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How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
pg. 2How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Assumptions about your deployment1. This will be a pilot deployment, meaning you are not expecting to use these desktops
in production because WVD is still in preview and not generally available. You will
be able to convert this to a production environment later, but for the purpose of this
document it is a non-disruptive pilot.
2. WVD will be deployed into your existing Azure AD tenant but into a new Active Directory
Domain Services (AD DS) deployment running in Azure. This will not cause any issues or
conflict with your existing AD DS deployment. Once the pilot is deployed it is possible
to “plug” it into your existing AD DS and start using it, but because this is a pilot, we will
not be touching your production AD DS.
3. To meet our two hour deployment benchmark, we will be using Nerdio for Azure Core
to automatically build out an Azure environment prior to deploying WVD desktops. The
alternative is to read lots of documentation, learn a ton of PowerShell scripting, and
spend days building everything by hand.
Can’t wait to get your newly released Windows Virtual Desktop but are not sure where to start?You’ve come to the right place! This guide will walk you through the step-
by-step process and show you how you go from zero to having functional
Windows 10 desktops running in Microsoft Azure in under two hours. You may
think it is impossible to deploy Azure desktops in such a short time, but read on.
pg. 3How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
PrerequisitesYou will need the following before you get started:
1. Office 365 account with at least 1 unassigned E3 license
2. The E3 license is needed for deployment and testing. You can remove the license later
and desktops will continue working.
3. Azure subscription within the same Azure AD tenant as the Office 365 account
(e.g. company.onmicrosoft.com)
• Must have at least two BS-series core quota and four Dsv3-series core quota
available. Most subscriptions meet this requirement out of the box, but you
can verify this in the Azure Portal under Subscription->Usage and Quotas and
Request Increase if needed.
4. Admin user account with global administrator access to Office 365 and owner role on
the Azure subscription
5. Nerdio account – if you don’t have a Nerdio account you can sign up for a free 30-day
trial (no credit card required)
The deployment process1. Deploy an NFA Core account into your Office 365 and Azure subscription
2. Gather needed information
3. Grant WVD Consent to AAD
4. Deploy WVD
5. Install Remote Desktop client and connect
The end-result will be a brand-new Azure environment with an Active Directory Domain
Controller integrated with your Azure AD and a WVD Host Pool containing two D2sv3 VMs (two
CPUs / 8GB RAM each). You will also have four demo user accounts that are going to be server
“pooled” (non-persistent) desktops from this pool of two Windows 10 Enterprise Multi-session
VMs.
pg. 4How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Step 1: Deploy a Nerdio for Azure Core account(Estimated time: 1 hour)
1. Log into the Nerdio Admin Portal
2. Click Add NFA account button on bottom right
3. Section 1: Connect to Azure using a global administrator account
• Select your Subscription and the Region you want to deploy into
• Specify Resource Group name (optional)
• Set AHU to Yes
4. Section 2: Connect to Office 365 using a global administrator account
pg. 5How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
5. Section 3: Specify Company name
• Select Core from the Plan dropdown
6. Click Save and OK to proceed
7. Once the NFA Core account is provisioned, click Login to the right of the account name
8. Click on Users on the left and Andy IT Admin
pg. 6How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
9. Click Show extended attributes, check Grant domain admin rights and click Save
pg. 7How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Step 2: Gather necessary information(Estimated time: 10 minutes)
NOTE: You can proceed with this step while NFA Core (Step 2) is provisioning.
At this stage we need to collect some important information that will be used in subsequent
steps. The following information will be needed.
