Release Notes

Upcoming Version v5.6.0 (Release Date 12/18/2023)

1. Auto-scaling Profiles (Premium): Auto-scale profiles simplify the creation process for new host pools. Users can now select existing auto-scale profiles, eliminating the need for manual configuration of auto-scale settings for each pool.
   
2. Azure Compute Hibernate Functionality: Enable hibernate functionality for supported VMs. Users can easily suspend and wake their personal desktops from the Nerdio end user portal.
   
3. Desktop Image OS Disk Optimization (Premium): Automatically convert the OS disk for images to HDD when not running to reduce storage costs.
4. Unified Endpoint Manager: Intune Policy Protection & Versioning: Backup and restore Intune policies from the UEM console. Restore Intune policies to a known-good configuration without needing to document all policy settings. Test policy changes swiftly and with confidence, knowing that you can revert to a previous version. Recover from policy change mistakes or policy corruption.
   
5. Global Themes: Force a global UI theme for all users defined by an administrator and restrict the ability for users to configure personal UI themes.
   
6. Unified Application Management API (Premium): API support has been added for configuring and managing the UAM feature.
7. Confidential Computing Support: Introducing support for the Azure confidential computing VM sizes, providing a hardware-based Trusted Execution Environment.
8. AVD Host Removal From Intune: Nerdio Manager can now be configured to automatically remove associated device records during deletion processes. Please note that this enhancement requires granting additional permissions to the Nerdio web app.
9. Unified Endpoint Management: Auto Pilot Profile Support: Auto Pilot group tags and profiles can now be reviewed and edited in the device details popup.
10. A new optional setting allows errors to be generated if an Azure NetApp volume is unable to grow due to lack of volume space.
    
11. Resolved Issues:
    1. VM template configuration UI has been moved to the global auto scale configuration to avoid conflicts in multi-schedule scenarios.
    2. The Nerdio Update automation account has been updated to use the current PowerShell AZ module, replacing the legacy AzureRM module.
    3. Image type REST API name had a space included. This has been corrected to "ImageType"

Current Version v5.5.2 (Release Date 12/11/2023)

This is a hotfix release for v5.5 that includes all the items in v5.5.0 and v5.5.1, plus the following resolved issue:

1. Auto-scale created new VMs instead of powering on existing VMs when the existing VM’s power state could not be determined.
2. The Desktop Images page returned the message Resource Graph 'Client application has been throttled' in multi-subscription environments.
3. The Set as Image page was not displaying enabled settings when editing a Set as Image scheduled task.
4. The message "Version for unstaging should be the latest" was shown incorrectly when attempting to activate a staged images in some scenarios

Version v5.5.1 (Release Date 11/30/2023)

This is the GA release for v5.5, it includes all items in v5.5.0 plus the following:

1. AVD Modeler: Users could not select fractional users per vCPU.

2. VM Right Sizing: Some task details were not showing in the tasks log.

Version v5.5.0 (Release Date 11/22/2023)

1. Auto-scaling: Peak and Off-peak Auto-scaling Options (PREMIUM). Set up and use different auto-scaling schedules. These schedules can run indefinitely or only during a specified window.
   
   
2. Manageable Restrictions for Intelligent Azure Capacity Extender (PREMIUM) – Allows customers to fine-tune configuration settings by specifying the CPU architectures that are allowed, as well as the maximum difference between the RAM and CPU cores.
   
3. UAM: Intune Application Support – Unified Application Management (UAM) now lets you link Intune as a read-only repository. This means you can deploy Intune apps to Intune devices directly from the UAM console.
   
   
4. UAM: Force Application Policy Compliance – New AVD desktops can be forced to remain in drain mode until all UAM application policy installs have completed.
   
   
5. UAM: Use Existing Pool Maintenance Windows for Deployments – The option to use the existing pool maintenance window can now be selected when creating or editing a UAM policy, simplifying the management process.
   
   
6. UEM: JSON Editor for Policy Management – Edit policy configuration directly from the Nerdio Manger console.
   
   
7. UEM: Device Action State Details – Device action state information can now be reviewed from the device properties pop-up.
   
