announced when creating new geographical host pools will no longer be allowed.
A later date will be announced for retiring geographical infrastructure entirely.

During this transition you can still create geographical host pools, but they won’t offer the improved resiliency of regional host pools. We recommend creating all new host pools as regional host pools to take advantage of improved resiliency and data sovereignty. Begin planning your transition from geographical host pools early — Microsoft will provide tools to help move metadata, or you can manually deploy new regional host pools with the same configuration and transition users. Watch for upcoming communications on timelines to ensure a smooth migration

During the public preview, we are supporting two new “regional” regions, East US 2 and Central US. Additional regions will be added individually once these two regions enter general availability. This rollout will enable you to deploy new regional host pools in an ever-increasing number of Azure regions over time.

Getting started

The public preview of regional host pools is an admin controlled opt-in. In order to participate in this preview, you will need to enable the preview feature via PowerShell or in the Azure portal:

PowerShell

When connected to your Azure subscription run the following command:

Register-AzProviderFeature -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization -FeatureName AVDRegionalResourcesPublicPreview

Azure portal

When signed into the Azure portal go to:

Subscriptions - select your subscription.
Go to: Settings > Preview Features
Filter using AVDRegionalResourcesPublicPreview
Select AVDRegionalResourcesPublicPreview
Click on Register

PowerShell

Once this preview feature is enabled, the 5.4.5-preview version of the Az.DesktopVirtualization module will be required to create new regional host pools via PowerShell.

Once installed you just need to add the -DeploymentScope parameter to your PowerShell commands. When creating a new regional host pool your command would include:

“New-AzWvdHostPool -DeploymentScope Regional ….”

If you are deploying a normal geographical host pool, use the value of Geographical in place of Regional. This parameter is not required, so if this is not set the deployment will default to Geographical. The same -DeploymentScope parameter needs to be used when creating new workspaces. New application groups will automatically inherit the deployment scope of the host pool they are being created in.

Azure portal

The only additional step required to deploy a new regional host pool is to set the new Deployment Scope field to Regional. The new Deployment Scope drop down will only appear when you have selected a region that hosts the new regional infrastructure, in the Location drop down:

When creating new application groups, the existing deployment scope of the parent host pool will be auto selected. When creating new workspaces, the deployment scope drop down box becomes visible only when selecting a location that supports a regional database and will allow you to select the deployment scope you require. App attach is not yet supported and remains only Geographical, therefore regional host pools cannot use app attach packages during the preview.

All other host pool deployment configurations remain unchanged, so there are no additional configuration items that need to be specifically selected for regional host pools.

As the metadata for new regional host pools will exist within a separate set of infrastructure, it will not be possible to join new regional objects such as application groups to existing geographical objects such as workspaces or vice versa. Only objects of the same deployment scope can be associated together. Application groups created in regional host pools will automatically be regional, and only regional application groups can be associated with regional workspaces. Likewise, geographic application groups can only be associated with geographical objects. To make this easier we will filter out objects with an incompatible deployment scope: for example, when adding a new application group as part of a new regional host pool, geographical workspaces will not be available:

In a portal update coming in February, you will be able to see the deployment scope of all of your Azure Virtual Desktop objects by using the new Deployment Scope column. This is the host pools blade showing this new column:

Public preview limitations

During public preview the following features are not supported:

Automated host pools which enable Session host configuration, Session host update.

Private Link.

Dynamic autoscaling.
App Attach. All App attach objects are Geographical only.
Errors and checkpoints will not be reported into Log Analytics for regional session hosts.

Migration

We are working on a future service that will enable the migration between existing geographical objects to new regional objects.

Global availability

New “regional” infrastructure is slowly being enabled globally, and individual or small numbers of regions will become available periodically over time.

Click here for further detailed instructions: Regional Host Pools

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Announcing new hybrid deployment options for Azure Virtual Desktop

Steve_Downs — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:13:46 GMT

Azure Virtual Desktop is a secured, cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) service that enables organizations to deliver Windows desktops and applications to users. Originally launched in 2019, Azure Virtual Desktop has evolved rapidly to meet the changing needs of modern workplaces, especially as remote and distributed work became the norm.

Two years ago, we launched Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Local to provide an option for customers to bring Azure Virtual Desktop functionality on-premises running on Azure Local. Many organizations face ongoing challenges in modernizing their IT environments without major investments in new infrastructure or changes to key software infrastructure such as virtualization hypervisors.

Today, we’re excited to announce Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments, a new capability for bringing the power of cloud-native desktop virtualization to existing on-premises infrastructure. With this update, on-premises Arc-Enabled Servers can be configured as AVD session hosts. This expands Azure Virtual Desktop’s hybrid capabilities beyond Azure Local to Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, VMware vSphere, physical Windows Servers, or anywhere Arc-Enabled Servers can be deployed on-premises.

