Understanding Windows 365 Reserve

This week is a little less technical, as it is more theoretical about the concept of Windows 365 Reserve. A concept that justifies some additional context, information and awareness. Windows 365 Reserve is a version of Windows 365 that is focused on providing organizations with a flexible solution to keep users productive during unexpected disruptions on their physical devices. The main idea behind that concept is to add business continuity by enabling direct access to a Cloud PC when there are issues with physical devices. From a user perspective, the concept of Windows 365 Reserve is just another Cloud PC. From a licensing perspective, it is also just another Cloud PC, but just temporarily and with a limited feature set. This post will go into some more details about the configuration options, the licensing restrictions, and the main usage scenarios.

Introducing Windows 365 Reserve

Windows 365 Reserve is basically focused on providing a fallback. A fallback when the physical device of a user is stolen, lost, or broken, a fallback during cyber security incidents, a fallback during hardware delivery delays, or a fallback for temporary staff. Many different scenarios in which Windows 365 Reserve can be a valid fallback scenario. Windows 365 Reserve comes with a separate license that must be assigned to users and grants them up to 10 days of Cloud PC access per year. So, it is really focused on filling in those fallback scenarios, in which users need to work while dealing with unexpected disruptions on their physical devices. 

Windows 365 Reserve licensing

A really important aspect of Windows 365 Reserve is the licensing. Mainly because it really differs from normal Windows 365 licensing and it come with a lot more rules and restrictions. Just like any other Windows 365 model, each user must at least be licensed for Windows 11 Enterprise, Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft Entra ID P1. That is the starting point for providing platform and management capabilities. On top of that, the user needs an annual Windows 365 Reserve license. So far, nothing to exiting, but it gets more interesting in the details. The details for usage, assignment, and activation. Let’s go through those details.

• Usage: Each Windows 365 Reserve license includes up to 10 days of Cloud PC access for one user that cannot be shared between users. Those 10-day start when the Cloud PC is provisioned and pauses when the Cloud PC is deprovisioned. And, a day is measured in 24-hour increments from the time the Cloud PC was provisioned. 
• Assignment: Windows 365 Reserve licenses are assigned to the user via a provisioning policy in Microsoft Intune. That provisioning policy is assigned to an Entra group and each user in that group receives a license as long as there are enough available licenses. A user can have one license at a time, and, once their Cloud PC is provisioned, that license cannot be removed or reassigned until the license term expires.
• Activation: There is a 7-day activation delay for Windows 365 Reserve. That means that 7-days after assigning the license, the Cloud PC becomes eligible for provisioning. That 7-day delay only applies to the first time a license is assigned to a user and can be monitored under the provisioning policies in Microsoft Intune.
• Expiration: Any unused days will expire when the license term ends.

Working with Windows 365 Reserve

Looking at working with Windows 365 Reserve from an IT administrator perspective, the experience is pretty similar to any other Windows 365 model. The management is directly integrated within Microsoft Intune, and for the provisioning the IT administrator must create a provisioning policy. The main difference in that policy is that a different license should be selected. On top of that, Microsoft Intune can be used for tracking licensing and usage. It is, however, good to understand that Windows 365 Reserve does not support the whole same feature set. It is really focused on filling in those fallback scenarios. That reflects in the supported feature set. The main standard features are supported, including Windows 365 Link, Windows 365 Boot, Microsoft-hosted network, single sign-on, the latest three Windows 11 Gallery images, languages packs, naming templates, scope tags, reporting and alerting. The more advanced features are not part of Windows 365 Reserve.

When looking at Window 365 Reserve from a user perspective, the experience is also pretty similar to any other Windows 365 model. Users can connect via web and via the clients on Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. The differences, however, are in the details. Windows 365 Switch is not available, and the remote actions are limited to actions like restarting, resetting, or returning.

Together that all reflects the focus of Windows 365 Reserve. It provides the fallback scenario. For a first experience with the user experience, please refer to this post by Microsoft.

More information

For more information about Windows 365 Reserve and related resources, refer to the following docs.

• What is Windows 365 Reserve? | Microsoft Learn
• Managing Windows 365 Reserve | Microsoft Learn
• Windows 365 Reserve licensing | Microsoft Learn
• Windows 365 Reserve FAQ | Microsoft Learn