Mastering Windows 365 (Cloud PC) :From Zero to Expert

Explore differences between Windows 365 business and enterprise editions for VDI, including user limits, licensing, domain and network options, data outbound, and policy control through Intune.

Explain licensing for Windows 365, covering business edition prerequisites and fixed monthly subscriptions, then outline enterprise edition requirements with Intune, Entra ID P1, and Office 365 E3/E5 prerequisites.

Explore how Windows 365 frontline licenses address concurrency for rotation or part-time workers, and how reserve licenses provide ten days per year of continuity with cloud pc.

Learn how Windows 365 licensing works, including per-user licenses, business versus enterprise editions, outbound data caps by cloud PC size, and pricing based on size and add-ons.

Explore licensing and access requirements for Windows 365 labs, including Microsoft Intune, admin portal access, and Windows 365 license with trial E3/E5, plus optional Azure for hybrid deployments.

compare microsoft 365 e3 plans, start a one-month trial with try for free and a card on file, then set up the admin domain and licenses in the admin center.

Subscribe to Windows 365 enterprise cloud PC by selecting a plan size, billing cycle, creating a billing profile, placing the order, and tracking licenses in the licensing tab.

Navigate admin.microsoft.com, Intune.microsoft.com, and Microsoft Entra to provision and manage Windows 365 cloud PCs, users, groups, and policies.

Learn the difference between Microsoft tenant and subscriptions, and how tenants provide identity and access management via Azure Active Directory, with subscriptions as billing containers for M365 and Azure services.

Understand Microsoft Entra ID, cloud identity and access management for Microsoft Cloud. See how it authenticates users, authorizes access to Windows 365, and manages users, groups, devices, and conditional access.

Explore Microsoft Intune, a cloud-based endpoint management solution that securely handles devices, apps, and policies across your organization, and see how it replaces on-premises SSM for Windows 365 cloud PCs.

Contrast on-premises and cloud device management, highlighting domain controller and group policies moving to Entra ID and Intune. See how patches and user settings transition from SSM servers to Intune.

Create and manage users, groups, and devices in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) to configure access for Cloud PC and Windows 365, including licensing and basic administration best practices.

Explore the Microsoft Intune admin center, navigate the dashboard and devices sections, and learn how to enroll, view compliance, and manage apps, users, and groups for Windows 365 cloud PCs.

Explore four identity types in Windows 365: cloud-only identity, hybrid identity, federated identity, and external identity, with on-premise Active Directory syncing to Microsoft Entra ID via Azure AD Connect.

Explore Windows 365 networking models by comparing Microsoft hosted networks with customer managed networks (Azure network connection), detailing NIC placement, virtual networks, and customer-owned VNet and address space.

Discover how the Microsoft hosted network for Windows 365 provides a fully managed, SaaS-based cloud PC with zero trust security and fast, scalable deployments.

Discover the benefits of Microsoft hosted network for cloud PCs—no Azure subscription, no extra network costs, no Azure expertise required, fast deployment, built-in zero trust security, and Intune-based management.

Explore cloud PC deployment with customer hosted or Azure network connection, gaining direct access to on-prem AD, customizable VNets and address spaces, and VPN/ExpressRoute connectivity.

Compare Azure network concepts for cloud PC: customer hosted networks offer full VNet control and on-premises connectivity but require an Azure subscription and networking expertise, unlike Microsoft hosted networks.

Compare cloud hosted and customer hosted networks in Windows 365, showing when to choose cloud hosted for users and when to use customer hosted for on-prem and compliant hybrid needs.

Determine whether to use Microsoft Hosted Network for cloud PC with SaaS workflows and simple deployment, or to use Azure Network Connection for on-prem access, custom routing, and hybrid AD.

Explore two domain join options for Windows 365: Microsoft Entra ID join and Entra Hybrid join, with Azure subscription, line-of-sight to domain controllers, and policy management considerations.

Explore the high-level architecture of Windows 365 enterprise, including the shared control plane, cloud pc workload in a Microsoft subscription, and policy management via Intune and Azure Active Directory.

Select the nearest region to users to minimize latency and improve experience. Choose marketplace or custom images and size by user role, using appropriate Vcpu and Ram.

Identify licensing (Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Windows 365 licenses), Entra ID/Intune management, domain options, Azure networking and VNet, and image options (marketplace or custom) for Windows 365 cloud PCs.

Explore windows 365 deployment models, including microsoft hosted with enta join (pure saas), enta id join with bring your own network, and hybrid with azure network connection, demonstrated in lab.

Learn to deploy a Windows 365 cloud pc in a Microsoft hosted network by creating a provisioning policy, selecting enterprise licensing, using gallery images, and assigning licenses.

Explore access options for Windows 365 cloud PCs, including browser access, the Windows app/remote desktop client, mobile access, and the dedicated Windows Link, with pros and cons for each.

Learn which URLs to whitelist to access Windows 365 cloud PC, bypassing SaaS tunnels like Zscaler to reduce latency and avoid extra hops during VPN or proxy use.