   
8. User Cost Attribution Enhancements – Improvements to report build time. Additional improvements to the Power BI template. Previous month reports are now automatically rebuilt on the first day of the following month to enhance accuracy.
9. Specify App Group Name during Pool Creation - Administrators can now set the name of the App group when creating a new pool.
   
   
10. Image Multi-clone Function – Create multiple clones of an Azure Compute Gallery (ACG) image in a single action.
    
    
11. Custom Image Templates - Scripted actions have been updated to the latest version 2023-09-15.
12. Nerdio Encryption Key Management – For new installs, all encryption keys are now stored in the associated Azure Storage account and encrypted using Azure key Vault. Existing customers can migrate for enhanced security and resilience.
13. Scripted Action: Delete Aged FSLogix Profiles in Azure Files – Configure a recurring script to remove aged FSLogix profiles within a specified time window.
14. Scripted Action: Enable Private Endpoints - Selection of Existing VNETs – Existing VNETs can now be used when enabling private endpoints, rather than requiring new VNETs to be created. Contributions to this script were made by Nerdio Valued Professional (NVP) Stefan Beckmann.
15. Nerdio Manger Console Performance Improvements – When enabled, NME queries all linked subscriptions and associated resources in parallel. This improves performance in large scale environments by reducing the time required to return data to the console.
16. New Marketplace Images: Azure Marketplace images are included in this release.
17. Agents Update: AVD agent v1.0.7755.1800 is included in this release.
18. Resolved Issues:
    1. When configuring Instant Recovery snapshots for a standard policy, user could choose any number, however a maximum of 5 are supported. Selecting more than 5 resulted in an error.
    2. On the Clone Host Pool page, the new pool name and current pool name were configured as the same.
    3. User details were not consistently recorded in the task details pane.
    4. FSLogix rule sets with a redirection rule fails the import validation and do not complete successfully.
    5. Set as Image recurring scheduled tasks are not displaying the Refresh from Azure Marketplace options correctly.
    6. Re-imaging a host pool on Azure Stack HCI removes the dynamic memory setting.
    7. VM Right Sizing for dedicated hosts pools listed the number of VM options rather than the number of recommendations on the host details page.
    8. UEM dashboard view choices would reset after navigating away from the page.
    9. Agent binaries for VM create activities could take longer than expected due to files being included in the extension. Binaries are now run directly from the storage account.

Version v5.4.3 (Release Date 11/29/2023)

This is a hotfix release for v5.4 that includes all the items in v5.4.0, v5.4.1, and v5.4.2 plus the following resolved issue:

1. Disk resize operations on desktops created directly from the Azure console may fail in some instances.

Version v5.4.2 (Release Date 11/22/2023)

This is a hotfix release for v5.4 that includes all the items in v5.4.0 and v5.4.1 plus the following resolved issues:

1. Users could not change pages in some multi-page views.
2. Image replication for ACG images did not retain all replica locations in the UI.

Version v5.4.1 (Release Date 10/30/2023)

This is the GA release for v5.4, it includes all items in v5.4.0 plus the following:

1. Resolved Issues:
   1. The error 'Microsoft.Compute' for API version '2022-09-01' does not contain the resource type 'locations/diskoperations' may be displayed when assigning permissions to a new or reprovisioned desktop.
   2. Unified Endpoint Management: Clicking device name did not take you to the device record popup.
   3. Unified Endpoint Management dashboards: WUfB & classic view choices did not persist.
   4. 'Device name' and 'Managed by' columns data overlapping in UEM report pages.
   5. The message "Log analytics workspace settings are not suitable for calculating VM right size" is displayed if the following counters are absent in the corresponding LAW:
        "Memory\Available Mbytes Processor"
        "Information\% Processor Time"
   6. Dashboard > User cost attribution > Power BI: Values shown in Power BI and NME are different.
   7. VM right sizing: Only one LAW reporting & task details not showing in the UI.
   8. User Cost Attribution: Updates included to resolve unallocated cost distribution issues and errors with the Power BI import process.
   9. Unified Application Management: Winget install error "Failed when opening sources" is observed during some install operations.
   10. Custom installer success codes have been added to the import wizard.

v5.4.0 (Release Date 10/18/2023)

This is the preview release for v5.4, it includes all items listed below:

1. SCCM Integration for Unified Application Management: Private Preview (PREMIUM)  - Import and deploy your SCCM applications. Connect directly to your SCCM environment, catalog applications and import applications directly into a private WinGet repository. Learn more. 
   
