Why does AVD create 2 instances for the same user?

Question

We have a system where users can either open an app remotely and/or open the entire desktop.
Some users need both a remote app and the remote desktop open at the same time. This results is the user having multiple user instances running on the remote for the same user.
Can someone explain to me why this is, if it is a bug or intended and if there is a solution to use a single instance for both remote apps and remote desktops for the same user.

Answer 1

Hello, @Matthew Laukala !

Creating multiple instances for the app and desktop group is by design for Azure Virtual Desktop (single instances are not supported). The documentation goes into a bit more detail:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/environment-setup#app-groups

To publish resources to users, you must assign them to app groups. When assigning users to app groups, consider the following things:

• We don't support assigning both the RemoteApp and desktop app groups in a single host pool to the same user. Doing so will cause a single user to have two user sessions in a single host pool. Users aren't supposed to have two active user sessions at the same time, as this can cause the following things to happen:
◦ The session hosts become overloaded
◦ Users get stuck when trying to login
◦ Connections won't work
◦ The screen turns black
◦ The application crashes
◦ Other negative effects on end-user experience and session performance
• A user can be assigned to multiple app groups within the same host pool, and their feed will be an accumulation of both app groups.