Nerdio Manager lets you migrate AVD Personal session hosts into Windows 365 Flex Dedicated Cloud PCs, reusing the source VM's disk so the migrated Cloud PC keeps the user's profile, apps, and OS state. Both single-host and bulk (multi-select) migration are supported. For an overview of all supported migration paths, see Nerdio Migrate overview.
Flex Dedicated is currently the only Windows 365 Flex mode supported as a migration destination. Microsoft's Cloud PC provisioning API triggers provisioning through an individually assigned license, the same way Windows 365 Enterprise works. Shared (pooled) Flex licensing has no per-user assignment to trigger against, so it can't be used as a migration target.
Note
This feature is available starting in Nerdio Manager for Enterprise 8.2 and is currently in Public Preview.
Ensure the following requirements are met before starting a migration:
-
The source host pool must be an AVD Personal host pool.
-
A Windows 365 Flex Dedicated provisioning policy must be available, or you must be able to create one during the migration. The tenant needs at least one active Flex Dedicated service plan with available licenses; if none exist, the Licensing step shows no available Cloud PC sizes and the migration can't proceed.
-
The target user must not have an unassigned Windows 365 Enterprise license. The migration is rejected if one exists; unassign it first.
-
The target user's Windows 365 User Settings policy must use a Snapshot provisioning source. Image-based sources cause Windows 365 to provision from the image instead of the migrated snapshot, which discards the user's existing profile, apps, and data.
-
Bulk migrations are limited to 60 hosts by default. To change this limit, create or change the Advanced App Service setting
Features:VdiMigration:AvdToFrontline:MaxSessionHostswith the value you need.
The Admin Nerdio Manager role allows you to carry out the tasks in this procedure.
Following the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP), you can define one or more Nerdio Manager custom role(s) with the access levels required to carry out the tasks in this procedure:
-
Manage access to the Migrate module allows the user to run migrations.
-
Manage access to the Windows 365 module allows the user to provision the target Cloud PCs.
-
Manage access to the Workspaces module (including host management) allows the user to select and migrate the source hosts.
Note
Without these permissions, the Migrate to Windows 365 menu item isn't shown at all, which can look like an unsupported host pool rather than a permissions gap.
-
Intune must be configured with at least the following access: Intune managed devices - Read-only, Group membership - Manage, and Windows 365 - Manage.
-
The Microsoft Graph permission
Group.ReadWrite.Allis required. Nerdio Manager creates a temporary Entra ID group for the provisioning policy and user settings assignment, so this permission is needed on top of the Intune access levels above. It's a delegated permission if Intune runs in user-context mode, and an application permission otherwise.
To migrate one or more AVD Personal hosts to Windows 365 Flex Dedicated:
-
Go to Cloud Desktops > Azure Virtual Desktop > Workspaces, and select the workspace containing the host pool or hosts you want to migrate.
-
Select one host pool or host for an individual migration, or select the checkboxes next to multiple host pools or hosts for a bulk migration.
-
From the more options menu (or the Select bulk action menu when multiple items are selected), select Migrate to Windows 365. This opens the Migrate to Windows 365 wizard, which is marked Public Preview in the product.
To configure and submit the migration:
-
Provisioning Policy: select Create new or Select existing. If you select Create new, enter the following information:
-
Name and Description: enter a name and description for the provisioning policy.
-
License Type: select Flex. A second drop-down appears; select Dedicated mode to provision the Cloud PC for exclusive, single-user assignment.
-
Language & Region and Default Cloud PC Image: select the language and the image Windows 365 uses if the Cloud PC is ever reset.
-
Network Connection: select the network, or create a new network connection using the same subnet.
Note
If you create a new network connection, verify that its Azure region matches the region you intend to provision the Flex Dedicated Cloud PCs in before you continue. A mismatched region can cause network creation to fail during migration.
-
Device Name Template: enter a naming pattern for the migrated Cloud PC devices, for example
CPC-demo-%RAND:5%, to keep device names unique across the batch. -
Single Sign-On: select this option to enable Microsoft Entra single sign-on.
-
-
User Settings: select Create new or Select existing. Deploying a Cloud PC from an Azure Virtual Desktop snapshot requires a Windows 365 User Settings policy with a Snapshot provisioning source; see System and environment requirements.
-
Licensing (Flex Dedicated only): select the Cloud PC size, enter an assignment name, and enter the number of licenses to assign to this migration batch.
Note
If the tenant has no active Flex Dedicated service plans, the Cloud PC size list is empty and you can't continue past this step. Provision a Flex Dedicated service plan with sufficient licenses first.
-
Cleanup: choose whether to capture a snapshot of the source VM(s) before migration and when to remove it, and whether to remove the retained AVD session host resource after migration and when.
Warning
The Azure Virtual Desktop agent is removed from each source virtual machine, and the machine is then deleted. The session host is deactivated, and its resource is retained until you schedule its removal.
-
Notifications: choose whether to automatically notify end users when their new Cloud PC is ready, which mailbox the notification is sent from (required if notifications are enabled), and the message text.
-
Bulk Job Settings (bulk migrations only): enter the number of failures before aborting, which is the number of failed host migrations to tolerate before the bulk job stops automatically. This helps surface issues early and prevents the operation from continuing while a problem is present.
-
Review: enter a Group name for the migration, check the configuration summary (provisioning policy, user settings, licensing, source VM snapshot, retained session host cleanup, and notifications), and confirm the assigned user for every host in the Host to User Assignments table. Any host without a valid assigned user is flagged. Resolve every flagged host, then select Submit to start the migration.
To migrate multiple hosts in one operation, select two or more hosts before selecting Migrate to Windows 365. The Provisioning Policy, User Settings, Licensing, Cleanup, and Notifications steps apply to the whole batch; the Bulk Job Settings step lets you set how many failures to tolerate before the job stops; and the Review step lists every selected host in one table so you can confirm the assigned user for each individually.
Raise a support ticket for this item.
Comments (0 comments)