Azure Virtual Desktop for Occasional Use

Cost-effective Azure Virtual Desktop infrastructure for occasional work sessions. Deploy in minutes, deallocate to save 98% on costs, resume whenever needed.

⚡ Why This Project?

Personal desktop – Purpose-built for individual occasional use.
Cost optimised – £2–3/month idle, £94–126/month active (98% savings when deallocated).
Infrastructure as Code – Reproducible, version-controlled Bicep templates.
Easy lifecycle – Deploy once, deallocate/start as needed.
Cloud-native – Entra ID-joined VMs, no on-premises AD required.

🚀 Quick Start (5 minutes)

# 1. Clone and authenticate
git clone https://github.com/markheydon/avd-occasional.git
cd avd-occasional
az login

# 2. Deploy infrastructure (15–20 minutes)
.\scripts\Deploy-AvdOccasional.ps1

# 3. Assign role permissions (both required)
# See Quick Start Guide for detailed role assignment commands

# 4. Connect
# Use Windows App (Microsoft Store) to connect to your desktop

# Later: Save costs
.\scripts\Stop-AvdOccasional.ps1

# Resume when needed
.\scripts\Start-AvdOccasional.ps1

Full instructions: Quick Start Guide

📚 Documentation

Document	Purpose
Quick Start	Get up and running in ~25 minutes (includes 5–10 min role propagation).
Prerequisites	Tools, Azure setup, role assignments, and security requirements.
Architecture Overview	How components work together, cost drivers, security model.
Detailed Deployment	Step-by-step walkthrough, customisation, and advanced options.
Troubleshooting	Common issues and solutions.
Scripts Reference	PowerShell commands: Deploy, Start, Stop, Remove.

💰 Cost Profile

⚠️ Important: Costs are estimates, in GBP, based on pricing information available publically in February 2026 and are subject to change by Microsoft at any time. You should use the official Azure Pricing Calculator to determine your potential costs before deployment.

State	Monthly Cost	Notes
Deallocated	£2–3	VMs stopped, disks retained (instant resume)
Running	£94–126	Full D2s_v3 compute (1 VM, moderate workload)
Deleted	£0	Complete removal (15–20 min redeploy)
Savings	~98%	Cost reduction when deallocated vs running

Component breakdown:

Session Host VM: £90–120/month (active) → £0 (deallocated).
Public IP: £2–3/month (active) → £0 (deallocated & deleted).
OS Disk: £2–3/month (always charged).

See Detailed Deployment: Cost Analysis for scaling costs and optimisation strategies.

🏗️ Architecture at a Glance

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Internet User                           │
│ (Windows App or RDP Client)             │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                   │
        ▼ Secure reverse connection
   ┌──────────────────────────────┐
   │ Azure Virtual Desktop Service │
   └──────────────────┬────────────┘
                      │
        ▼ Isolated virtual network
   ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ VNet: 10.0.0.0/16                   │
   │ ├─ Session Host VM (Entra ID-joined)│
   │ ├─ Public IP (outbound only)        │
   │ ├─ NSG (inbound deny)               │
   │ └─ Service Endpoints (free routes)  │
   └─────────────────────────────────────┘

Key features:

Entra ID-joined VMs (cloud-native, no VPN required).
No inbound public ports (reverse connection only).
Public IPs deleted when VMs stopped (cost optimisation).
Service Endpoints for optimised Azure service routing.
Fully idempotent deployment.

See Architecture Overview for detailed component descriptions.

🎯 Use Cases

✅ Remote work from alternate location – Coffee shop, co-working, travel. ✅ Temporary compute needs – Project work, testing, demos. ✅ Cost-sensitive scenarios – Deallocate between sessions. ✅ Personal productivity – Persistent desktop, cloud-native identity.

❌ Not for: Pooled multi-user scenarios. ❌ Not for: Always-on production workloads.

🔧 Key Features

✅ Bicep Infrastructure as Code – Reproducible, auditable, version-controlled.
✅ Parameterised configuration – Switch workload size (light/moderate) in one parameter.
✅ Personal desktop – Single user, persistent configuration.
✅ Entra ID authentication – Cloud-native identity, supports passwordless auth.
✅ Deallocate pattern – Stop VMs to save costs, resume in 2–3 minutes.
✅ Automated lifecycle scripts – Deploy, start, deallocate, cleanup.
✅ Minimal security – Reverse connections, NSG included, no RDP ports.
✅ UK-friendly defaults – Region: ukwest, pricing in GBP (Regionalising of VMs not yet available see #2).

📋 Prerequisites at a Glance

Requirement	Status	Details
Azure CLI	Required	v2.40+ (Install)
Bicep CLI	Required	Included with Azure CLI 2.20+
PowerShell	Required	5.1+ (Install)
Git	Required	Clone repository (Download)
Azure subscription	Required	Contributor or Owner role
Entra ID tenant	Required	Usually available with Microsoft 365

For full prerequisite details, see Prerequisites Guide.

📘 Documentation & Resources

Getting Started

New to this project? Start with Quick Start.
Need environment setup? See Prerequisites.
Want to understand how it works? Read Architecture Overview.
Detailed walkthrough? Follow Detailed Deployment Guide.
Troubleshooting? Check Troubleshooting Guide.
Using PowerShell scripts? See Scripts Reference.

External Resources

Project Documentation

CONTRIBUTING – Contribution guidelines
CHANGELOG – Version history and release notes
LICENSE – MIT License
README – Project overview

GitHub

Repository – Source code and issue tracking
Issues – Report bugs or request features
Discussions – Questions and ideas

Last Updated: February 2026

Azure Virtual Desktop - Occasional Use

Cost-effective Azure Virtual Desktop for occasional users