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Deploy Windows Virtual Desktop

  • December 26, 2019
  • 8 min read
IT and Virtualization Consultant. Romain is specializing in Microsoft technologies such as Hyper-V, System Center, storage, networking, and MS Azure. He is a Microsoft MVP and MCSE in Server Infrastructure and Private Cloud.
IT and Virtualization Consultant. Romain is specializing in Microsoft technologies such as Hyper-V, System Center, storage, networking, and MS Azure. He is a Microsoft MVP and MCSE in Server Infrastructure and Private Cloud.

Windows Virtual Desktop is a virtual desktop solution hosted in Microsoft Azure. It provides a virtual desktop infrastructure based on Windows 10 and RDS servers based on Windows Server.

Windows Virtual Desktop

Because a Remote Desktop web client is used, you can connect from any operating system such as Windows, Mac OS or linux. Windows Virtual Desktop deploys and hides the complexity of a Remote Desktop infrastructure. That means that you don’t need to manage the Web Access, Gateway or Broker server. In this topic, I’ll deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop infrastructure based on Windows 10.

Requirements

Before taking screenshots to write this topic, I implemented the following things:

  • An On-Premises Active Directory
  • A verified custom domain for Azure AD
  • A virtual network with a dedicated subnet for Windows Virtual Desktop
  • A site-to-site VPN between On-Premises and Azure

I configured a custom DNS in virtual network. These IPs are that of my domain controllers located On-Premises.

DNS

I created an account in Active Directory called sa-wvd-join that will be used to join the Windows Virtual Desktop machine to the domain. Then, I created a dedicated OU for Windows Virtual Desktop where I gave the permission to Create Computer objects to sa-wvd-join.

 Active Directory account

Grant Windows Virtual Desktop Service in Azure AD Tenant

First, open Azure AD and navigate in Properties to locate your Directory ID. Copy it and keep it in a notepad.

Properties

Open a web browser in private and navigate to https://rdweb.wvd.microsoft.com. Select Server App and paste your directory ID.

Select Server App

Specify your credentials and accept to give the permissions.

Specify your credentials

Allow the User to Create a Windows Virtual Desktop Tenant

Go back to Azure AD and navigate to Enterprise applications – all applications. A Windows Virtual Desktop should be there. Click on it.

Enterprise applications

Then, add a user with the TenantCreator role.

TenantCreator

Create a Windows Virtual Desktop Tenant

First, grab your Azure subscription ID and your directory ID you copied previously to a notepad. Run the following script to create a Windows Virtual Desktop tenant by changing the IDs and tenant name to yours.

Create a Windows Virtual Desktop tenant

Copy to a notepad the TenantGroupName and the TenantName. You will need it later.

TenantGroupName

Deploy Windows Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Open Azure Portal and navigate to the marketplace. Specify Windows Virtual Desktop. Click on it.

Marketplace

Next, click on create.

Provision a host pool

Thenm specify a resource group, a hostpool name and a region. You can create a pooled or a personal desktop type. In a pool desktop type, users will share Azure VM, and in a personal desktop type, each user will have a dedicated Azure VM.

Specify a resource group

Then, specify the number of users, the VM size and a prefix for a VM.

Specify the number of users

Next, choose an Image OS version. You can pick up an image from the gallery or you can deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop infrastructure based on your own image. Then, choose the disk type you want. Regarding Active Directory, I specified the following settings:

  • AD domain join UPN: the account I created in Active Directory to join Windows Virtual Desktop machine to the domain;
  • Admin Password: password of the above account;
  • Domain to join: the Active Directory domain name;
  • OU Path: OU path to the dedicated OU I created in requirement section.

Then, I selected the virtual network and the dedicated subnet for Windows Virtual Desktop.

Windows Virtual Desktop

Next, specify the tenant group name and the tenant name you wrote previously in the notepad. Then, specify credentials that have permissions in Windows Virtual Desktop application in Azure AD.

Tenant group name

Finally, review your settings and click on Create to start the deployment.

Start the deployment

Deployment is underway

Deployment is finished successfully

Once the deployment is finished successful, I get the Windows Virtual Desktop machine inside my On-Premises Active Directory in the specified OU.

Specify OU

Now you can browse https://rdweb.wvd.microsoft.com to connect to the Windows Virtual Desktop with your credentials.

Windows Virtual Desktop

Hey! Found Romain’s insights useful? Looking for a cost-effective, high-performance, and easy-to-use hyperconverged platform?
Taras Shved
Taras Shved StarWind HCI Appliance Product Manager
Look no further! StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA) is a plug-and-play solution that combines compute, storage, networking, and virtualization software into a single easy-to-use hyperconverged platform. It's designed to significantly trim your IT costs and save valuable time. Interested in learning more? Book your StarWind HCA demo now to see it in action!