How does Azure Virtual Desktop work?

Azure Virtual Desktop is easier to deploy and manage than traditional Remote Desktop Services (RDS) or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments. You don't have to deploy and maintain service roles such as the gateway and connection broker. You remain responsible for session hosts, images, applications, identities, networking, user profiles, and licenses.

What's managed by Microsoft and what you manage

The following illustration shows what services are managed by Microsoft and what you manage.

What Microsoft manages

Azure Virtual Desktop provides the control plane and connection infrastructure as a managed service. Microsoft manages:

• Web access - The web client lets users access assigned desktops and remote apps through a supported browser.
• Broker - The connection broker assigns users to session hosts and reconnects users to existing sessions.
• Load balancing - The broker applies breadth-first or depth-first load balancing for pooled host pools.
• Gateway - The gateway establishes secure reverse connections between clients and session hosts without requiring inbound ports on the session hosts.
• Diagnostics platform - The service records connection and management events. You configure diagnostic destinations and monitoring through Azure Monitor and Azure Virtual Desktop Insights.
• Management APIs - You can manage Azure Virtual Desktop resources through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, and the REST API.

Azure Virtual Desktop uses Azure infrastructure services for compute, storage, and networking.

What you manage

Desktop and remote apps

Create application groups to group, publish, and assign access to remote apps or desktops.

• Desktop - Desktop application groups give users access to a full desktop. Pooled host pools share session-host capacity across users. Personal host pools assign a dedicated session host to each user. Software installation rights depend on the permissions and management policies that you configure.
• App - RemoteApp application groups provide access to applications that you publish individually. You can create multiple RemoteApp application groups for different user scenarios while using supported session-host operating systems.
• Images - Choose a supported Azure Marketplace image, such as Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session with Microsoft 365 Apps, or use a custom image from Azure Compute Gallery or a managed image.

Management and policies

• Profile management - Configure FSLogix with a storage solution like Azure Files to containerize user profiles and provide a fast and stateful experience for users.
• Sizing and scaling - Select session host VM sizes, including GPU-enabled sizes when appropriate. Configure host-pool load balancing and use Autoscale scaling plans to manage available capacity.
• Networking policies - Define the network topology that session hosts use to reach applications, data, domain services, and required Azure Virtual Desktop endpoints. Connect an Azure virtual network to an on-premises network by using a VPN or Azure ExpressRoute when workloads require that connectivity.
• User management and identity - Use Microsoft Entra ID and role-based access control to manage access to Azure Virtual Desktop resources. Join session hosts to the same Microsoft Entra tenant as your users or to an Active Directory domain that uses Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Microsoft Entra Domain Services. If you use AD DS or Microsoft Entra Domain Services, synchronize user identities with Microsoft Entra ID.

Infrastructure and system requirements

Azure Virtual Desktop requires the following infrastructure, clients, and images.

Infrastructure

Azure Virtual Desktop supports cloud-only and hybrid identity scenarios. Every deployment requires:

• An Azure subscription.
• A Microsoft Entra tenant for user authentication.
• A virtual network and subnet for session hosts.
• Session hosts joined to the same Microsoft Entra tenant as the users, or to an Active Directory domain that uses AD DS or Microsoft Entra Domain Services.
• A supported 64-bit operating system image for each session host.

If you join session hosts to AD DS or Microsoft Entra Domain Services, the virtual network must be able to connect to the domain controllers and DNS servers. User accounts must also be synchronized with Microsoft Entra ID. A Microsoft Entra-only deployment doesn't require domain controllers or Microsoft Entra Domain Services.

For current identity and network requirements, see Prerequisites for Azure Virtual Desktop.

Supported clients

Users can connect to Azure Virtual Desktop by using Windows App or a supported Remote Desktop client from:

• Windows
• macOS
• iOS or iPadOS
• Android or Chrome OS
• A web browser

Supported VM OS images

Azure Virtual Desktop supports the following x64 operating system images:

• Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session
• Windows 11 Enterprise
• Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session
• Windows 10 Enterprise
• Windows Server 2025
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2016

Supported versions and dates follow the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy. Azure Virtual Desktop doesn't support 32-bit operating systems or editions that aren't listed in the current prerequisites. For the current support and licensing matrix, see Operating systems and licenses.

Set up process

Microsoft's Azure Virtual Desktop solution on Microsoft Azure is a fully managed desktop virtualization solution.

As you progress through the Azure Virtual Desktop training, you'll notice that the setup process abstracts many of the infrastructure roles you might have deployed for RDS in the past. Use the information in this learning path to Prepare > Deploy > Optimize your Azure Virtual Desktop environments.

The following table gives you an overview of the setup process and describes what's covered in the rest of the Azure Virtual Desktop modules.

Milestone	Steps
Prepare	In the Prepare module, we'll discuss the following steps to complete before you deploy Azure Virtual Desktop: - Set up Microsoft Entra ID. - Choose a supported identity and session-host join option. - Create Azure resources. - Assign administrator roles. - Assign licenses to Azure Virtual Desktop users. - Register the Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization resource provider with your subscription.
Deploy	In the Deploy module, we'll walk through the steps to: - Create an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool and workspace. - Make desktops and apps available to users by using application groups. - Customize the workspace. - Connect to the workspace by using Windows App or a supported Remote Desktop client.
Optimize	In the Optimize module, we'll walk through the steps to: - Configure FSLogix profile containers on supported storage. - Monitor connection quality and session-host performance. - Scale session hosts by using Azure Virtual Desktop Autoscale and scaling plans.