This milestone reflects the ongoing Microsoft commitment to delivering flexible, secured, and scalable solutions that meet customers where they are — whether in the cloud, on-premises, or across both. Many organizations are seeking ways to extend the benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop to workloads that must remain on-premises due to performance, data residency, or compliance requirements, while also providing a shorter path for cloud migration.

Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments enables customers to run virtual desktops and applications in their own datacenters through the integration of Azure Arc and Azure Virtual Desktop. The virtual machines (VMs) function as session hosts that connect directly to the Azure Virtual Desktop service in the Microsoft Cloud.

Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Local has seen widespread adoption and remains available for customers that want an end-to-end Microsoft Cloud native solution that includes VM provisioning and management to support their edge scenarios. Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments allows organizations to leverage existing hardware investments and preferred hypervisors, while benefiting from unified identity, policy, and VM management. VM provisioning and management for Azure Virtual Desktop can be delivered through alternative means, including partner solutions.

Partner support for Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments

Partner solutions that integrate with Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments will provide a valuable option for customers that need additional VM management capabilities — and we’re excited to announce this preview with support from key partners including ControlUp, LoginVSI, Nerdio, and Nutanix. These partners are building integrations and services to help customers deploy and manage Azure Virtual Desktop hybrid solutions.

Each partner brings deep expertise in virtualization, and their support means that customers can confidently adopt hybrid Azure Virtual Desktop with the tools and guidance they need. Some of the partner feedback we’ve received:

“ControlUp is proud to support Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments. By integrating our real-time monitoring and analytics solutions, we empower organizations to optimize performance and user experience across both on-premises and cloud-hosted desktops.” — Jed Ayres, CEO, ControlUp

“Login VSI is excited to support Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments. Our automated testing solution with Login Enterprise and our Azure Virtual Desktop management solution with Hydra will ensure customers have cost-effective and reliable solutions to extend Azure Virtual Desktop to their on-premises environment." — John Vigeant, CEO, Login VSI

“Nerdio is committed to helping our customers modernize their legacy VDI solutions at the pace that’s right for them. By working with Microsoft as an Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments partner, we will be extending the benefits of Nerdio Manager to a broader range of on-premises platforms, giving IT teams the flexibility to manage all their virtual desktops — cloud, on-premises, or both — through a single, automated platform. This is a major step forward for organizations that want to innovate without disruption.”
— Vadim Vladimirskiy, CEO, Nerdio

“Customers with end-user compute deployments ranging from hundreds to 100,000+ seats, run on Nutanix — on-prem as well as on Azure, using our Nutanix Cloud Clusters solution. We're excited that Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments will allow customers to run Azure Virtual Desktop on Nutanix. This is a combination that customers have long requested and is another example of the need for hybrid cloud solutions.” — Tarkan Maner, Chief Commercial Officer, Nutanix

Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments - benefits

Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments brings Azure Arc, Azure Virtual Desktop, and partner solutions together to create a flexible VDI environment that extends cloud functionality to on-premises infrastructure. By bringing these components together customers can optimize their environments to make the best use of the management service, hypervisor, or lifecycle management approach they choose without sacrificing their ability to migrate to cloud solutions when ready.

“Customers want the flexibility to create a virtualization environment that maximizes the value of their existing infrastructure while providing a clear migration path to the cloud,” said Scott Manchester, VP of Product for Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop. “Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments provides a great foundation for customers to run Azure Virtual Desktop on-premises, and when combined with partner solutions, gives customers new options for optimizing their VDI estate.”

Get started

If you're interested in learning more about Azure Virtual Desktop for hybrid environments or want to explore how it can support your organization’s hybrid strategy, public preview is planned for the first half of 2026. To learn more about our launch partner solutions you can reach out them directly (ControlUp, LoginVSI, Nerdio, and Nutanix).

You can also reach out to your Microsoft account team, who can provide additional details, help assess your readiness, and guide you through the preview enrollment process.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Now in public preview: Ephemeral OS disk support on Azure Virtual Desktop

Ron_Coleman — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 20:03:45 GMT

Azure Virtual Desktop continues to evolve with features that simplify deployment and management of session hosts for our customers. Today, we’re excited to announce the public preview of Ephemeral OS disk support, the latest milestone in our Enhanced Host Pool Management initiative. Designed for stateless workloads, Ephemeral OS disk stores the operating system on the virtual machine’s local storage, rather than remote storage. This enables a faster session host creation experience and improved performance, while maintaining a consistent and responsive user experience.

Key benefits

Ephemeral OS disk offers:

Faster provisioning and reimaging: Session hosts can be created or reset.

Improved Performance: By keeping read/write operations local, users experience faster access times and reduced latency.
Optimized for stateless workloads: Ideal for environments that do not need to retain session host state information between uses.

