{"id":73736,"date":"2026-05-27T16:29:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/?p=73736"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:22:20","slug":"microsoft-azure-virtual-desktop-hybrid-cloud-managed-vdi-for-on-premises-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/microsoft-azure-virtual-desktop-hybrid-cloud-managed-vdi-for-on-premises-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid: Cloud-Managed VDI for On-Premises Environments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Bring cloud-managed virtual desktops to your existing on-premises infrastructure.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Effective May 4, 2026<\/strong>, Microsoft launched <strong>Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid<\/strong> in public preview, extending its <strong>cloud-managed Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)<\/strong> service to <strong>on-premises environments<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73723\" src=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-LinkedIn-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-800x526.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"526\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-LinkedIn-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-800x526.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-LinkedIn-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-500x329.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-LinkedIn-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-LinkedIn-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-768x505.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-LinkedIn-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) service remains in Azure<\/strong>, while <strong>session hosts run on-premises<\/strong> on existing hardware<\/li>\n<li>Supports <strong>any on-premises hypervisor<\/strong> running Windows virtual machines, plus <strong>bare-metal Windows Server<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Session hosts connect to Azure through <strong>Microsoft Azure Arc<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>No Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid license is required during Public Preview<\/strong> (final licensing terms to be announced)<\/li>\n<li>Currently <strong>only supported with validation host pools<\/strong> &#8211; production workloads must be redeployed at General Availability<\/li>\n<li><strong>Launch partners<\/strong> include <strong>LoginVSI, Nerdio, and Nutanix<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What is changing?<\/h2>\n<p>Until now, <strong>Azure Virtual Desktop required session hosts to run in the Microsoft cloud<\/strong>. With this release, Microsoft extends the <strong>cloud-managed AVD control plane<\/strong> to <strong>on-premises environments<\/strong>. Organizations can host AVD session hosts on their own hardware while continuing to use the familiar AVD management experience in Azure.<\/p>\n<p>The Azure Virtual Desktop service itself stays in Azure. <strong>Session hosts can be deployed wherever Azure Arc-enabled servers are supported<\/strong>, and users continue to connect through the <strong>Windows App<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73719\" src=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What is Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid<\/strong> is a new <strong>deployment option for Microsoft&#8217;s Azure Virtual Desktop service<\/strong>. It allows organizations to run AVD session hosts on <strong>on-premises infrastructure<\/strong>, while Microsoft continues to host and manage the AVD service in Azure.<\/p>\n<p>It sits within Microsoft&#8217;s wider <strong>Windows cloud portfolio<\/strong>, alongside <strong>Windows 365<\/strong> and the original cloud-based <strong>Azure Virtual Desktop<\/strong>. The connection between on-premises session hosts and the Azure-based control plane is established through <strong>Microsoft Azure Arc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Customer benefits at a glance<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Modernize legacy VDI environments<\/strong> without replacing existing infrastructure<\/li>\n<li><strong>Preserve existing investments<\/strong> in datacenters, hardware, and operational tools<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lower the risk of cloud migration<\/strong> through a phased, controllable approach<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maintain partner integrations<\/strong> for virtual machine management and provisioning<\/li>\n<li><strong>Adopt cloud-managed desktops incrementally<\/strong>, with a clear path to migrate to Azure later<\/li>\n<li><strong>Standardize the user experience<\/strong> across cloud and on-premises desktops through the Windows App<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key capabilities<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cloud-managed AVD service<\/strong> hosted and maintained by Microsoft in Azure<\/li>\n<li><strong>Broad hypervisor support<\/strong> &#8211; runs on any on-premises hypervisor that supports Windows VMs<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bare-metal Windows Server support<\/strong> &#8211; Windows Server installed directly on a physical machine, with <strong>no hypervisor underneath<\/strong>, which avoids virtualization overhead and removes hypervisor licensing from the stack<\/li>\n<li><strong>Azure Arc integration<\/strong> for secure connectivity between on-premises hosts and the Azure control plane<\/li>\n<li><strong>Familiar Windows App<\/strong> access for end users across devices<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Launch partners<\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft worked with selected vendors so their tools integrate with Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid from day one. Each partner addresses a different area of an on-premises VDI deployment:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nerdio<\/strong> &#8211; a <strong>management platform for AVD<\/strong> that simplifies provisioning, image management, auto-scaling, and cost control<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nutanix<\/strong> &#8211; a <strong>hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and hypervisor vendor<\/strong> widely used for on-premises virtualization; supported as an AVD Hybrid hosting platform<\/li>\n<li><strong>LoginVSI<\/strong> &#8211; a <strong>performance testing and user experience monitoring tool<\/strong> for VDI, used to validate capacity and responsiveness before and after rollout<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Supported operating systems and licensing<\/h2>\n<p>Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid supports the following operating systems. <strong>Users must be licensed for the operating system they access.