{"id":14561,"date":"2019-12-03T12:33:31","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T12:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/?p=14561"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:10:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:10:23","slug":"wvd-vs-rds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wvd-vs-rds\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows Virtual Desktop vs RDS – 6 Attributes to Consider"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the roll-out of Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) which is a hosted desktop as a service<\/a>, the common question that keeps coming is the difference between Azure Remote Desktop Session Hosts (RDS) vs WVD and which one to choose. Here we will take you through the broad technicalities, how WVD relates to RDS, the benefits, cost-effectiveness and user preferences for opting one against the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Windows Virtual\nDesktop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Windows Virtual Desktop <\/a>is a cloud platform service, a set of Microsoft technologies running in Microsoft Azure for virtualizing desktops and apps. WVD is not a virtual desktop that you can buy from Microsoft. Rather, it is a set of technologies used to build virtual desktops for customers and end-users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along\nwith simplified virtual desktop management, WVD offers multi-session Windows\n10, optimizations for Office 365 ProPlus and support for RDS environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remote Desktop Services (RDS)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is a virtualization service where\nthe Windows software along with the entire\ndesktop of the computer running RDS are accessible to any remote client machine\nsupporting Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Thereby providing secure, mobile and\nremote desktop access to users and also to run applications and desktops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 WVD vs RDS Convergences, Differences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

i) The OS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic difference between RDS and WVD is, RDS is based on\na server operating system (OS), WVD comes with a desktop OS that is, multi-user\nWindows 10. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WVD is both platform and infrastructure services (PaaS and Iaas). Here the host is a virtual machine<\/a> (VM), and the rest of the service is PaaS. With much fewer machines to care for, WVD is an easier environment than RDS for the service providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RDS is a DaaS<\/a> service, and the end-user choose the server type, storage, security groups, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ii) The Management<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In WVDs,\nthe entire infrastructure is managed by Microsoft (Paas); whereas in RDS, the\ninfrastructure is created and maintained by the service provider. In WVDs\nscenario, the operating system installation, up-gradation, patching of the OS,\nnetwork configuration everything is managed by Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Whereas, with RDS, the service providers or IT\ndepartments need to build one or more Windows Server VMs, install and\nconfigure. Boils down to additional Azure infrastructure plus expenses to\nsupport the control panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 iii) Multi-User Windows 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nexclusivity is available with WVDs and not on RDS, or any other cloud either.\nInstead of one Windows Client VM per user, WVD allows multiple-users Windows 10\non a single VM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RDS\nallows users to work from a shared computer, but the OS needs to be Windows\nServer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 iv) Supports <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WVD\nsupports Windows Server VMs as Session Hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who want to transform gradually to WVD this is a benefit. Because RDS Session hosts are supported in WVD. As a result, users or service providers can enjoy the WVD benefits that are not present in the RDS environment (for example, the availability of WVD infrastructure, auto-scaling, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

v) Resource Optimization & Load Balancing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WVD offers to scale and load balancing by way of \u2018breadth\u2019 and \u2018depth\u2019 mode. The breadth mode offers user distribution among the host pools for the best performance. The depth mode enables one server to be used first before allocating the next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even a combination of the\ntwo is possible at periods as per the need. All these help in cost saving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, through persistent desktop<\/a> (i.e. many-to-one using the same desktop), it is shared among different users where settings are not saved, resulting in space optimization. WVD also enables you to select the number of users per CPU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 vi) Windows Virtual Desktop & RDS License <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far as\nClient Access License (CAL)\nfor Windows Virtual Desktop, RDS is concerned, you will not need a CAL\nfor WVD. You can use your existing Windows E3 or Office 365 Pro Plus\nsubscription or even an eligible Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Client\nAccess License (CAL). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azure compute, storage, and networking associated with the\nvirtual machines used are the only extra costs for WVD. You get all Office 365\nfeatures, OneDrive, Edge and Azure Marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In RDS you need to purchase everything. A Windows Server License, RDS Subscriber Access License for desktop deployment in Azure. Then you need additional VMs to run and manage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RDS or WVD, What to Choose?  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is no fixed answer to this, as it would depend on many factors, needs, and preferences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users may like WVD over legacy RDS for various technical reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

i) WVD is the latest, newest technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ii) profile management through FSLogix<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iii) managed through PaaS <\/p>\n\n\n\n

iv) supports OneDrive, indexed search in pooled desktops<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, some service providers may opt for RDS because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

i) it is a market-tested known and proven solution<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ii) some applications written for RDS on Server OS may not work in multi-session Windows 10 Enterprise at least immediately<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iii) Users may prefer to retain full ownership of VMs and also the control plane or the RDS roles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iv) User settings on being changed\/customized are saved\/retained<\/p>\n\n\n\n

v) RDS can be used both on-premise and in the Azure cloud. In contrast, WVD is an Azure only service<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apps4Rent is a Microsoft Gold partner offering managed Azure solutions. Please feel free to reach us any time 1-646-506-9354<\/em> for your requirement or queries.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the roll-out of Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) which is a hosted desktop as a service, the common question that keeps coming is the difference between Azure Remote Desktop Session Hosts (RDS) vs WVD and which one to choose. Here we will take you through the broad technicalities, how WVD relates to RDS, the benefits, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-windows-virtual-desktop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14561"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17045,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14561\/revisions\/17045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clouddesktoponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}