How to prevent users from switching to physical machine in cloud pc

Ricky Su 0

Hi,

We have deployed the cloud PC for our customer however they have strict requirement which to disable or not allowed to toggle out back to physical machines after logged in cloud PC. We did try both Web base remote and RDP tool which both are allowed switching back to physical machines. We did explore Windows 365 boot feature however it's still in public review and it's not accepted on our customer environment.

Hope to looking for value advise.

thanks

Ricky Su

1 answer

Crystal-MSFT 47,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-08-31T05:42:47.8233333+00:00

@Ricky Su, Thanks for posting in Q&A. Based on my researching, I didn't find the feature in Windows 365 which can prevent users from switching to physical machine. You can feedback in the following link to see if it can be added in the future:

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/6ab53114-95ab-ec11-9840-000d3a1c7d74

Thanks for your understanding.

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Ricky Su 0 Reputation points

2023-08-31T05:57:27.53+00:00

Thanks Crystal. do you know is this a limitation feature in cloud PCs?

Crystal-MSFT 47,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-08-31T06:22:16.1+00:00

@Ricky Su, Thanks for the reply. As the cloud PC is accessed via web or RDP, so the communication between physical machine and cloud PC is always needed. So based on my understanding, the feature you request for cloud PC can be limited until there are new technology developed.

Ricky Su 0 Reputation points

2023-09-04T04:01:01.27+00:00

Hi Crytal, thanks for the comments. Could we implement physical machine registry to restrict cloud PC session will be always on top unless user disconnect the session? Which also means the minimize buttion will disabled during RDP session.

found some registry settings might be durable as below and help to advise?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\[cloud pc] Value Name = ForceOnTop Value Type = REG_DWORD Enabled Value = 1

Crystal-MSFT 47,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-04T07:04:05.25+00:00

@Ricky Su, Thanks for the reply. Based on my checking, the registry key can forbid the minimize button. But can't forbidden the close button to prevent user to switch to physical machine.

https://admx.help/?Category=RemoteDesktopPlus&Policy=Donkz.Policies.RemoteDesktopPlus::RDP_ForceOnTop

Note: Non-Microsoft link, just for the reference.

And after researching, I don't find the registry key to hide the close option.

I wonder why you want to prevent the switching. If you just want to forbidden user to access GUI on the physical machine. The way I can think is to kill explorer.exe process on the physical machine.

Ricky Su 0 Reputation points

2023-09-04T07:11:24.5733333+00:00

Hi Crytal, this is requirement from customer which only allow to do certain selected tasks (Exchange online, OneDrive) on cloud PC. Once users logged in to cloud PC and they will not allow to switch back to physical machine. In short, they need more restricted control on cloud PC.

Ricky Su 0 Reputation points

2023-09-04T07:15:41.0433333+00:00

Hi Crytal, the KB you showed seem it's relavant to Remote Desktop Plus and does it applied to cloud PC?

Crystal-MSFT 47,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-04T07:32:04.0133333+00:00

@Ricky Su, Thanks for the reply. For the registry key, I think it is used to set on the device which run Remote desktop. Not set on Cloud PC For the customer request, I am afraid, I can't think out one method to do it on cloud PC. You can also try to open case to see if there's other suggestion provided:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/get-support

Ricky Su 0 Reputation points

2023-09-04T07:43:17.9166667+00:00

Hi Crytal, got your point and understand it correctly once executed the registry changes on physical machine and will disable the minimize button in the cloud pc using same physical PC remote in?

Ricky Su 0 Reputation points

2023-09-05T02:03:52.79+00:00

Hi Crytal,
tried the reference below and don't really work as expected.

https://admx.help/?Category=RemoteDesktopPlus&Policy=Donkz.Policies.RemoteDesktopPlus::RDP_ForceOnTop

Crystal-MSFT 47,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-05T02:24:09.8566667+00:00

@Ricky Su, Thanks for the reply. It seems the setting cannot apply to our scenario.
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How to prevent users from switching to physical machine in cloud pc

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