Windows virtual desktop as ‘Azure virtual desktop’. 

The ‘remote working scenario’ has been with us since the beginning of the pandemic.  Due to remote work, it can be messy managing security and IT (Information Technology) management at your workspace. To improve workspace productivity, especially in this scenario, we recommend using Microsoft Azure virtual desktop as it is continually improving its performance. 

Microsoft has recently renamed Windows virtual desktop to Azure virtual desktop. The reasons for using the desktop virtualization approach are as follows; it separates your local operating systems, data and applications from the local hardware and runs them separately on the remote server. This means that you can control your data and information right from where you are with easy accessibility.

Features of Azure virtual desktop: 

Microsoft Azure virtual desktop offers a fully managed desktop virtualization in the cloud. As per the user expectation, it works with all the applications and devices. It allows Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS native client support and HTML 5 web client support. 

Microsoft has improved its security and management capabilities for the users in Azure virtual desktop. Now, Azure virtual desktop is providing a fully managed Windows 10 desktop experience from anywhere. It also offers enhanced support for the Azure active directory services. 

Updates in Azure virtual desktop: 

With the Azure active directory domain, the selected users in the Azure desktop will gain enhanced Azure active directory support. This is used to maintain security controls and user access to applications and data. Here, with the name change, Microsoft has also launched a set of new functioning capabilities for the users to make the process much easier with Azure desktop.

• Azure virtual desktop agent updates are at least once a month. With Azure portal updates, you can now use the Azure resource manager template for any update. You can perform this by selecting the Virtual machines tab and can also set up a host pool, app groups, and host pool diagnostic settings while creating a host pool.
   

• Automatic migration module tool: With this tool, you can transform your organization from Azure virtual desktop classic to the Azure virtual desktop by implementing a few PowerShell commands.
   
• Azure virtual desktop image gallery: All images in Azure virtual desktop, including Microsoft 365 apps for Enterprise, now incorporate the media-optimized version of Teams. This works for a pre-installed Azure virtual desktop.
   
• Getting started feature: This feature offers a simplifying onboarding experience in the Azure portal to set up an Azure virtual desktop environment. You can implement this feature to meet the system requirements for automated Azure active directory services.
   
• General availability of FSLogix 2105: This update includes available login time and the ability to increase the maximum time of a VHD/VHDX with the SizeinMB setting. This ‘general availability’ also addresses one additional bug fix. 
   
• Start VM on connect: This feature is now generally available in Azure virtual desktop. It helps you optimize the costs by turning off deallocated VMs and enables you to deploy flexible VMs according to the user demands.
   
• Windows defender application control: Windows Azure virtual desktop now supports Windows defender application control to operate which drivers and applications can run in Windows virtual machines (VMs).
   
• Azure disk encryption: Azure disk encryption uses Windows BitLocker to provide volume encryption for the OS and data disks of your VMs.
   
• Signing into Azure AD with smart cards: Though it is not a new feature, Azure virtual desktop now supports configuring Active Directory Federation Services ‘sign in’ using smart cards.
   
• Screen capture protection: This is indeed a cool feature. You can protect your sensitive information from being screen captured by the software running on the client endpoint with the screen capture protection in Azure virtual desktop.
   
• Remote desktop protocol Shortpath: The RDP (Remote desktop protocol) Shortpath for managed networks is now available as it establishes a direct connection between the Remote desktop client and session host. This feature improves reliability, reduces the dependency on gateway servers, and increases the bandwidth for user sessions.

Azure virtual desktop features in detail: 

Let us look at the accessibility in Azure virtual desktop in detail:   

• You can virtualize both desktops and applications.  
• You can establish the multi-session Windows 10 deployment, which delivers Windows 10 with extensive scalability.  
• It enables you to virtualize Microsoft applications and optimize them to run in multi-user virtual scenarios.  
• You can deploy your Windows server desktops, remote desktop services (RDS), and applications to any computer.  
• Can run the Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows servers, and apps with a unified management experience.
• You can also provide Windows 7 server with free extended security updates. 

Major capabilities in Azure virtual desktop: 

• You can establish a scalable and flexible environment with the Azure virtual desktop.  
• It enables you to create a complete desktop virtualization environment in your Azure subscription without any gateways.  
• You can set up as many host pools as you want to facilitate diverse workloads.  
• You can set up your own image for production workloads or tests from the Azure Gallery.  
• With the new Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session ability, you can significantly reduce the number of virtual machines and operating system overhead while still providing the same resources to your users.  
• You can also provide individual ownership through personal desktops. 

Deploy and manage Virtual desktop: 

• You can configure host pools, app-groups, assign users and publish resources with Azure portal, Azure virtual desktop PowerShell and REST interfaces.  
• You can publish entire desktop or individual remote applications from a single host pool. 
• Can create individual app groups for various sets of users or allow users to the multiple app groups to reduce the number of images.  
• It allows you to use the new diagnostic services to troubleshoot errors.  
• You can use built-in access to assign roles and collect diagnostics to become aware of various configuration or user errors.  
• Do not need to handle the Remote desktop roles separately as you do with Remote desktop servers. Instead, you can just operate the virtual machines in your Azure subscription.  
• Once the virtual desktop is assigned, users can launch any Azure virtual desktop client to connect to their published Windows desktop applications and desktops.  
• You can get connected from any device through a native client or your device or Azure virtual desktop HTML 5 web client.  
• You can establish users securely through reverse connections to the servers. With that, you never have to leave the inbound ports open. 

To summarize: 

Azure virtual desktop lets you run every remote application seamlessly with its flexible performance. Now, Azure virtual desktop supports Windows 11 for single and multi-session deployments. It also includes a few features with bug fixes to improve the latest experience. You can transform your whole workspace into the latest Azure virtual desktop from anywhere. It works well with almost any modern browser, and you can access remote desktops and applications easily for improved efficiency and productivity.

We recommend you to follow our updates about Microsoft features and updates such as MFA In Microsoft 365- Simple Steps To Follow. to ensure security for this remote working scenario.