Access the cloud PC via the web portal, sign in, configure redirects and keyboard settings, connect to an Azure AD joined Windows 365, and manage uploads and downloads.

Learn to access and connect to Windows 365 Cloud PC using the Windows app, including download, sign in, connectivity health checks, and drive redirection for file transfer.

Remove a user's Windows 365 cloud PC by deleting their license in the Microsoft Admin Center; the cloud PC deprovisions after a seven-day grace period.

Deploy a Windows 365 cloud PC through Azure Network Connection, set up Azure subscription permissions and a VNet with IP address space, then verify via Intune provisioning.

Create a custom image from a Windows VM, generalize with sysprep, capture and import it into Intune as a custom image, then provision Windows 365 cloud PCs using that image.

This lab demonstrates resizing a cloud PC in Windows 365, upgrading from 2 vcpu/4 gb ram/64 gb to 2 vcpu/8 gb ram/128 gb, with license validation and storage rules.

Update the provisioning policy to use a custom image, then reprovision the cloud PC; manually reposition after updates and verify seven zip and Notepad++ are installed.

Configure restore points and user settings for cloud pc, enabling local admin rights and end-user reset or restore, and learn to adjust frequency and manage access via Intune.

Explore hybrid Entra join to enable cloud PCs to use a single identity across on-premises Active Directory and the cloud, synchronized by Entra ID sync and Azure Network Connection.

Deploy a cloud PC using hybrid domain join by building a Windows Server virtual machine and configuring Active Directory on Azure for domain controller deployment.

Install and configure Active Directory Domain Services and DNS on a VM, promote it to a domain controller for the VDI demo site, and validate with AD tools.

Create an organizational unit for Windows 365 in Active Directory, then create two users and a group, and add both users to the group.

Register your domain with a public domain provider, verify ownership in Azure, and use Entra ID Sync to synchronize on-premises users and groups to Microsoft Entra.

register a public domain with Hostinger, verify it as a custom domain in the Azure portal, add a DNS TXT record, and validate propagation for Windows 365 lab setup.

Learn to install and configure Azure AD Connect, enable hybrid Microsoft Entra join, and synchronize on-prem AD users and groups to Microsoft Entra ID for Windows 365 Cloud PC access.

Learn to deploy Windows 365 cloud PCs using a hybrid Microsoft Entra join with an Azure Network Connection, configure domain OU details, provisioning policy, licensing, and single sign-on considerations.

Create a dynamic device group in Intune to manage cloud PCs, using a dynamic query that adds devices whose display name starts with CPC, enabling inclusion for policies or settings.

Deploying a Notepad++ MSI to a Windows cloud PC via Intune by selecting a line-of-business app, uploading the MSI, targeting a cloud PC group, and validating installation status.

Deploy Microsoft store apps to Windows 365 cloud PC by creating a store app deployment and assigning it to the cloud PC.

Convert a dot exe to Intune win32 format using the content preparation tool and deploy to Windows 365 cloud PCs via the Intune portal, applying install commands and detection rules.

Deploy Microsoft 365 apps to a Windows 365 cloud PC via Intune, configure the suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams), and validate installation on the cloud PC.

Configure Windows Update for cloud PC with Microsoft Intune, create update rings, enable product and driver updates, set deferral periods, and deploy quality and feature updates, then verify patches.

Compare frontline shared mode and dedicated mode to understand cloud pc license use. Explain how shared mode enables many users with one active login and non-persistent changes.

Navigate the marketplace in the microsoft 365 admin center to subscribe to the windows 65 frontline trial, choose a plan, set billing, and start the trial.

Create a frontline shared cloud PC by configuring a provisioning policy, selecting a gallery Windows 11 enterprise image, and assigning it to a group; observe non-persistent changes and concurrency limits.

Explore how user experience sync preserves personal settings and application data in Windows 365 Frontline shared mode by attaching per user storage and automating profile loading.

Configure Windows 365 frontline shared mode with user experience sync to preserve user data and settings, using a provisioning policy with four gigabytes of user storage.

Deploy frontline dedicated cloud PCs using a dedicated provisioning policy, and learn why only one user can be active at a time while changes persist across sessions.

Publish individual apps with Windows 365 cloud apps, not full desktops. Use frontline and Microsoft 365 licenses, marketplace or custom images, provisioning policies to publish, edit, reset, or unpublish.

Explore the Windows 365 cloud PC overview, including properties, performance, hardware details, and installed apps. Learn about device compliance, policies, group memberships, and restore points.

Explore cloud pc overview reports to monitor connection quality, utilization, and availability, including round-trip time, bandwidth, gateway region, remoting sign-in time, and transport protocol.

Learn to monitor Windows 365 cloud PC performance and connectivity by accessing per-device reports, viewing health checks for the last seven days, and identifying connection failures.

Configure cloud PC alerts in tenant administration by enabling inbuilt alerts and setting severities; define grace period, deprovision, and storage threshold alerts (80–95%) with email or portal pop up notifications.

Explore Microsoft Intune remote help for cloud PC troubleshooting, learning licensing, license assignment, and deploying remote help on end user and admin devices within your tenant.