   
2. Rolling Drain Mode (PREMIUM) – Create multiple drain windows and target a specific percentage of your hosts to drain mode, outside of the Scale-in Restriction window. This feature allows customers to prevent new connections to a percentage of hosts and allows these hosts to be shut down more quickly, saving on resource costs.
   
   
3. Intune Policy Management for UEM - Assign and review Intune compliance policies, configuration profiles, and update policies from the Nerdio Manager console. Learn more.
4. Auto-grow Naming Enhancements – Customers may now choose among 3 auto-grow naming conventions. ‘Standard’ naming will use the next available name, ‘re-use names’ will always attempt to reuse names previously used in the pool (if available), ‘unique names’ will always attempt to use a unique name for new hosts. All tasks operate within the restrictions of the configured naming convention.
5. AES 256 Encryption for File Shares – All newly created file shares use secure AES 256             encryption by default, for both Computer & User object joins.
6. AVD Watermarking – Watermarking for AVD sessions can now be enabled and configured on the Host Pool Settings > VM Deployment page.
   
   
7. UEM Global Dashboard for Intune Applications – The deployment status of Intune native applications can now be reviewed from a global dashboard, providing an overview of Intune applications within the estate.
8. End User Portal - Separate Disk & VM Resize – The disk & VM resize functions can now be enabled independently, allowing administrators to only show configurable settings to users.
   
   
9. VM Rightsizing Enhancements:
   1. Recommendations are now shown on the session hosts page.
   2. The result section now includes a graph showing CPU / RAM utilization over time.
      
      
10. Unified Application Management Enhancements:
    1. Package names can now be edited in the console.
    2. Administrators can specify their own custom installer success codes.
11. Exclude Drain Mode Hosts from Power Policy – Host in drain mode can now be excluded from scheduled or one-time bulk tasks at the pool level.
    
    
12. Exclude Drain Mode Hosts from AVD Agent Maintenance Window – Drain mode hosts can now be excluded from the AVD agent maintenance window tasks configured in the host pool properties.
    
    
13. Auto-scale: Single Time zone Selector - The auto-scale user interface has been simplified to include a single time zone selector at the top of the auto-scale configuration page.
    
    
14. New API Endpoint - Query Entra ID & Entra domain services profiles.
15. Custom themes - Added the ability to configure Information banner color.
16. Resolved Issues:
    1. Healthy endpoints were not included in the UEM Anti-virus dashboard.
    2. Nerdio webapp permission assignments were not processed if assigned to a group of which the Nerdio web app was a member. 
    3. Help Desk & Desktop Admin Roles missing Shadow Session or Log Off options.
    4. New NME deployments were not deploying 'workspace-based' application insights workspaces.
    5. 'Request was canceled due to the configured HttpClient.Timeout' errors may be regularly surfaced.
    6. Scheduled tasks interrupted personal pool scale in actions.
    7. Scripted Actions causing storage resource provider throttling.
    8. UAM applications in the community WinGet repository returned an ‘unknown host’ or authentication error.
    9. Scripts removed from a repository remained listed in NME without warnings.
    10. AAD & AADDS renamed to Entra ID & Entra domain services.
    11. UAM UI issues when properties of the installer has an empty scope.
    12. 'Remove FSLogix Apps' not uninstalling FSLogix applications.
    13. ASHCI AVD hosts with dynamic memory set revert to static memory after a re-image.
    14. VM right sizing batch size could not be managed, leading to timeout errors.
    15. Scripted action to update Fslogix returned an error.

Past Versions 

v5.3 (Release Date 09/20/2023)

1. VM Right-Sizing Service for Dedicated Desktops Beta (PREMIUM) – The latest tool in the Nerdio Advisor suite offers customers the ability to review and optimize personal desktops sizes. Nerdio Manager’s VMRSS gathers and assesses resource demand over time and makes dynamic recommendations to resize over- or under-provisioned desktop VMs. Take the guesswork out of VM resource allocation and realize cost savings for over-provisioned resources. Learn more.
   