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025<\/strong> &#8211; via <strong>Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CAL with Software Assurance<\/strong> or <strong>RDS User Subscription Licenses<\/strong>; supported on virtual machines and physical servers<\/li>\n<li><strong>Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise<\/strong> &#8211; via <strong>Microsoft 365 E3\/E5\/A3\/A5\/F3, Business Premium, Student Use Benefit, Windows Enterprise E3\/E5, Windows Education A3\/A5, Windows VDA per user<\/strong>, or per-user access pricing (external commercial use only); <strong>supported on virtual machines only<\/strong> &#8211; physical PCs are not supported<\/li>\n<li><strong>Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise multi-session<\/strong> &#8211; <strong>not supported<\/strong> on Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Current limitations in Public Preview<\/h2>\n<p>Because Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid does not provision or manage virtual machine state, several familiar AVD features are <strong>not available<\/strong> in the preview:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Session Host Power Management<\/strong> is not exposed in the Azure portal<\/li>\n<li><strong>Auto-Scale<\/strong> is not supported<\/li>\n<li><strong>Start VM on Connect<\/strong> is not supported<\/li>\n<li><strong>Session Host Configuration<\/strong> is not supported<\/li>\n<li>Organizations remain responsible for <strong>deploying and managing<\/strong> their on-premises hosting platform using hypervisor tools, scripts, or partner solutions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73711\" src=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2-800x450.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2-800x450.png 800w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2-500x281.png 500w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2026\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2026-05-27-Update-Microsoft-Azure-Virtual-Desktop-Hybrid-2.png 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Why Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid is relevant now<\/h2>\n<p>Many organizations face <strong>regulatory, data residency, or operational constraints<\/strong> that limit a full move to the public cloud. Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid <strong>reduces the risk of cloud migration<\/strong> by enabling a <strong>phased path<\/strong> instead of a disruptive cutover.<\/p>\n<p>It <strong>lowers modernization cost<\/strong> because existing servers, hypervisors, and operational tools can continue in use. At the same time, IT teams gain <strong>increased clarity and control<\/strong> through a unified, Azure-based management experience for both cloud and on-premises desktops.<\/p>\n<p>For customers with significant on-premises VDI investments, this is the first time the <strong>Azure Virtual Desktop control plane<\/strong> becomes available without requiring infrastructure replacement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What organizations should do now<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Review<\/strong> existing VDI deployments to identify candidates for cloud-managed administration<\/li>\n<li><strong>Validate<\/strong> compatibility of current hypervisors and Windows Server hosts with AVD Hybrid requirements<\/li>\n<li><strong>Test<\/strong> the public preview only in <strong>validation host pools<\/strong> &#8211; never in production<\/li>\n<li><strong>Plan<\/strong> redeployment timing for any preview workloads ahead of General Availability<\/li>\n<li><strong>Assess<\/strong> licensing coverage for supported operating systems and Remote Desktop Services access rights<\/li>\n<li><strong>Monitor<\/strong> Microsoft&#8217;s updates on AVD Hybrid licensing, which has not yet been finalized<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-56161\" src=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-9744-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Ready to review your VDI licensing strategy?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Assess the licensing impact<\/strong> of Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid and align your <strong>Microsoft virtualization investments<\/strong> with the help of our experts. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/contact\/\"><strong>Contact us to optimize your environment today<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<p><em>For the announcement of Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid Public Preview, please visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/azure\/virtual-desktop\/hybrid-overview\">https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/azure\/virtual-desktop\/hybrid-overview<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For useful software licensing information on Microsoft products, please visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/software\/microsoft\/\">https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/software\/microsoft\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bring cloud-managed virtual desktops to your existing on-premises infrastructure. Effective May 4, 2026, Microsoft launched Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid in public preview, extending its cloud-managed Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) service to on-premises environments. &nbsp; Summary The Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) service remains in Azure, while session hosts run on-premises on existing hardware Supports any on-premises [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[248],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-azure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73738,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73736\/revisions\/73738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}