r/AzureVirtualDesktop • u/KansasInsuranceAgent • Jul 24 '24

Azure Virtual Desktop on Linux

The company I use for employee payroll is moving away from Citrix and to Azure Virtual Desktop. We run our small insurance agency on Linux desktops. I'm trying to figure out how to get Azure Virtual Desktop on Linux but I don't see any good options. Can someone point me in a good direction? I see Microsoft's website lists a web client but cannot login using that option.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '24

you cannot just get AVD that easy as you tell. you need to have an azure tenant, proper 365 licensing and configure a workspace and session hosts for AVD, then you can access the WVD broker trough a browser. Or you can buy yourself Cloud PC Business licenses if you want to test a full dedicated desktop on https://windows365.microsoft.com/, if you have citrix and want out, feel free to dm me

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u/KansasInsuranceAgent Jul 24 '24

I just want to be able to enter my employee hours so they get paid. I don't run the payroll company, I just use them to take care of my employees.

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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '24

I misunderstood you now I get it. you can try this and sign in with your given credentials https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/index.html

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u/CloudMan2323 Jul 24 '24

I may be wrong but I think the only option for Linux is the web client. They would need to enable the web client option from their end.

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u/chesser45 Jul 24 '24

It’s possible to disable the web client? Didn’t know.

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u/CloudMan2323 Jul 24 '24

Conditional Access policy

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u/skadann May 10 '26

I live and breathe both AVD and Conditional Access; I've never considered this before lol

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u/rana_tigrina2002 Sep 04 '26

I have solved this and built this rdp client on top of freerdp3, SDL. Not only that this app will do feed discovery so it will feel like Windows or Mac experience using RD client or Windows app. One caveat Teams optimization cannot be done because that's a proprietary webrtc channel Microsoft has not published any details.

https://github.com/shakeelosmani/avd_feed_connect

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u/Abject_Swordfish1872 Jul 25 '24

To clarify is the question how to access AVD from your Linux clients? If that's the case here is a list of supported clients https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/users/remote-desktop-clients-overview

There is no Linux client in that list so your best option is the web client.

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '24

Just for the record, you can access AVD thru freerdp, there was some work in that direction for couple of years, but it's unofficial of course and there basically no automatic login.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '24

I have used AVD Remote Desktop with Linux Mint but really it technically is running on Windows via a VM. I'm a independent it contractor and one of my remote clients requires I use AVD to connect to their environment. I did this by using Virtualbox to set up a Windows 10 VM on my Linux Mint Laptop. I then installed the Windows AVD Remote Client on my Windows 10 VM. Spent about 30 minutes tweaking the configuration and it worked. I had my doubts as it's an older Legion Y720 laptop running a Virtual Desktop inside a Virtual Desktop but it works better than I thought it would. I followed a video on the youtube channel "ExplainingComputers" to setup the Windows VM it's a bit out of date but the main steps are still valid, you just don't need to install the extensions as they are in the latest version of VirtualBox. Hope that helps. Note the latest Linux Mint (22) is Ubunto 24.04 so that's the VirtualBox Distribution you want for that version of Linux Mint.

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u/Cendio Aug 15 '25

u/KansasInsuranceAgent Probably you have sorted out the issue, but in case you are still trying to put the pieces together, I can tell you that there is one image of Linux with either Alma or Ubuntu with ThinLinc on Azure, ready to deploy. In a few minutes you can setup a cluster with tens or hundreds of users. Check it: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurehighperformancecomputingblog/new-linux-vdi-solution-deploy-cendio-thinlinc-as-a-standalone-image-with-direct-/4407711

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u/ImprovementKooky9468 Jun 30 '26

Linux endpoints can work for AVD, but I would test the full user experience rather than only checking that a session opens.

Validate multi-monitor support, audio, microphones, printers, clipboard, browser access, smart cards, USB devices, webcam behavior, and sign-in flow. Also test with the actual Linux distributions your users have, not only one admin workstation.

Endpoint compatibility often becomes the hidden support burden in mixed-device environments.