   
2. End User Portal - Custom Actions (PREMIUM) – Windows Scripted Actions can now be delegated to users to run on their own desktop. Users may also be permitted to assign tags to their desktop.

   

3. Intune Only Mode - Organizations who do not require Azure Virtual Desktop management features can now opt to select ‘"Intune Only Mode" to manage Intune devices.
4. AADDS Compatibility Mode for FSLogix Profile Removal – A new option allows administrators to bypass SID searching in AADDS scenarios.
   

   

5. Desktop Image Tagging & Filtering - Add tags to Desktop Images from the image menu. In addition, filter images by Azure tag name & value on the Desktop Images page. Learn more.
   

   

6. ControlUp: DR Hosts Configuration – Customers using ControlUp monitoring for DR-enabled pools can now specify an alternate configuration for the DR hosts.
   
   
7. Unified Endpoint Management Dashboards Improvements – Enhanced dashboards now make use of Windows Update for Business Log Analytics workspaces to provide more detailed update status information.
8. Unified Application Management - Filter by application deployment results on the Deployment status page.
9. Azure Files AD Join Permissions – The option to assign either FSLogix or App Attach NTFS permissions is now available during file share creation.
   
10. "Request AAD Join Logs" for AADJ Operations – AAD join logs are now available for host build operations.
11. Warning for Burst Mode Pools – When a pool is using burst resources, a warning is displayed next to the pool.
    
    
12. Azure Stack HCI Dynamic Memory – ASHCI devices can now be configured with dynamic memory allocation, allowing for increased density.
13. Desktop Image Backup Policies – Desktop images can now be backed up on a schedule or manually. Learn more.
    
    
14. New API Endpoint - Query and consume custom images.
15. Disable Shadow Sessions - The ability to shadow user sessions can be globally disabled using the app service setting Features:ShadowSession.
16. MSIX App Attach Assignment – MSIX App Attach packages assigned to host pools can now be updated from the package context menu as well as via the "Set as default version" option.
17. Agent Updates - The FSLogix agent 2210 hotfix 2 (2.9.8612.60056) and AVD agent 1.0.7255.1400 have been added to this release.
18. Resolved Issues:
    1. Hosts using a Windows Server OS error when assigned an Intune enabled directory profile.
    2. Azure Stack HCI configuration did not allow for fractional values when allocating vRAM.
    3. Azure Stack HCI configuration only supported vCPU configurations up to 16 cores.
    4. Desktop Image backups are not removed according to the required schedule.
    5. Currency setting not persisting across user sessions
    6. "Stopped OS disk differs from policy" warning was surfaced during OS disk pre-stage events.
    7. "Assign NTFS permissions" option would be selected by default when editing an existing file share.
    8. When linking a network, the "Contributor" role was assigned instead of the more restricted role "Network Contributor."

v5.2 (Release Date 08/17/2023)

1. Management Log Shipping – All Nerdio Manager informational task logs can now be directed to the Azure Application Insights instance. These logs can then be exported to or queried by an SIEM solution. Learn more.
   
2. PowerShell Module: Export Host Pool Configuration (PREMIUM) – Export the current configuration of a host pool in .JSON format including all properties, the total number of VMs, and their current power status. Learn more.
3. Unified Endpoint Management: Update compliance and antivirus global dashboards have been added to the console.
   
4. SMTP Email Alerts (PREMIUM) – Link and use an SMTP gateway for alert configuration. Learn more.
   

5. New RBAC Roles – ‘Manage Drain Mode’ and ‘Manage Power State’ RBAC roles have been added to allow for non-destructive support role creation.
   

6. Resource Rules for Image Management – Create customizable, filtered lists of desktop images.
   

7. Unified Application Management:
   

   • Deployment status page can be searched by application.

   • Policy last run time is now displayed for recurring and one-time policies.

   • Dashboard load times have been significantly improved.

8. Auto-scale: Available Sessions During Working Hours – Scale-in activities can now be set to ‘any time,’ allowing scale-in tasks to be performed during working hours.
   

9. Custom Auto-shrink Email Messages – Custom auto-shrink email messages can now be configured for users. These emails can include variables such as the host pool, host name, and date to simplify the user experience.
   