What is Ephemeral OS disk?

Ephemeral OS disk stores the operating system on the virtual machine’s local storage, within the same physical server where the VM runs. This design eliminates the need to connect to remote Azure Storage, helping reduce network latency and deliver faster disk performance (IOPS).

Virtual machines that use ephemeral OS disks operate a bit differently. They can’t be started or deallocated. Instead, they can only be reimaged or deleted. This ensures each session host begins or is reset to a clean, consistent state, reducing management overhead and simplifying operations for environments that require frequent refresh cycles.

Because the disk is local and non-persistent, any changes made during a session are lost when the VM is reimaged or deleted. As a result, ephemeral OS disks are an excellent fit for stateless workloads that value speed, scalability, and rapid reimaging over long-term data retention.

Getting Started

To use ephemeral OS disks, a pooled host pool with a session host configuration (public preview) enabled is required. Ephemeral OS disks are not available for personal host pools or for host pools without a session host configuration.

You can configure a session host with Ephemeral OS disk for your pooled host pools using Azure Portal.

To configure a session host with an Ephemeral OS disk

From the Azure Portal, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade create a new pooled host pool configured with a session host configuration.
On the session host tab:
- Select an image of your choice.
- Choose a VM size that has enough local disk space (either cache or temporary storage) to support your OS image. To find which VM sizes are compatible with your selected image, refer to the PowerShell script mentioned in the FAQ under the question: “Will all VM sizes be supported for ephemeral OS disks?”.
- Check the Ephemeral OS disk box.
- Select disk placement based on your VM type:
  - OS cache
  - Temp disk
Complete the remaining fields to create your host pool and session host.

Using Dynamic Autoscaling plans with Ephemeral OS Disks

Ephemeral OS disks are designed for stateless workloads and don’t support traditional start or deallocate operations. To ensure reliable scaling and lifecycle management, we recommend using Dynamic Autoscaling plans when deploying session hosts with ephemeral OS disks.

With this setup, session hosts are created and deleted according to the rules defined in your scaling plan, ensuring efficient resource use while aligning with the stateless design of ephemeral OS disks.

Learn more about Dynamic Autoscaling plans.

Next steps

We’re excited for you to begin exploring Ephemeral OS disk on Azure Virtual Desktop. We encourage you to check out our documents that include setup guidance, prerequisites, and much more to help you get started.

Want to learn more?

Read the Ephemeral OS disks on Azure Virtual Desktop documentation

Read the session host update for Azure Virtual Desktop documentation

Read the create and assign a scaling plan documentation

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for Azure Virtual Desktop

ivaylo_ivanov — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:19:35 GMT

Windows 10 reaches end of support on October 14, 2025. A great place to learn about all the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) options is in our blog post, When to use Windows 10 Extended Security Updates.

In this article, I will describe the Windows 10 lifecycle for Azure Virtual Desktop across the following scenarios:

Existing session hosts running Windows 10

Creating new session hosts with Windows 10

Microsoft 365 Apps support for Windows 10

Windows 10 ESU support

Existing session hosts running Windows 10

All existing Azure Virtual Desktop session hosts running Windows 10, version 22H2 are entitled to Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) at no additional cost—read about the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10 for more information. The ESU program enables PCs to continue to receive critical and important security updates. ESUs will be offered on all existing session hosts running Windows 10, version 22H2, when a Windows Update scan or Autopatch is run, without requiring any admin action. ESUs will be installed based on the Windows Update configurations of each session host and are applied automatically after a session host is deployed.

Creating new session hosts with Windows 10

There are two Windows 10, version 22H2 client multi-session images in Azure Marketplace: one with Microsoft 365 Apps and one without. The image with Microsoft 365 Apps will be retired and removed from Azure Marketplace on April 14, 2026, while the image without Microsoft 365 Apps will remain until 2028.

The image without Microsoft 365 Apps will receive the last service update in October 2025. Between October 2025 and April 2026, newly-deployed session hosts will need to install ESUs to be current. Microsoft recommends switching to Windows 11 for a more secure Windows experience.

For more information on ESU availability and end dates, please see Product Lifecycle FAQ - Extended Security Updates.

Microsoft 365 Apps support for Windows 10

Read Windows 10 end of support and Microsoft 365 Apps to learn more.

