# Windows 365 or a traditional remote desktop – when does a Cloud PC make sense?

> When Windows 365 makes sense, what Flex, Reserve and GPU support mean in practice, and how to size the licensing sensibly.

- Author: Jami Susijärvi, Oy Wolflake Consulting Ab
- Published: 2026-09-17
- Web page: https://wolflake.fi/en/blog/windows-365-when-cloud-pc-makes-sense

Windows 365 often goes untried for one of two reasons: an outdated idea of its price, or the feeling that a "cloud desktop" sounds like a big project. Neither reason holds up. Deploying it is one of the easiest projects you can do in a Microsoft environment: a licence, a provisioning policy and Intune settings, and the first machine is usually up and running within hours. Even so, I keep running into situations where it would have been the right answer and was never even considered.

Windows 365 is Microsoft's cloud desktop service: each user gets their own Windows machine running in Microsoft's cloud, accessed from any device through a browser or the Windows App. Larger organisations have traditionally used Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) for the same purpose, where the cost is driven by the capacity consumed. Recently, many large AVD environments have been moved to Windows 365 because it takes far less IT effort and simply works reliably: noticeably fewer tickets and less maintenance, even though the direct Microsoft cost often goes up. In Windows 365 the price is a fixed, per-user monthly licence, just like Microsoft 365 licences. That makes budgeting easy, but it also adds one more licence whose sizing has to be considered as part of the overall licensing picture.

## What has changed in a few years

I first wrote about this topic a few years ago, and a lot has changed since then:

- The editions are Business, Enterprise, Flex and Reserve. Flex is the former Frontline, renamed in spring 2026 (the functionality did not change, only the name). Licence names in admin portals and on invoices only change from September 2026 onwards, so "Frontline" may still show up on invoices for a while.
- GPU support now exists and has been extended to Flex shared mode as well. A cheaper GPU Select option was added too, which is enough for many lighter graphics workloads. Availability of GPU Cloud PCs varies by Azure region, but from a Finnish point of view the most important region, Sweden Central, is included.
- The Business edition list price dropped by 20 percent in May 2026, which lowers the bar for smaller organisations. There is a flip side worth knowing: at the same time, Business Cloud PCs started going into a sleep state after one hour of inactivity, so reconnecting takes a moment longer. And subscriptions purchased before May only get the lower price at their next renewal, so older subscriptions may be paying more than necessary.
- For heavier workloads there is now also a 32 vCPU size.

If someone dismissed Windows 365 a few years ago as too expensive or too limited, it is worth taking another look.

## When it is actually useful

Adopting a new technology only makes sense if it solves a real problem: easier operations, lower costs, or replacing some other service. A few examples of situations where Windows 365 has solved a customer's problem:

**Shrinking the on-premises data centre.** Some users are served a desktop through Remote Desktop Services (RDS) from the organisation's own data centre and have no workstation of their own at all. With Windows 365 the same desktop comes from the cloud, managed with Intune and secured properly, and the old RDS service can be shut down completely. Security improves, and both the maintenance effort and its cost go down.

**A macOS or Chromebook environment still needs Windows applications.** A typical example is Power BI Desktop, which has no Mac version. Instead of changing the whole device fleet, a Windows 365 Cloud PC for a handful of users is enough to cover those few applications. Publishing a full desktop is not even required: Windows 365 can also publish individual applications (Windows 365 Cloud Apps), so a Mac user opens just the one Windows application they need, not a whole Windows desktop. Note, however, that Cloud Apps only works with a Flex licence in shared mode, not with Business or Enterprise licences.

**A phone or tablet is enough as the endpoint.** The Windows App also runs on iOS and Android. When a phone or tablet is connected through a dock to a monitor, keyboard and mouse (for example in Samsung DeX mode), the user effectively has a full Windows desktop without a separate computer. This suits, for example, mobile work where the primary device is already a tablet, or situations where you want to reduce the number of devices and the effort of managing them.

**The need is temporary or requires unusually high performance.** When more memory or compute is needed for a limited time, for example for project work or a fixed-term need, it makes no sense to buy expensive hardware whose purpose ends in a couple of months. Especially now that memory prices have risen significantly, using a more powerful Cloud PC for the duration of the need is often clearly cheaper than upgrading your own hardware.

**External people use the customer's environment from their own device.** Consultants, accountants and auditors often need access to a customer's environment only for a specific period. Shipping a physical machine and getting it back is slow, and in general a complicated and labour-intensive process, and few people want to carry or juggle several physical machines side by side. A Windows 365 Cloud PC solves this: access is granted and revoked with a licence, not a hardware delivery, and the user does the customer work from their own machine. With GPU support and the new, more powerful sizes, the same model can also handle heavier work when needed.

## Business or Enterprise – and now Flex as well

Before deploying, it is worth making a clear comparison:

- **Business** suits smaller organisations (up to 300 users), is quick to deploy and does not require other licences up front. Still, think carefully: although a Business Cloud PC can be enrolled in Intune for management, its deployment (provisioning) does not go through Intune the way it does in Enterprise. In practice, Enterprise is more often the smarter choice as soon as the organisation already has Intune and the rest of its licensing in order.
- **Enterprise** fits when you want to manage the Cloud PCs with Intune and use the integrations with Entra ID and Defender for Endpoint. Each user needs Windows Enterprise, Intune and Entra ID P1, so these should be looked at as part of the overall licensing, not as a separate purchase.
- **Flex** (formerly Frontline) suits situations where the Cloud PC is not needed continuously, and it comes in two models. In **Dedicated mode**, one licence provides up to three separate Cloud PCs for three named users who use their machine in their own shifts, never at the same time, a good option for shift work, where each user keeps their own personal machine and its data between sessions. In **Shared mode**, one licence provides a single Cloud PC that a larger group of users takes turns using, always one at a time, and the user's data is wiped after sign-out (unless User Experience Sync is used). This suits, for example, external consultants or customer-facing staff who only need a machine occasionally for short periods and do not need a permanent one of their own. Shared mode can also publish individual applications instead of the full desktop.

