Microsoft announced the availability of Windows 365 Frontline Shared. This is a new non-persistent mode where Cloud PCs can be used by other users as well, but still maintaining the one user per Cloud PC concurrency.
Frontline Shared is included in your current Windows 365 Frontline license and adds an extra option during the creation of a provisioning policy.
| Frontline Share is general available starting from 2th of April 2025 and will officially support Windows Autopilot Device Preparation in Hybrid mode! |
It’s not multisession
When thinking about Frontline Shared, I hear similarities with Windows 11 Multisession, the OS that can be used in combination with Azure Virtual Desktop. This is not the case, multisession offers the capability to have multiple users connect to the same virtual machine. A Cloud PC keeps the 1 user per VM aspect ratio.
Frontline Dedicated – 1 license for 3 users
As there are now two Frontline modes, the one we already had is now called Frontline Dedicated. This is to emphasise that each user had their own dedicated Cloud PC to work on. This Cloud PC can never be used by anyone else. Dedicate still offers the flexibility of owning 1 license which grants access to 3 different personal Cloud PC’s. I explain the differences between Frontline and Enterprise is my very first blogpost as well.
Frontline Shared – 1 license for multiple users
With Shared, Microsoft steps away from the dedicated Cloud PC per user and enables a Cloud PC to be shared by multiple users. Just not at the same time.
The max concurrent users per Cloud PC remains one. This means that if you have 10 licenses, you can provision 10 different Frontline Shared Cloud PCs. But you now have the option to assign a group with for example 100 users to it. Let me try to explain it using the table below.
| Windows 365 | Persistent | Licenses | Cloud PCs | Assigned Users | Concurrent Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | Yes | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Frontline Dedicated | Yes | 10 | 30 | 30 | 10 |
| Frontline Shared | No | 10 | 10 | ∞* | 10 |
*During public preview, Microsoft is evaluating the potential limits for assigned users for shared Cloud PCs. More information will be shared at general availability.
Non-Persistent
Frontline shared has another trick up its sleeve, its non-persistent. This means that all changes made by user during their session are removed once they log off. This is something that otherwise only would be offered by expensive VDI products or an AVD environment which requires a lot of heavy customisation and automation. In Frontline Shared Non-Persistent is available out of the box without having to configure anything. Your profile is rebuild each time you log on and is removed once you log off. No specialized tooling or configuration is required.
Use cases
A non persistent environment is not suitable for all use cases. An information worker will not benefit from this use case as they need a traditional persistent Cloud PC, they would still use Enterprise or Frontline Dedicated as their main Cloud PC.
Task workers
A very good use case are Task workers who do not require a dedicated PC. They do not store any data on the Cloud PC and only use pre-installed software, pushed through Microsoft Intune. Typically, this kind of user only require short time access to the Cloud PC and often do their work from a shared physical device as well.
External Contractors
External contractors who only occasionally need a Cloud PC. This gives you the option to only allow access from a company known managed device, fully compliant with your own security standards. They use the Cloud PC to access backend systems they support or provide consultancy for.
If they work for your company for a large amount of time it’s better to consider a Frontline Dedicated Cloud PC.
Specialized tools
Some of your traditional users might require access to a specialized application from time to time. This application might even require backend connectivity to a database of application server. You could position this as a replacement for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) where you only publish certain tools as an addition to the user their regular endpoint.
Hybrid mode is supported for DPP
Starting April 2, 2025, Windows 365 Frontline Shared is generally available and brings official support for Windows Autopilot Device Preparation (DPP) in Hybrid Join mode, also known as Autopilot V2.
This is a major milestone: DPP in a Hybrid scenario will only be supported through Windows 365. The reason? Microsoft has full control over the provisioning process, which allows for actions that are not possible on a traditional physical device.
Good to know
- Frontline Shared uses the same Frontline license as you already have
- As the Cloud PC is shared, users won’t have admin rights, even if you enable this through the user settings
- Users will not be able to restore a VM to a previous state
- Frontline Shared with Device Preparation is officially supported in a hybrid scenario
- Users can however choose to connect to a different Frontline Shared Cloud PC when they experience issues
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