Windows 10 ESU support

We will determine if the issue pertains to Azure Virtual Desktop or with Windows 10. If the issue is determined to be with Azure Virtual Desktop, we will support as expected and work towards a resolution to your reported issue. If the issue is determined to pertain to the operating system, we will request/require an attempt to reproduce the same issue on a currently supported version of Windows 11. If that issue is able to be reproduced on Windows 11, we will work that issue as it is supported. Once resolved, and if applicable, we can attempt to apply that same solution to the originally reported Windows 10 system. If the Windows 11 solution does not resolve the issue on Windows 10, we would recommend upgrading to Windows 11 as Windows 10 is no longer supported.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Azure Virtual Desktop metadata database now available in Korea Central

Ron_Coleman — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 17:00:22 GMT

We’re pleased to announce that the Azure Virtual Desktop metadata database is now available in the Korea Central region. This release is part of our ongoing global expansion, following our rollout earlier this year in Southeast Asia. By extending regional availability, we continue to enhance Azure Virtual Desktop’s performance, support data residency, and meet compliance requirements across more markets.

The metadata database is a critical service component that stores configuration and operational data such as host pool settings, user assignments, and session host details. With this expansion, the metadata service infrastructure is now closer to more users, helping reduce latency and improve responsiveness.

Benefits of Korea Central Availability

With the addition of Korea Central, customers will now benefit from:

Improved performance: Reduced latency for service operations by keeping metadata closer to your workloads.
Enhanced compliance: Support for data residency and regulatory requirements in Korea.
Enriched user experience: Faster connection times and more responsive session management.

When deploying Azure Virtual Desktop, you now have the option to configure your environment to utilize the Korea Central metadata database. This configuration helps ensure that your service metadata remains within the region, thereby supporting your compliance and performance objectives.

The addition of the Korea Central metadata database is part of our broader commitment to bring Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 closer to our customers around the world. As we continue to expand regional availability, we’re focused on helping organizations build secure, resilient, and high-performing digital workplaces, wherever they are. We encourage you to take advantage of this regional expansion to optimize your Azure Virtual Desktop deployments. Get started with configuring your Azure Virtual Desktop environment in Korea Central, visit the Data Locations for Azure Virtual Desktop documentation to learn more.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

App-V support and partner integration now available in App attach

JimMoyle — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:56:14 GMT

We're excited to announce the general availability of two enhancements to App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop: Support for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) packages, and integration with leading third-party application delivery platforms Liquidware, Numecent, and Omnissa.

App attach is a modern application delivery solution that separates apps from the base virtual machine image, allowing IT admins to manage and deploy applications dynamically without modifying the core desktop image. This reduces maintenance complexity and speeds up deployment. For end users, it means quicker, more consistent access to the apps they rely on across sessions, locations, and devices—resulting in a smoother, more flexible virtual desktop experience.

These updates give IT admins more control as they modernize application delivery strategies. By enabling the reuse of existing App-V packages and offering integration with a wider ecosystem of deployment tools, organizations can simplify management, reduce repackaging overhead, and move to the cloud at their own pace.

App-V support in App attach simplifies migration

With the general availability of App-V support, organizations can now incorporate existing App-V packages into the App attach framework without repackaging. This streamlines the transition to Azure Virtual Desktop by preserving investments in legacy applications while enabling more modern and scalable delivery.

This update comes at a critical time, as App-V enters extended support. By bridging the gap between legacy application virtualization and modern desktop infrastructure, App attach offers a path forward that combines continuity with innovation, helping IT teams maintain supportability while evolving their cloud strategy.

App-V package integrated with App attach, showing package properties and deployment details in the Microsoft Azure portal

New partner support expands application delivery options

App attach supports integration with key partners, expanding flexibility and giving organizations a broader set of tools for application management. Solution integration with App attach delivers two key benefits:

It simplifies application delivery management by providing a centralized console for tracking and deploying apps across environments.
It increases application mobility by streamlining the migration of on-premises apps to Azure while maintaining security, compliance, and performance.

At general availability, the launch includes support for Liquidware, Numecent, and Omnissa. This collaboration brings real-world solutions to life, with each partner offering distinct capabilities that enhance and extend the value of App attach.

Liquidware FlexApp enables rapid deployment by containerizing applications into self-sufficient executables. These can be distributed through multiple methods, including popular cloud file-sharing services, and are designed to work across any Windows desktop, including those hosted in the cloud.

"We're thrilled that App attach has reached these important milestones. FlexApp integration with App attach will help our joint customers modernize their application management strategies as they move beyond legacy delivery models."

--Jason E. Smith, Vice President, Alliances and Marketing, Liquidware

Numecent Cloudpager delivers a fully managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for creating, automating, and managing desktop application configurations. It helps organizations take advantage of the latest Windows technologies with simplified, cloud-based application delivery.

"As an App attach integration launch partner, we're excited to help customers bring Cloudpager with App attach integration into production environments. Cloudpager's support for App attach will help our joint customers seamlessly provision new and existing application containers across modern, cloud, or hybrid environments."

--Arthur Hitomi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Numecent

Omnissa App Volumes (formerly VMware App Volumes) offers real-time application delivery and lifecycle management via virtual disks, allowing enterprises to centrally manage and quickly deploy apps across desktops with unified app and user management.

