Windows 365 migration: It’s easier than you think

You might be curious about Microsoft’s virtualization revolution and how it got to where it is today. In 1985, Microsoft established its vision of “a computer on every desk in every home.” At the time this seemed like an impossible task, but now I know it wasn’t. In 1994, Microsoft introduced Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 4.0 in Windows NT4, revolutionizing the way IT administrators manage servers remotely. We can connect to a server operating system without being physically in front of it. A year later, Windows NT introduced a UI that featured a Start menu and taskbar that still serves billions of users today.

Windows virtualization continued to evolve with the introduction of Remote Desktop Services (RDS). However, this still required a control plane that included web servers, gateways, and brokers, along with a session host for user sessions. This model continued until the launch of Microsoft Azure in 2012, which created new opportunities, such as hosting RDS on Azure via Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

This led to the control plane becoming a cloud-based service called Windows Virtual Desktop (now Azure Virtual Desktop) and the acquisition of FSLogix in 2018. The virtualization and cloud industries have evolved, and as a result, virtualization-related technologies have become standard across all industries. business. As applications move to Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription models and become easier to maintain and scale, the simplicity of cloud virtualization has been left behind. Virtualization required a complete turnkey approach, such as migrating from Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365.

Thus, Windows 365 was born as a new vision for the future of Windows, a cloud service managed by Microsoft with Cloud PC as the endpoint. With the launch of Azure Virtual Desktop followed by Windows 365, Microsoft was named a Leader in Virtualization in Gartner’s 2023 Desktop as a Service (DaaS) Magic Quadrant, four and a half years after the launch of Azure Virtual Desktop. It’s been a few years since I used Windows 365.

Now let’s look at the differences between Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365.

Azure Virtual Desktop is a cloud VDI platform that delivers hosted desktops and apps with maximum flexibility and control. Windows 365 is a SaaS solution that securely streams your personalized Windows desktop, apps, settings, and content from the Microsoft Cloud to any device. Management of on-premises VDI, Azure Virtual Desktop, and Windows 365 have different roles and responsibilities as shown in the table below. Windows 365’s unique capabilities and Microsoft-managed responsibilities include capacity, disaster recovery, scalability, and self-service as a service. If you are looking for a solution optimized for simplicity and user experience, consider Windows 365 today!

The table below compares the key differences between Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 in terms of feature level supportability.

Windows 365 reflects the computing revolution that moves PCs to the cloud while maintaining a “local-like” experience that can be managed through Microsoft Intune without any special skills. These principles guide Windows 365 and modern local-like end user experience features. For example, Boot and Switch makes it easy for anyone familiar with Windows to log in. Unlike traditional VDI, Cloud VDI through Azure Virtual Desktop often requires specific guidance and support in some cases.

The table below provides additional key comparisons regarding price, scalability, required expertise, and how customer/partner/supplier responsibilities are distributed across solutions.

Windows 365 provides Cloud PC, a complete, secure Windows environment hosted in the Microsoft cloud and accessible from a variety of devices. Whether your employees are full-time or contract workers, they can access their personalized Windows apps, settings, desktop, and data from anywhere and on any device. Windows 365 cloud PCs enable your Bring Your-Own PC (BYOPC) program, onboard employees in minutes, reduce management and security issues, and ensure your workforce is always on.

Windows 365 Frontline offers the same feature stack and benefits as Windows 365, with the added flexibility of providing cloud PCs for up to three users when you purchase a single Windows 365 license. This is an ideal solution for frontline shift workers and seasonal employees.

Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Entra ID make it easy to deploy, configure, manage, and secure cloud PCs, allowing you to maximize your existing technology resources to meet the needs of your employees.

Intune is an integrated solution that simplifies management and lowers total cost of ownership (TCO) across multiple operating systems, cloud, on-premises, mobile, desktop, and virtualized endpoints, including cloud PCs. This allows organizations to provide data protection and endpoint compliance that supports a zero trust security model. This integrated management tool combines device visibility, endpoint security, and data-driven insights to increase IT efficiency and improve user experience in any work environment.

Intune admin center lets you manage Windows 365 Cloud PCs along with other devices running Android Enterprise, iOS/iPadOS, macOS, ChromeOS, and Linux.

Additional benefits of cloud-based management with Intune include:

• Build a zero-trust security architecture with a management solution that unifies endpoint security and identity-based, centralized device compliance.
• Save money and reduce complexity by managing all your devices with a single, integrated tool already integrated into Microsoft 365.
• If you have an on-premises Microsoft Configuration Manager environment, use Intune to manage your domain-joined PCs with Comanage.

Insights from this year’s “DaaS Like a Pro” survey show that many virtualization administrators are still using custom image management, also known as golden image management. This is not an easy or efficient process, so we recommend using the gallery images built into Windows 365 instead. With VDI, you may have updated images weekly due to the use of custom images. Instead, using gallery images within Windows 365 provisioning policies eliminates the problem of having to repeatedly update custom images whenever a single component changes. You can then use Intune to perform image management and application installation.

Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about Windows 365 and Microsoft Intune.

Getting started

Windows in the Cloud video series

books