Select an appropriate licensing model for Azure Virtual Desktop based on requirements

  • 4 minutes

You can access Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 7 Enterprise desktops and apps at no extra cost if you have an eligible Windows or Microsoft 365 license.

Windows Server Remote Desktop Service is available at no cost if you have an eligible Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Client Access License (CAL).

Reserved Virtual Machine Instances are flexible and can be exchanged or returned.

Multi-session provides the greatest flexibility and cost savings by:

  • Sharing the desktop infrastructure, preserving the state of your OS image by operating in a pooled environment.
  • User data and settings retention.
  • Accessed using FSLogix.

Personal desktops are typically chosen for the following reasons:

  • Users needing administrative rights to modify the operating system and it retained after a virtual machine restart.
  • Users running applications not compatible with multi-session.

Diagram of Windows 10 remote desktop apps.

TYPE

DESCRIPTION

ELIGIBILITY

Virtualize Windows 10 and Windows 7

Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 7 Enterprise desktops and apps available at no cost with an eligible Windows or Microsoft 365 license.Get free Extended Security Updates until January 2023 for your Windows 7 virtual desktop—offering more options to support legacy apps while you transition to Windows 10.

  • Microsoft 365 E3/E5
  • Microsoft 365 A3/A5/Student Use Benefits
  • Microsoft 365 F3
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium**
  • Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5
  • Windows 10 Education A3/A5
  • Windows 10 VDA per user

Virtualize Windows Server

Desktops powered by Windows Server Remote Desktop Services desktops and apps at no other cost if you are an eligible Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Client Access License (CAL) customer.

Eligible to access Windows Server 2012 R2 and newer desktops and apps if you have a per-user or per-device RDS CAL license with active Software Assurance (SA).

* Customers can access Azure Virtual Desktop from their non-Windows Pro endpoints if they have a Microsoft 365 E3/E5/F3/Business/ A3/A5/Student Use Benefits or Windows 10 VDA per user license.

Listed below are the Azure components that factor into the price of an Azure Virtual Desktop deployment.

  • Virtual machines and operating system (OS) storage
  • Data disk (personal desktop only)
  • User profile storage
  • Networking

Azure Virtual Desktop session host virtual machines (VMs) including Citrix Cloud and VMW Horizon Cloud on Azure deployments are charged at Linux compute rates for Windows 10 single, Windows 10 multi-session and Windows Server.