Exercise—Access your Windows 365 Cloud PC

  • 2 minutes

In this exercise, you'll begin using a Windows 365 Cloud PC as your development workstation.

Scenario

You've joined a new development team. Instead of setting up a local machine, you're given access to a Windows 365 Cloud PC that has already been configured. Your goal is simple: sign in and begin working—without significant setup.

Tasks

  1. Sign in to your Windows 365 Cloud PC. Access your assigned Cloud PC using your organization's sign-in process

  2. Explore your environment. Review the desktop and available applications. If your Cloud PC is using Image with Developer Configuration (preview), notice that you already have access to preconfigured editors and a WSL environment that's ready to use.

  3. Locate development tools. Find key tools such as your code editor, terminal, or command-line interface. Confirm that they're ready to use without installation.

  4. Open a development tool. Launch a code editor or terminal session. Verify that the tool starts without significant setup steps.

Expected outcome

By the end of this exercise, you should have immediate access to a working development environment.

You didn't install tools, configure dependencies, or troubleshoot setup issues. Instead, you signed in and started working.

Why this matters

These types of environments are often created using standardized images that preinstall tools and configure the system. This ensures that every developer begins with the same setup, improving onboarding consistency.

This experience demonstrates the core shift behind Windows 365 for developers: your development environment is prepared before you arrive, so you can begin working the moment you sign in.

In the next exercise, you'll take the next step—using this environment to start real development work.