## Windows 365 Reserve – spare capacity for surprises

Reserve is a separate licence intended for users who primarily work on a normal physical machine. It is not meant to replace a Business, Enterprise or Flex licence, but to make sure people can keep working when the physical machine is unavailable.

The most common situations Reserve is designed for:

- the machine is lost, stolen or damaged
- delivery of a new machine is delayed
- there is an outage or a cyber incident
- a short-term employment or project where the required licences have already been acquired but there is no permanent machine (taking into account the 7-day preparation period described below)
- you want to trial Windows 365 before a wider rollout

Two things are worth understanding before selling Reserve as a solution. First, Reserve's official licence requirements are the same as for an Enterprise or Flex user (Windows 11/10 Enterprise, Intune and Entra ID P1). This applies even if the organisation's other Windows 365 use is based on the Business licence, because Business does not meet these requirements on its own. Reserve is therefore not a light add-on for any user, it requires those base licences separately. Second, the Reserve licence must be assigned to the user **at least seven days in advance** before their Cloud PC can be provisioned at all. You cannot assign a licence and start using it on the same day, so Reserve is specifically for existing, already licensed users as protection against an unplanned situation, not for quickly onboarding a brand-new person who needs access the same day.

Once that seven-day preparation has been done in advance, the licence itself works as an annual subscription that gives each user **up to 10 days of Cloud PC use per year**. Those 10 days do not start counting when the licence is assigned, but only when the Cloud PC is actually provisioned, and when the need ends the machine is deprovisioned, which preserves the remaining days for later. In spring 2026 an option in public preview was added where IT can allow users to start their own, previously licensed Reserve Cloud PC themselves from the Windows App without a support request. It is available, but since it is still a preview, I would not build a continuity plan solely on it.

A couple of limitations are worth knowing before treating Reserve as a guaranteed lifeline. A Reserve Cloud PC always comes in a fixed size (4 vCPU, 16 GB memory, 128 GB disk) with Microsoft's standard image, so you cannot use your own image, your own network connection (ANC) or choose a size, and internal applications are reachable only over VPN or similar. In addition, Microsoft states plainly that Reserve does not pre-allocate or guarantee capacity: in a large-scale disruption the machine may not provision immediately. Reserve is therefore a good complement to continuity planning, but not a replacement for it.

Compared to a traditional spare device (a loaner laptop in a cupboard), Reserve removes the logistics of preparing, shipping and returning hardware: the user signs in from any device straight into a preconfigured desktop that follows company policies. It fits naturally into the same conversation as [Zero Trust principles and getting security in order in general](https://wolflake.fi/en/services).

## Link, Switch and Boot – three ways to use a Cloud PC on a physical device

The Windows 365 ecosystem also includes three features that relate specifically to the physical endpoint and are now available in Finland as well:

- **Windows 365 Link** is Microsoft's own purpose-built small device that runs nothing locally: no applications, no data, no local user account. It simply connects straight to the Cloud PC. It is managed with Intune, and security (TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, BitLocker) is locked down by default. It is especially suited to situations where several users use the same physical device, each with their own Cloud PC. A factory production line is a good example: the device stays fixed at the station, and when the shift changes only the user and their Cloud PC change.
- **Windows 365 Switch** lets you switch between the local machine and the Cloud PC using Windows 11 Task View, just like another desktop. It does not require a Windows 365 Link; it works on an ordinary Windows 11 laptop (Pro, Enterprise or nowadays also Home).
- **Windows 365 Boot** skips local sign-in entirely: the user signs straight into the Cloud PC when the physical machine starts. It supports both shared mode (many users, one device) and dedicated mode (one user, their own device with Windows Hello). Boot policies require a Windows 365 Enterprise licence (Business is not enough), and the physical machine must run Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise.

None of these are a prerequisite for using Windows 365. Most users do fine with a browser or the Windows App. But they are worth bringing up when discussing the device lifecycle and management model as a whole, not just licensing on its own.

## What to remember from a licensing point of view

Windows 365 is exactly the kind of licence that is easy to overlook when an organisation reviews its own Microsoft 365 costs. It is often bought as a separate purchase, its sizing goes unchecked, and users can end up on the wrong-sized Cloud PC for years. That is why it is one of the things always reviewed separately in a [health check](https://wolflake.fi/en/health-check): what each user actually needs, not what was ordered by default back in the day.

A short checklist before and after purchase:

- **Edition first.** Business only if Intune and the rest of the licensing are not in place and are not going to be. Otherwise Enterprise, and Flex for part-time or shared use.
- **Size per user, not one size for everyone.** An office user gets by with a smaller machine than a Power BI or development user. Size can be changed later without reinstalling: individually for Enterprise and Business Cloud PCs, and for Flex Dedicated through the provisioning policy for the whole group at once. Disk can only be increased, so start conservatively.
- **Commitment and billing.** An annual commitment with annual billing is almost always the cheapest. A monthly commitment billed monthly is the most expensive way, and a subscription bought on a credit card is often a sign that nobody has looked at the whole picture.
- **Check usage after about three months.** The Intune Cloud PC utilization report shows who has not signed in to their machine for months. Those licences can be reassigned or cancelled.
- **Reserve is a complement, not the main solution.** Consider it if broken or lost devices genuinely stop work, but the 7-day preparation period and the licence requirements need to be known in advance.