Practitioner ebook

From Legacy VDI and AVD to Windows 365

Assess which VDI and AVD user groups fit Windows 365, build a defensible TCO case, prepare legacy applications, and migrate without losing day-two ownership.

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Cover of From Legacy VDI and AVD to Windows 365 from EtherInsights

What this handbook helps you decide

Group people by how they work, then let the cost case and the migration plan follow.

A virtual desktop migration rarely fails because a Cloud PC cannot be provisioned. It fails when the programme discovers late that an application, a user journey, a data path, a support process or a cost assumption was never tested. The cost of ownership number is usually the first casualty, because it was built before anyone agreed which users were actually moving.

This handbook follows the decisions in the order they have to be made. Chapter 1 builds a migration baseline and a traceable cost of ownership assessment with sponsors, finance and procurement. Chapter 2 prepares applications, identity, network and the Cloud PC foundation as one user journey rather than four separate workstreams.

Chapter 3 turns the plan into pilot, cutover, rollback and wave acceptance gates. Chapter 4 hands Windows 365 over as an owned service with cost and lifecycle decisions still attached. Every worked figure is illustrative and is meant to be replaced with current user, application, contract, licence and Microsoft product evidence before approval.

  • How to define the service outcome before selecting the destination.
  • How to group users by work pattern so sizing and licensing follow the evidence.
  • How to build a cost of ownership case a sponsor can challenge line by line.
  • How to prepare legacy applications and the Cloud PC foundation as one journey.
  • What a pilot, cutover, rollback and wave acceptance gate should each require.
  • What day two ownership of Windows 365 looks like once the programme closes.

What you get

  • 39 pages, an introduction and four chapters, written by Ryan Mangan and reviewed on 23 August 2026.
  • A reference set of 26 product and authoritative sources.
  • Worked examples for the baseline, the cost assessment, application preparation and wave gates.
  • An operating review for the first ninety days after handover.

Who it is for

IT leaders, end user computing owners, project managers, application teams, service desk leaders, technical architects and MSP practitioners planning a virtual desktop transition. Each chapter names the stakeholders to bring into that review, which makes it straightforward to pass to the people who have to agree.

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