By Fredrik Brattstig @virtualbrat
1 September 2023
Yesterday, IGEL published the IGEL Windows 365 App in the IGEL App Portal for IGEL OS 12.
The IGEL Windows 365 App is purpose-built to support the new technologies that Microsoft brings to the market with the Windows 365 genre. IGEL and Microsoft have jointly worked on the IGEL Windows 365 App design concepts to make the App familiar cross-platform, providing users a familiar experience regardless of the endpoint technology used.
The IGEL Windows 365 App is very closely connected to the IGEL Azure Virtual Desktop App, as it is sharing the same core technology. The IGEL Windows 365 App has the Cloud PC controls built in enabling the use of Microsoft Graph APIs to control Cloud PCs and Frontline VMs, features like giving the user control to reboot and rename their Cloud PC and troubleshoot connectivity issues in a self-service form. In the past, you could use the IGEL Azure Virtual Desktop App to access Windows 365 resources, and you still can, though, the IGEL Windows 365 App is created to support the current and upcoming Windows 365 unique features.
Consenting the IGEL Windows 365 App for your Azure tenant!
Before we get started, it is important to note that the new IGEL Windows 365 App is using an IGEL Azure AD App ID, which means that you will need to consent the usage of the IGEL Windows 365 App for your organization. This can easily be done by an Azure AD Admin user having access to approve consent requests for the organization. If the application is not yet consented in you for your Azure tenant, users will not be able to use the App to connect to your Windows 365 resources. Going forward, the IGEL Azure Virtual Desktop App will in a near future also use the new App ID, so go ahead and consent right away to make your Azure tenant ready!
The IGEL Windows 365 App
As said, the IGEL Windows 365 App was released on the 31st of August 2023 and is available in the IGEL App Portal:
The IGEL Windows 365 App can easily be installed directly from the local IGEL App Portal in IGEL OS or be assigned and distributed to your IGEL OS 12 endpoints using the IGEL Universal Management Suite. The installation procedure is shown in the video at the end of this article.
Looking at the fresh user interface for the IGEL Windows 365 App, one can see it is designed to have a similar user experience as the Microsoft Windows 365 App:
IGEL has always been very easy to customize to fulfill kiosk use-cases where a single application starts on boot. This feature of IGEL OS makes it very easy to replicate the Microsoft ‘Windows 365 Boot’ experience (Read about Microsoft Windows 365 Boot here), where the system boots to a user authentication screen before connecting the user to her/his Cloud PC. You will see how this is done in the video at the end of this article. For future reference IGEL delivers the same ‘boot’ capabilities with its AVD client, which means that IGEL can do an “AVD Boot” too! Very nice if that is a use case for your organization!
The IGEL Windows 365 App comes with a IGEL App ID that you will need to consent in your Azure tenant. the reason for this is that for the IGEL Windows 365 App to be functional, it will need to be able to talk to the Microsoft Graph API, not only to read information, but also to commit changes. It is not as dangerous as it might appear. The IGEL Windows 365 App uses the Graph API to control the users Windows 365 VM, allowing for the remote reboot, renaming of the Cloud PC, sending power on commands to ‘Windows 365 Frontline’ VMs etc. Important, Windows 365 Frontline is not supported yet by the IGEL Windows 365 App, as we are finalizing the controls for the Frontline VMs. When IGEL finalizes support for Windows 365 Frontline, I will update you with a new blog.
The IGEL Windows 365 App released yesterday is built on the latest version of IGEL Remote Desktop Client core and includes all the latest performance fixes and stability fixes. Make sure you give it a test run, I’m certain you will like it!
IF you are using Windows 365 and are looking for an easy to manage, highly secure endpoint that gives you the possibilities to relax and almost forget about your company’s endpoints, IGEL OS 12 and IGEL Windows 365 App is here to help!
Enough said, take a look at the video to understand how easily you can get the IGEL Windows 365 App installed and configured for your use case. Enjoy!
Thats it for today folks, see you soon again!
/Fred
VirtualBrat 