10. UI Parameter Support for Combined Scripted Actions & Scripted Action Groups – UI-based parameters can now be set for combined action tasks. Additionally, Scripted Action Groups now support the use of UI-based parameters.
    

11. ControlUp - Agent Deployment Throttling & Scheduling – Pools can now be configured with deployment limits and a maintenance window for the deployment of ControlUp agents. Learn more.

12. 'Unavailable & Running' Filter for VMs – A new filter allows for the simple detection of hosts that are both running and unavailable.
    

13. Separate Action for File Share NTFS Permissions – NTFS share permissions can be assigned and updated as a separate action after creation.
    

14. Scripted Action: Enable Private Endpoints for Azure Files – A new scripted action allows for the creation of private endpoints as part of the Azure Files creation process. 

15. Scripted Actions Certificate Renewals GUI ­– Simplify the process of regenerating the scripted actions automation certificate via the Nerdio Manager console. Learn more.
    

16. Migrate to Workspace-based Application Insights – A new GUI element allows administrators to simply migrate to the new workspace-based Application Insights model. Learn more.
    

17. Auto-Shrink notifications - Auto-shrink tasks which conflict with maintenance plans or auto-scale restrictions are now highlighted in the console.
    
18. Resolved Issues:
    1. Desktop image change log not saving comments correctly.
    2. Scripted Action group tasks running out of desired order.
    3. Send message generates an error in Nerdio if the user is logging off.
    4. AZFILETMP VMs were not un-joined from the domain if the task failed.
    5. Re-image tasks block scale-out tasks if currently running.
    6. User cost attribution report generation may take a long time to complete.
    7. User cost attribution may provide incorrect results for non-US dollar environments.
    8. ‘Quick assign’ on host pools did not cache selections during searching.
    9. ControlUp integration may lead to increased Web App resource utilization.
    10. Updated API for resource tagging on ASHCI.

v5.1 (Release Date 07/17/2023)

1. Power BI Connector & Custom Dashboard for User Cost Attribution (PREMIUM) – Export Power BI reports into a customizable dashboard with rich reporting capabilities. Learn more. Demo.
2. Custom Image Template Integration – Leverage the power of Azure Custom Image templates (CIT) as part of the image creation process. Integrate CITs into the existing image management process and apply customizations directly in the UI via parameters. Demo.
3. 
4. Scripted Actions Parameters – Simplify scripted action deployment by specifying script parameters directly within the Nerdio Manager user interface.
5. Unified Application Management (UAM)
   • Deployment status page – A new page providing the status of devices and applications. Quickly search and filter results to discover the deployment status for both policies and one-time deployments. Learn more.
   • Deploy to a desktop image – Install apps as part of the image management and creation process.
   • Deploy to host – Assign application management tasks to individual pooled session hosts from the host action menu.
   • Device restart – Optionally, require a restart in the app deployment task process.
   • MSIX package support – Deploy native .MSIX applications to all supported device targets.
   • MSIX app attach multi-app support – Support for MSIX app attach packages that contain multiple applications in a single package.
   • Favorite applications - Can be searched from the global search bar.
6. Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
   • Overview page – Bulk actions & enhanced device filtering.
   • Device page – Locate device privileged action and quick-refresh details on all device popup screens.
7. Alert if Running OS Disk Differs from Policy – A warning is now displayed if session host’s OS disk differs from the running OS disk policy. Demo.
8. User Cost Attribution: Enhanced Reporting (PREMIUM) - A new report field specifies if the session was a desktop or remote app.
9. Resolved Issues:
   1. Storage account name only supported a maximum of 15 characters instead of 24.
   2. Auto-shrink notification showing the incorrect number of days in some scenarios.
   3. Nerdio Manager Update automation runbook used a ‘Run-as’ account rather than a Managed Identity.
   4. User cost attribution: personal (1:1) desktops costs were not allocated exclusively to assigned user.

v5.0 (Released 06/01/2023)

1. Unified Application Management - Link a wide range of app repositories to the new Unified Application Catalog. Create private Winget repositories for the management of custom apps. Once in the Unified App Catalog, applications can be automatically deployed to AVD session hosts or Intune managed devices, including Windows 365 Cloud PC. Use Deployment Policies to automatically install, uninstall, or update applications across the AVD environment. This release includes support for both AD domain joined and AAD joined devices, plus the ability to deploy applications to Windows 365 Cloud PC and Physical devices through integration with Intune. Policy tasks can be scheduled via maintenance windows to ensure these actions only occur at the desired time. Learn more. Demo.

