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.
Summary
- The Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) service remains in Azure, while session hosts run on-premises on existing hardware
- Supports any on-premises hypervisor running Windows virtual machines, plus bare-metal Windows Server
- Session hosts connect to Azure through Microsoft Azure Arc
- No Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid license is required during Public Preview (final licensing terms to be announced)
- Currently only supported with validation host pools – production workloads must be redeployed at General Availability
- Launch partners include LoginVSI, Nerdio, and Nutanix
What is changing?
Until now, Azure Virtual Desktop required session hosts to run in the Microsoft cloud. With this release, Microsoft extends the cloud-managed AVD control plane to on-premises environments. Organizations can host AVD session hosts on their own hardware while continuing to use the familiar AVD management experience in Azure.
The Azure Virtual Desktop service itself stays in Azure. Session hosts can be deployed wherever Azure Arc-enabled servers are supported, and users continue to connect through the Windows App.
What is Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid?
Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid is a new deployment option for Microsoft’s Azure Virtual Desktop service. It allows organizations to run AVD session hosts on on-premises infrastructure, while Microsoft continues to host and manage the AVD service in Azure.
It sits within Microsoft’s wider Windows cloud portfolio, alongside Windows 365 and the original cloud-based Azure Virtual Desktop. The connection between on-premises session hosts and the Azure-based control plane is established through Microsoft Azure Arc.
Customer benefits at a glance
- Modernize legacy VDI environments without replacing existing infrastructure
- Preserve existing investments in datacenters, hardware, and operational tools
- Lower the risk of cloud migration through a phased, controllable approach
- Maintain partner integrations for virtual machine management and provisioning
- Adopt cloud-managed desktops incrementally, with a clear path to migrate to Azure later
- Standardize the user experience across cloud and on-premises desktops through the Windows App
Key capabilities
- Cloud-managed AVD service hosted and maintained by Microsoft in Azure
- Broad hypervisor support – runs on any on-premises hypervisor that supports Windows VMs
- Bare-metal Windows Server support – Windows Server installed directly on a physical machine, with no hypervisor underneath, which avoids virtualization overhead and removes hypervisor licensing from the stack
- Azure Arc integration for secure connectivity between on-premises hosts and the Azure control plane
- Familiar Windows App access for end users across devices
Launch partners
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:
- Nerdio – a management platform for AVD that simplifies provisioning, image management, auto-scaling, and cost control
- Nutanix – a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and hypervisor vendor widely used for on-premises virtualization; supported as an AVD Hybrid hosting platform
- LoginVSI – a performance testing and user experience monitoring tool for VDI, used to validate capacity and responsiveness before and after rollout
Supported operating systems and licensing
Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid supports the following operating systems. Users must be licensed for the operating system they access.
- Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025 – via Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CAL with Software Assurance or RDS User Subscription Licenses; supported on virtual machines and physical servers
- Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise – via Microsoft 365 E3/E5/A3/A5/F3, Business Premium, Student Use Benefit, Windows Enterprise E3/E5, Windows Education A3/A5, Windows VDA per user, or per-user access pricing (external commercial use only); supported on virtual machines only – physical PCs are not supported
- Windows 10 and 11 Enterprise multi-session – not supported on Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid
Current limitations in Public Preview
Because Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid does not provision or manage virtual machine state, several familiar AVD features are not available in the preview:
- Session Host Power Management is not exposed in the Azure portal
- Auto-Scale is not supported
- Start VM on Connect is not supported
- Session Host Configuration is not supported
- Organizations remain responsible for deploying and managing their on-premises hosting platform using hypervisor tools, scripts, or partner solutions
Why Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid is relevant now
Many organizations face regulatory, data residency, or operational constraints that limit a full move to the public cloud. Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid reduces the risk of cloud migration by enabling a phased path instead of a disruptive cutover.
It lowers modernization cost because existing servers, hypervisors, and operational tools can continue in use. At the same time, IT teams gain increased clarity and control through a unified, Azure-based management experience for both cloud and on-premises desktops.
For customers with significant on-premises VDI investments, this is the first time the Azure Virtual Desktop control plane becomes available without requiring infrastructure replacement.
What organizations should do now
- Review existing VDI deployments to identify candidates for cloud-managed administration
- Validate compatibility of current hypervisors and Windows Server hosts with AVD Hybrid requirements
- Test the public preview only in validation host pools – never in production
- Plan redeployment timing for any preview workloads ahead of General Availability
- Assess licensing coverage for supported operating systems and Remote Desktop Services access rights
- Monitor Microsoft’s updates on AVD Hybrid licensing, which has not yet been finalized
Ready to review your VDI licensing strategy?
Assess the licensing impact of Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid and align your Microsoft virtualization investments with the help of our experts. Contact us to optimize your environment today.
Sources
For the announcement of Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid Public Preview, please visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/hybrid-overview.
For useful software licensing information on Microsoft products, please visit: https://www.schneider.im/software/microsoft/.