"The integration of Omnissa App Volumes with App attach reflects our strategic alignment with Microsoft. Joint customers benefit from Apps on Demand delivery, granular control with markers and stages, rapid rollback, tailored app experiences per Windows session, and the ability to update a single app package across multiple Azure Virtual Desktop host pools, tenants, and hybrid deployments—all from a single console."

--Jeff Ulatoski, Director of Product Management, Omnissa

Moving forward with App attach

As application delivery continues to evolve, App attach provides a scalable, modern approach that reduces complexity for IT admins while enabling secure, dynamic application delivery in Azure Virtual Desktop. With support for App-V and expanded partner integration now generally available, it's easier than ever to align your existing infrastructure with your cloud goals.

Ready to modernize your application delivery?

Start using App attach today and streamline your path to the cloud. Learn more about how to get started with App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop and explore the latest partner integrations:

App attach documentation
Learn more about App-V support
Partner integration details: Liquidware, Numecent, Omnissa

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Now in public preview: RDP Multipath for reliable connectivity

Rinku_Dalwani — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 03:06:54 GMT

We are excited to announce the public preview of Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Multipath for Azure Virtual Desktop. This new feature is designed to enhance remote desktop connectivity and reliability without requiring configuration changes from IT admins and users. By continuously evaluating multiple network paths and dynamically switching to the most reliable one behind the scenes, this feature helps reduce the risk of disconnections and provides a more consistent user experience.

Key features

Key features of RDP Multipath include:

Seamless integration: RDP Multipath doesn’t require changes from IT admins or users. This seamless integration means that everyone can benefit from enhanced connectivity without additional effort.
Dynamic path management: RDP Multipath operates by evaluating multiple User Datagram Protocol (UDP) network paths simultaneously and dynamically switching the active path at runtime behind the scenes. This approach avoids single points of failure, helping to ensure that if one path fails only that path is affected while others remain operational. This helps users stay productive longer without disconnecting, and it significantly reduces the occurrence of dropouts, resulting in a more consistent and productive experience. Additionally, when multiple paths are available, the algorithm proactively selects the best-performing path even in the absence of a connection drop. This ensures consistently optimized user experience by minimizing latency and maximizing reliability.
Insights and monitoring: When RDP Multipath is active, Azure Virtual Desktop Insights will display both the feature and the current active transport used to connect to your Cloud PC. Users will be able to see that the feature is enabled for them if they see Multipath along with the transport type currently used to connect to their Cloud PC as shown in the screenshot below. Administrators will start seeing connections with the new transport type labeled as Multipath in Azure Virtual Desktop Insights.

How does this work?

RDP Multipath finds multiple available paths using Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) to create redundant connections. The active and redundant paths may consist of combinations such as UDP over Simple Traversal Underneath NAT (STUN), UDP over Relay, or multiple UDP over Relay. If one active path breaks, the system will move to the next optimized redundant path.

However, in situations where all network paths are broken, such as a host router failure or network flap within the user's network setup, users will be disconnected and then auto reconnected once network paths are available. Users relying solely on WebSocket (TCP-based) connections will not benefit from this version of RDP Multipath. Support for TCP-based connectivity scenarios will be available in future updates.

In the scenario shown in the diagram below, the primary active connection is established using UDP via STUN, ensuring low-latency communication. To enhance reliability, this connection is supplemented by two redundant UDP paths routed through a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server. This setup provides performance and failover support, especially in constrained network environments.

How to enable this feature?

During the public preview, you can test the feature by tagging your host pool to the validation ring. By default, this feature is enabled for everyone in the validation pool, providing seamless integration and enhanced connectivity without requiring any changes from IT admins or users.

Please note RDP Multipath is rolling out in phases, available first for session hosts using UDP as the primary connection path. Currently, this feature is only available on Windows devices and Windows App and Microsoft Remote Desktop Client (MSRDC) on Windows with the latest version. Support for other platforms will follow.

To help with compatibility and optimal performance, users must be on the following minimum supported client versions:

MSRDC: Version 1.2.6074 or later
Windows App: Version 2.0.366.0 or later

Please update your physical endpoint to at least these versions to maintain access to all features and receive ongoing support.

Looking ahead, future updates will introduce support for multiple WebSocket connections. Additionally, users with access to UDP will be supported by both TCP and UDP paths simultaneously through RDP Multipath.

How to opt out of this feature?

If you experience any challenges such as regression from your previous connection experience, you may decide to disable the feature. To do so, you can opt out of the host pool from the validation ring. This self-help option allows you to revert to the previous configuration if necessary. For more information, see Configure a host pool as a validation environment.

