Management and Lifecycle of Desktop Images

A desktop image serves as the "golden image" for host pool(s). You must first install the latest Windows updates, application updates, or install new apps, on the desktop image and then update the hosts in host pools. In some rare situations you may need to revert the changes applied to a desktop image.

There are a few options to manage the lifecycle of desktop images:

• When powering off the desktop image VM through Nerdio Manager.

  • Navigate to Desktop Images.

  • Locate the desktop image you wish to work with.

  • Select Power off & set as image.

    Note: You can select Save current image as a backup. This creates a copy of the current image and retains it for a specified duration.

• Use Azure Backup to enable the backup of the VM that the image is associated with.

  • Run the backup nightly.

  • If the image needs to be reverted, in Nerdio Manager restore the VM from the backup and select Power off & set as image to use the older version.

• Add a new image from an Azure VM.

  • Power off the first desktop image VM.

  • In the Azure portal, navigate to its OS disk and select Disk Export.

  • Use the SAS URL to create a new image. This is effectively a clone of the first one.

• Clone the desktop image before you make changes to the desktop image.

• Use the desktop image staging feature to test newly created versions of desktop images before being used by AVD host pools. Once the new version is thoroughly tested, you can mark it as active and start using it.