Windows 365

Configure Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC step-by-step

Many organizations are looking at VDI these days. Windows 365 Enterprise may be a great fit for many organizations looking for a hosted VDI solution that provides the ability. It allows customers to integrate their VDI workstations into their existing Azure environments and have access to more advanced management and policy solutions that are not available in the Windows 365 Business offering. Let’s take a quick look at how to configure Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC step-by-step and see how this is done.

Configure Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC step-by-step

As a high-level overview, to configure Windows 365 Enterprise step-by-step, you need to complete the following steps:

  1. Purchase the Windows 365 Enterprise license
  2. Add the Enterprise Cloud PC license to the user
  3. Create an on-premises network connection
  4. Create a provisioning policy
  5. Provision the Enterprise Cloud PC
  6. Verify the user can sign into the Enterprise Cloud PC

1. Purchase the Windows 365 Enterprise license

The first step you need to take is to purchase a Windows 365 Enterprise license. Visit the windows365.microsoft.com site and purchase the license and Windows 365 configuration you want to use for your end-user. After you have purchased the Windows 365 license, you will see it listed when you navigate to Devices > Provisioning > Windows 365 > All Cloud PCs in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager Admin Center.

After purchasing a Windows 365 Enterprise license it appears as not provisioned in the endpoint manager devices
After purchasing a Windows 365 Enterprise license it appears as not provisioned in the endpoint manager devices

2. Add the Enterprise Cloud PC license to the user

After you purchase the license, you need to add the license to a Microsoft 365 user in your organization. This is a simple check box under your admin dashboard in Microsoft 365 Manage product licenses for a user.

Manage the license for the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC
Manage the license for the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC

3. Create an on-premises network connection

From what I can tell, the create an “on-premises network connection” step is probably going to be the most confusing. What is this? Currently, the Windows 365 solution cannot natively join Azure Active Directory. So you need to have a legacy ADDS environment to join instead. This also means you need to use Hybrid Azure AD to synchronize your ADDS accounts to Azure Active Directory. The on-premises network connection checks for all of these components to be in place and will fail if these are not configured.

Windows 365 Enterprise needs a “line of sight” connection to Active Directory Domain Services for joining and precludes the need for DNS to be configured correctly to work to resolve the on-premises Active Directory domain. Once you have this configured, you can successfully create your provisioning policy that requires the valid on-premises network connection.

Once you have configured your on-premises network connection, you will need to ensure the checks are successful.

Running checks for the on premises network connection
Running checks for the on premises network connection

The checks are successful.

Checks are successful for the on premises network connection
Checks are successful for the on premises network connection

What is it checking? Take a look at the list of checks performed below.

An overview of the on premises network checks performed
An overview of the on premises network checks performed

4. Create a provisioning policy

To actually provision the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC, you need to create a provisioning policy. Below are the steps shown to step through the provisioning policy wizard. First, you need to name the policy and select the appropriate on-premises network connection

Name the provisioning policy and select the on premises network connection
Name the provisioning policy and select the on premises network connection

Select an image for use in provisioning the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC. Note below, you can choose a Microsoft Azure Gallery image or use a custom image. Here I am selecting the Gallery image.

Select a Windows image from the deployment gallery
Select a Windows image from the deployment gallery

If you choose the Gallery image, you will see the Select an image dialog box to choose an image for use with Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC.

Viewing and selecting a Windows image from the gallery in Azure
Viewing and selecting a Windows image from the gallery in Azure

Below, the gallery image has been selected, and we are ready to proceed to the assignments.

Gallery image is successfully selected and ready to proceed
Gallery image is successfully selected and ready to proceed

On the assignments screen, you will be prompted to select a group to assign the Windows 365 Enterprise desktop. As a note, the Windows 10 & 11 (when available) images allow multi-user connections. So, it makes sense here that you select a group, instead of a single user.

Choose the assignment for the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC
Choose the assignment for the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC

Finally, we review and create the provisioning policy.

Review and create the provisioning policy
Review and create the provisioning policy

Below, the provisioning policy is fully created and listed under the Provisioning policies tab.

The Windows 365 Enterprise provisioning policy is successfully created
The Windows 365 Enterprise provisioning policy is successfully created

5. Provision the Enterprise Cloud PC

After you create the provisioning policy, you will see the status of the available Cloud PC change to Provisioning under the All Cloud PCs tab.

Cloud PC status shows as provisioning
Cloud PC status shows as provisioning

After several minutes, the status should change to Provisioned.

The Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC is successfully provisioned
The Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC is successfully provisioned

After the workstation has fully provisioned, you should be able to check and see the same Device name listed under the All devices blade of Azure Active Directory in your Azure Portal.

The Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC device is created in Azure Active Directory
The Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC device is created in Azure Active Directory

6. Verify the user can sign into the Enterprise Cloud PC

Finally, the assigned user should be able to log into the Enterprise Cloud PC through the windows365.microsoft.com portal.

After logging in the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC is available to the end user
After logging in the Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC is available to the end user

Wrapping Up

The new Enterprise Cloud PC offering from Microsoft allows organizations to have the enterprise features needed to manage, configure, and secure end-user PCs in the cloud. Since it integrates with the Azure environment, the workstations have access to the network of your current Azure environment. This connection into the Azure vNet provides advantages when accessing corporate resources. As shown, the steps to configure Windows 365 Enterprise Cloud PC step-by-step are fairly straightforward to get up and running.

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Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee is the Senior Writer, Engineer and owner at Virtualizationhowto.com and has over two decades of experience in Information Technology. Having worked for numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as in various industries, Brandon has extensive experience in various IT segments and is a strong advocate for open source technologies. Brandon holds many industry certifications, loves the outdoors and spending time with family.

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