Learn more

Review the documentation to learn more about RDP Multipath.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Multiple personal desktop assignment now generally available

femi_adebayo — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 16:00:00 GMT

We are thrilled to announce the general availability of a new Azure Virtual Desktop capability that allows multiple personal desktops to be assigned to a single user within one host pool. This update, previously in public preview, improves upon the limit of one desktop per user.

Setting up this feature used to require multiple host pools, which was time consuming and resource intensive. The ability to assign more than one personal desktop in a single host pool reduces management overhead and consolidates resources for a more efficient virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment.

This feature also significantly improves user experience. IT administrators can use the feature in conjunction with friendly names for session hosts, which makes it easier for users to distinguish among their assigned desktops, and to navigate more efficiently among different desktops. The learning curve associated with new technology adoption is reduced.

Enable multiple personal desktops to be assigned to a single user in the Microsoft Azure portal when you deploy a personal host pool.

This feature is available for the Microsoft Azure portal, REST API, and PowerShell.

For more about this feature and how to use it step-by-step, see Configure personal desktop assignment in Azure Virtual Desktop.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Host pool redirection defaults changing in Azure Virtual Desktop

Derek_Su — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:00:00 GMT

As part of the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative (SFI), Azure Virtual Desktop is enhancing its default security by disabling clipboard, drive, USB, and printer redirections for all newly created host pools. This change minimizes the risk of data exfiltration and malware injections, making it easier to have a more secure experience by default. IT admins can enable these redirections as needed using the host pool Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) properties in the Microsoft Azure portal or by using other methods such as Microsoft Intune or Group Policy.

Timeline for redirection default changes

This change to redirection defaults is coming soon. To help IT admins prepare, a dismissible banner will be displayed in the "Create a host pool"; landing page in the Azure portal. This banner will notify admins of the new default settings for new host pools and provide links to documentation on how to override them by changing the host pool RDP properties once a host pool is created.

Note: For existing host pools, no changes to redirection configuration will be made on your behalf. However, we do recommend you consider hardening settings by disabling redirections that are not needed. To make these changes, please visit the device redirection section in the documentation for RDP properties.

How to override default redirection configuration

IT admins can enable these redirections as needed using the host pool RDP properties in the device redirection dropdown list as shown below.

Screenshot of host pool RDP properties and device redirection options.

For more information on how to configure RDP properties, including using other methods such as Microsoft Intune or Group Policy, consult the documentation for each of these redirection settings:

Note: Azure portal RDP properties supersede Microsoft Intune and Group Policy configurations.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Azure Virtual Desktop metadata database available in Southeast Asia

Ron_Coleman — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 16:00:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce that the Azure Virtual Desktop metadata database is now generally available in Southeast Asia. This extends our regional database capability to meet your organization's requirements.

We are constantly expanding the footprint of the Azure Virtual Desktop connectivity platforms to provide reduced latency and enhanced experience for organizations around the world. The service is available in every Azure geography with ongoing plans for further global expansion to meet these needs. You can specify the geography where service metadata is stored, which can be useful for organizations with regulatory or compliance requirements or for those seeking improved latency. Organizations have the option to locate their Azure Virtual Desktop host pool objects within specific geographical boundaries to help ensure data residency.

The addition of Southeast Asia expands the supported geographies to nine, which now include the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, India, South Africa, and Asia. This new capability enables you to choose to locate your Azure Virtual Desktop objects within Southeast Asia and know that this data will always remain within that Azure geographical boundary.

When deploying a host pool, you will now see that Southeast Asia is listed as a region to store the metadata:

When you create Azure Virtual Desktop host pools, the metadata for those host pool objects is only stored within the Azure geography selected. We replicate the data to the Azure paired region for disaster recovery purposes.

The Azure Virtual Desktop connectivity platform provides connectivity and data storage services for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. It helps securely deliver Windows desktop and application experiences from the Microsoft globally distributed hyperscale cloud infrastructure. The growing number of Azure regions and the extensive list of locations for geographic residency purposes demonstrates the commitment to making Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 more available worldwide.

Learn more about Azure Virtual Desktop data locations.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

In public preview: Multiple personal desktops with Azure Virtual Desktop

Seneca_Friend — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:00:00 GMT

In the dynamic world of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), it's essential to streamline resource management. That's why we're excited to announce that the ability to allow multiple personal desktops to be assigned to a single user within a single host pool in Azure Virtual Desktop is now in public preview. It is a significant improvement from the previous limitation of one desktop per user.

Prior to this feature, achieving this setup would necessitate creating and managing multiple host pools. The process was time consuming and resource intensive. Now, with the ability to assign more than one personal desktop to a user in a single host pool, organizations can reduce the overhead associated with managing numerous host pools. This simplification not only saves time but also consolidates resources, leading to a more efficient VDI environment.

