Windows Virtual Desktop in Azure - Public Preview Alert

Windows Virtual Desktop is a new service that is available as a Public Preview at the time of writing of this blog. This is a desktop and app virtualization service that runs on the cloud.

Pre-requisites

You need the following to be able to use this service:

1. Azure AD (Active Directory) - If you have an Azure subscription, then you already have this.
2. Windows Server Active Directory in sync with Azure Active Directory
3. Azure subscription, containing a virtual network that either contains or is connected to the Windows Server Active Directory - this is where the virtualization will be created and configured

Additionally, the Azure VM you create for Windows Virtual Desktop must be:

1. Standard domain-joined or Hybrid AD-joined. Virtual machines can't be Azure AD-joined.
2. Running one of the following supported OS images: Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session or Windows Server 2016

Working with the Service

At a very high level the steps involve the following:

1. Grant Azure Active Directory permissions to the Windows Virtual Desktop Preview service
2. Assign the TenantCreator application role to a user in your Azure Active Directory tenant
3. Create a Windows Virtual Desktop Preview tenant
4. Create a Windows Virtual Desktop Host Pool - available as an offering from the Azure Marketplace right now

You can learn more about this preview and detailed step by step getting started guide here: Windows Virtual Desktop Preview