1. Global administrator username
2. NFA Account ID
3. Resource Group Name
4. Azure Region
5. Azure Subscription ID
6. AAD Tenant ID
Global administrator account – the user account you used in Step 1 when connecting to
Azure and Office 365
NFA Account ID – account ID found in the Nerdio Admin Portal next to the newly provisioned
NFA Core account
Resource Group Name – this is the name of the Resource Group you used to create NFA Core
in Step 1. In our example, it is WVDPilotRG
pg. 8How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Azure Region – region that NFA Core was provisioned in. In our example it is southcentralus
(South Central US – with no spaces)
Azure Subscription ID – Azure subscription where NFA Core was deployed. Find it in the Nerdio
Admin Portal by clicking on the “more…” link next to the NFA Core account
AAD Tenant ID – Azure Active Directory tenant ID found in Azure portal under Azure Active
Directory > Properties > Directory ID.
pg. 9How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Step 3: Grant WVD Consent to AAD(Estimated time: 10 minutes)
NOTE: You can proceed with this step while NFA Core (Step 2) is provisioning.
1. Open a browser and connect to the Windows Virtual Desktop consent page
2. For Consent Option > Server App, enter the AAD Tenant ID, then click Submit
3. Sign in as the global administrator account and select Accept
4. Wait for one minute
pg. 10How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
5. Navigate back to the Windows Virtual Desktop consent page
6. Go to Consent Option > Client App, enter the same AAD Tenant ID, then click Submit
7. Sign in as the same global administrator account and select Accept
Assign the TenantCreator application role to your global administrator
account:
1. Open a browser and connect to the Azure Active Directory portal with your global
administrator account
2. Select Enterprise applications and search for Windows Virtual Desktop. You’ll see the
two applications you provided consent for in the previous section. Of these two apps,
select Windows Virtual Desktop
pg. 11How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
3. Select Users and groups, then select Add user
4. Select Users in the Add Assignment blade
5. Search for the global administrator account
6. Select the user account, click the Select button, and then select Assign
pg. 12How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Step 4: Deploy WVD(Estimated time: 30 minutes)
NOTE: You must wait for NFA Core (Step 2) to finish provisioning before proceeding with
this step.
1. If it’s not installed already, download .NET framework 4.7.2 or later
2. Open Windows PowerShell ISE from Start Menu as Administrator
3. Download DeployWVD.ps1 script and open it via PowerShell ISE
4. Modify the variables section and set them to the values recorded in Step 2 above
5. Save the script and run it by clicking the green “play button” or pressing F5
NOTE: This script will upgrade the Azure and WVD PowerShell module to the latest
available versions on the computer where you’re running it
6. If prompted to install from unknown repository select Yes to All
7. It will take the script some time to run. Be patient, you’re almost there.
pg. 13How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
Step 5: Install Remote Desktop client and connect(Estimated time: 10 minutes)
1. Download and install WVD Remote Desktop client for Windows 7 and 10
2. Subscribe to your newly created desktop
3. Use any of the four demo accounts pre-created for you. The default password is
“AwesomeNerdioXXXX” (where XXXX is the NFA Core account ID from step 2)
4. You should see a published desktop called “Session Desktop.” Double click on it to
launch it.
5. You will likely be prompted for the
username and password again. Go ahead
and type in the same credentials you used
in #3 above. This is something that is going
to be fixed when WVD goes into general
availability and only one login will be required.
6. You can also access your WVD desktop using a Web client. Browse to
https://rdweb.wvd.microsoft.com/webclient and log in with the same credentials.
pg. 14How to Deploy a Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) Pilot in Under Two Hours with Nerdio for Azure Core
ConclusionCongratulations! You have just completed a full deployment of WVD in Azure. Hopefully you
found the experience to be straightforward, automated, and quick as opposed to spending
countless hours studying documentation, learning PowerShell commands, and going through
significant trial-and-error.
This pilot deployment should help you get a feel for the new WVD service and Windows 10
Enterprise multi-session operating system. Once WVD enters General Availability, Nerdio’s
Enterprise and Professional plans will automate the entire provisioning process from start to
finish. It will be just as easy as deploying NFA Core in Step 1 above.
At Nerdio, we are all about agility and simplification. Those are just some of the ways we empower MSPs to build successful cloud practices in Azure.
Contact Us:
Phone: 1-844-463-7346Email: [email protected]: getnerdio.com
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