This feature also enhances user experience. IT administrators can use the feature in conjunction with friendly names for session hosts, which makes it easy for users to distinguish among their assigned desktops. In turn, users can navigate more efficiently among different desktops. As another benefit, the learning curve associated with new technology adoption is reduced.

Enable multiple personal desktops to be assigned to a single user in the Microsoft Azure portal when you deploy a personal host pool.

This feature is available for the Microsoft Azure portal, REST API, and PowerShell.

For more about this feature and how to use it, see Configure personal desktop assignment in Azure Virtual Desktop.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Discover Azure Virtual Desktop Quickstart—now generally available

EricOrman — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Are you prepared to explore the capabilities of Azure Virtual Desktop with a streamlined setup process? We are thrilled to announce the general availability of Quickstart, which helps you quickly deploy a sample environment and makes it easy to familiarize yourself with Azure Virtual Desktop and the new Windows App.

Think of Quickstart as your Azure Virtual Desktop test drive. Now you can have a fully functioning Azure Virtual Desktop environment up and running after answering only four deployment questions. This guided deployment enables two users to connect to a full virtual desktop session, consisting of one Windows 11 multisession host. Please note, Quickstart is for evaluation and non-production deployments only.

Get started with Quickstart

Try the guided Quickstart deployment by following these steps:

Sign in to your Azure account. From the Azure Virtual Desktop overview page select Quickstart and then Create from the “Get started quickly with Azure Virtual Desktop” tile.

Screenshot of the onboarding options on the Azure Virtual Desktop Quickstart page.
Follow the on-screen instructions to configure your deployment.

Screenshot of the simplified Azure Virtual Desktop deployment through Quickstart.

After you select Review + Create, you'll be redirected to a post deployment page. As you wait for the deployment to complete, which takes approximately 20–30 minutes, you can watch a 12-minute overview video that explains the full capabilities of Azure Virtual Desktop. Follow instructions for downloading Windows App, which will provide access to your virtual desktop.

Screenshot of Deployment in progress notification.

When the deployment is complete, you can immediately begin exploring the robust features of Azure Virtual Desktop. Discover seamless multisession capabilities, enhanced security, and the flexibility of accessing your desktop from anywhere.

Learn more

Test Quickstart via the Azure Virtual Desktop portal.
Want to learn more about Quickstart? Watch the Azure Virtual Desktop beginner's guide video.
To get started with Quickstart, review the product documentation.
Get started with Windows App to connect to Azure Virtual Desktop. Learn more about Windows App.
Try out the interactive demo for Azure Virtual Desktop.
Watch the technical takeoff session to learn more: Azure Virtual Desktop hostpool management at scale - Microsoft Technical Takeoff

Don't wait—dive into the future of virtual desktops with Azure Virtual Desktop Quickstart deployment. We're excited to see what you'll achieve! Stay tuned for more updates and features as we continue to enhance Azure Virtual Desktop. Thank you for being a part of our journey.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Azure Virtual Desktop now supports Azure Extended Zones

TomHickling — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 09:00:00 GMT

Azure Virtual Desktop now supports the ability to deploy your session host virtual machines in Azure Extended Zones. This reflects our commitment to providing organizations with a broad selection of Azure locations to run their workloads. The first Azure Extended Zone is now available in Los Angeles, California.

What are Azure Extended Zones?

Azure Extended Zones are small-footprint extensions of Azure placed in metropolitan areas, industry centers, or a specific jurisdiction to serve low-latency and data-residency workloads.

Diagram showing some of the industries and use cases where Azure Extended Zones can provide benefits.

How do you access an Azure Extended Zone?

Access to an Azure Extended Zone must be requested before you can deploy any of the available Azure services. Please refer to Request access to an Azure Extended Zone for more information on how to submit your access request.

Are there differences when deploying a host pool in an Azure Extended Zone compared to a normal Azure region?

Azure Extended Zones do not support the Azure default outbound route. This requires you to enable a method for the virtual machines to have internet access, with a minimum of access to the Azure Virtual Desktop FQDNs and endpoints. You can deploy Azure Load Balancer, Azure Firewall, or a third-party firewall to provide this access.

To ease this process, we have enhanced the Azure Virtual Desktop deployment capability to allow you to either create or select an existing Azure Load Balancer from within the same host pool deployment flow. If you have access to an Azure Extended Zone, the portal experience is dynamically updated to show a new section that will allow you to create a new Azure Load Balancer or select an existing one.

Diagram showing the Azure portal with the option to select or create an Azure Load Balancer.

Due to the smaller size of Azure Extended Zones, not every virtual machine family is available. For more information, refer to Service offerings for Azure Extended Zones. And, for more about how to get started, see Azure Virtual Desktop on Azure Extended Zones.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Azure Virtual Desktop Metadata Database available in South Africa

TomHickling — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 09:00:00 GMT

I am pleased to announce that the Azure Virtual Desktop metadata service is now generally available in South Africa North, extending the service’s regional database capability to meet your organization’s needs.

