Blog What’s new in Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) in 2020 for Service Providers?

Since the early days until now, we have worked with Windows Virtual Desktop and its predecessor RDmi. This means that we know remote desktops and WVD down to the smallest detail, giving us an important lead in the market. We are now part of the current private preview where we will test new features that are not publicly available yet.

So, what’s on the planning board for Window Virtual Desktop in 2020?

As of today & this spring

• MSIX App Attach is already in Public Preview and introduces a new way to work with application landscapes on WVD. MSIX App Attach delivers apps to WVD virtual machines by attaching them to MSIX-based app packages stored in file shares, without installing or streaming app binaries into VMs.
• Azure Files AD authentication is also in Public Preview. Azure Files is a PaaS service on Azure that works natively with Azure AD. This preview provides the ability to link Azure Files with classic AD credentials with exactly the same access control experience as on premises.
• The WVD management service (Control Plane) will be available this spring in the Azure portal in a Private Preview format. A great feature that allows Service Providers to manage WVD workloads in the Azure portal, rather than manually via PowerShell or a separate management app. GA is expected for the 2nd half of 2020. 
• Microsoft Teams optimisation with AV Redirection will optimise video and audio delivery between clients and is likely to come into Public Preview this spring.

And what is expected in WVD for this calendar year & next year?

• It will become possible to deploy WVD on Azure Stack. Essentially, Windows Virtual Desktop is an Azure-only service. Azure Stack is extended to work with WVD Session Hosts and will be the new and only way to run WVD workload in an on-premise environment. The WVD control plane is still in the public cloud, but the session hosts can be on-prem, only in Azure Stack. 
• There are many requests for Windows devices to be directly joined in Azure. Microsoft is working on Azure AD join support for the Session Hosts.
• Microsoft has scheduled that the VM Scale Sets will also become available in WVD in 2021, next to the existing availability in Azure. Scale sets provide high availability to applications, and allow a large number of VMs to be managed, configured, and updated centrally and automatically according to demand or schedule.  

In addition to these already cool, new developments, there will be more features in Private Preview for a selected number of Microsoft partners, which we can share with you in due course.