We are constantly expanding our footprint of the Azure Virtual Desktop connectivity platform to ensure lower latency and an improved experience for organizations around the globe. We currently have a service presence in every Azure geography. We’ve also enabled the ability to specify the geography where we store service metadata, which is a benefit for organizations that require this for regulatory or compliance reasons as well as for improved latency. You can choose to locate your Azure Virtual Desktop host pool objects within South Africa and be assured data will remain within that geographical boundary.

The addition of South Africa extends the full geographies that are supported to eight: the United States, Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, India, and South Africa.

When deploying a host pool, you will now see that South Africa North is listed as a region to store the metadata:

When you create host pools, the metadata for those host pool objects is only stored within the geography selected. We replicate the data to the Azure paired region for disaster recovery purposes.

The Azure Virtual Desktop connectivity platform provides connectivity and data storage services for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365. It securely delivers Windows desktops and applications from the world's most distributed hyperscale cloud. This is just another example of our commitment to making Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop truly global virtual desktop services that provide the most extensive list of locations for geo-residency purposes and make use of the growing number of Azure regions.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Migrate from Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app to Windows App

Hilary_Braun — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 16:00:00 GMT

Starting November 27, 2024, the Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app from the Microsoft Store will no longer be available for download or installation. Users of the Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app need to transition to Windows App.

Azure Virtual Desktop customers will continue to receive support for the Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app until it reaches end of support on December 27, 2024. After that date, it will no longer be eligible for support and won’t receive security or feature updates.

Recommended action

Current users of the Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app from the Microsoft Store should start transitioning to Windows App. IT admins can help inform and migrate end users in their organizations with the following recommendations:

For frictionless migration to Windows App, we recommend that users select the “Try the Windows App” toggle in the Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app, below the title bar.
To transition to Windows App, we recommend reading Get started with Windows App to connect to desktops and apps to update your internal processes and create guidance for your users and help-desk teams.
To identify the clients your users connect with, you can monitor Azure Virtual Desktop client version usage with Azure Virtual Desktop Insights. For more information, see Client version usage.
After your users transition to Windows App, you can uninstall the Azure Virtual Desktop Preview app from Windows devices. For methods to perform these actions, visit Uninstall your apps and Remove Apps to determine the option best suited to how you manage your apps.

Help and support

If you have general questions, ask community experts in Microsoft Q&A. If you have a support plan and you need technical help, open the Azure portal and select the question mark icon at the top of the page.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.

Announcing App-V support in App attach

JimMoyle — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:00:50 GMT

For customers with large application portfolios the challenges of migrating to a new packaging format are daunting. While many customers are excited about the prospect of embracing MSIX, a modern application packaging format, the impending April 2026 deprecation is weighing heavily on IT pros. We have news that addresses those concerns.

We’re excited to announce that Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) for Windows is now supported by App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop, marking a significant update in application delivery for virtual environments. With this new capability, organizations can incorporate their existing App-V packages into the App attach framework, enabling seamless integration and streamlined application delivery.

Additionally, we’re happy to share that App-V is shifting to an extended support phase, making it easier for admins to move their business-critical applications to Azure Virtual Desktop using App attach. Learn more about App-V entering an extended support phase.

A bridge to cloud-based technologies

App-V was introduced when on-premises virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) was the primary method for delivering and managing IT resources, especially for enterprise environments. As organizations adopted Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and similar solutions, the App-V format became essential for efficient application delivery and management in virtualized environments. However, packaging and deploying applications with App-V often required specialized servers, software, and knowledge.

Now, with cloud-based technologies such as Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365, a shift to modern packaging solutions like App attach is needed. App-V support in App attach creates a bridge for organizations moving away from App-V, making the transition easier. IT admins can keep using their existing App-V packages while benefitting from the efficient delivery framework App attach provides.

Enabling continuity, simplifying transition and operations

App attach eliminates the need for this back-end infrastructure by shifting everything into the Azure Virtual Desktop control plane in Microsoft Azure. IT admins can now manage and deploy their App-V applications just as easily as they would with MSIX or AppX packages, enabling continuity and simplifying operations.

The Microsoft focus on modern solutions like App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop highlights the future direction of application delivery. This update enables organizations to integrate existing App-V packages within the App attach framework, offering a streamlined and efficient path forward as they transition to a more advanced, flexible solution.

Get started with App-V support in App attach

Visit the Azure Virtual Desktop admin area in the Azure portal to try App-V package support in App attach. Learn more about App attach by visiting our documentation.

Stay up to date! Bookmark the Azure Virtual Desktop Tech Community.