   

2. Unified Endpoint Management (Beta) – Review and manage your Intune enrolled Windows devices quickly and easily within the Nerdio Manager console.  Perform management operations such as adding or removing group membership, review the status of devices and user experience details from a single, intuitive console. Powerful granular RBAC allows administrators to build custom roles to limit access to device details and tasks, allowing organizations to delegate many aspects of device management. Learn more.

   

3. Nerdio Manager PowerShell Module (Premium Feature) – The Nerdio Manager PowerShell module is a premium feature that offers a convenient way to interact with the Nerdio Manager API. The PowerShell module is a wrapper for Nerdio’s REST API. With this dedicated PowerShell module, users can leverage powerful management capabilities directly from PowerShell. Learn more. Demo.

   

4. RemoteApp Name Shown on User Sessions Page – View running application directly from the user sessions page. This helps to identify and quickly resolve problem sessions for users.

   

5. AVD Modeler Print Function – Modeler now includes the option to print models directly from the console to a .PDF document.
6. Additional Images – Windows Server 2022 images are now available for selection within the Nerdio Manger console.

   

7. Restrict Scale-in Period Extended – The limit of 24 hours for ‘Restrict scale-in’ rules has been removed.
8. Resolved Issues:
   1. If enabled, Modeler included Nerdio Manager costs in the "unoptimized costs."
   2. Azure Stack HCI custom images would fail script extension installation.
   3. User assignments on deleted workspaces could not be edited or removed.
   4. Azure Files auto-scaling failing with 'unknown error'.
   5. Winget repository application insights being created in classic mode.
   6. User Sessions pagination resetting host pool selector.
   7. Intelligent Capacity Extender suggesting invalid VM sizes for image SKU.
   8. Ephemeral OS disk provisioning with incorrect size in some scenarios.

v4.9 (Released: 04/24/2023)

1. Unified Application Management for AVD (Beta) – Link a wide range of app repositories to the new Unified App Catalog (Winget Community & private repositories in this release with more sources coming soon). Create private Winget repositories for the management of custom apps. Once in the Unified App Catalog, applications can be automatically deployed to AVD session hosts or desktop images. Use Deployment Policies to automatically install, uninstall, or update applications across the AVD environment. Learn more. 

   

2. Azure Stack HCI 22H2 Feature Set – PREMIUM (Beta) – Link Nerdio Manager to an on-premises Azure Stack HCI cluster using the Azure Arc Resource Bridge. Create and manage Hybrid AVD host pools with VMs running on-premises using physical hardware. Create, manage, update, and replicate desktop images to be used for creation of session host VMs. VMs are automatically created and managed through the familiar Nerdio Manager interface. Session hosts can be multi-session or single session and advanced features like scripted actions, monitoring, FSLogix, and more are fully supported. Learn more. Demo.

   

3. Tag Groups – Create collections or ‘groups’ of Azure tags for assignment to resources including host pools, images, and storage accounts. Rules can be created to allow for assignment to specified resources. This feature also includes support for variables to simplify tag management. Learn more. Demo.

   

4. Import and Export RemoteApps – Import and export RemoteApp collections directly between host pools or in JSON format to allow for migration between environments. Learn more. Demo.

   

5. Import and Export AppMasking Rule Sets – Import and export AppMasking rule sets directly between host pools or in JSON format to allow for migration between environments. Demo.

   

6. Alert Exclusion Keywords – Specify keywords in alert conditions that will suppress notifications to help detect and suppress false positives. Demo.

   

7. Scripted Action - Download and Install FSLogix on Session hosts – A new scripted action to automatically download and install the latest FSLogix release has been added.
8. Windows 11 22H2 - new marketplace images added to replace preview builds.
9. Resolved Issues
   1. IPv6 network ranges report incorrect details.
   2. VM create operations could exceed the number supported by replicas.
   3. Secondary office container path error unless custom is selected. 
   4. Time zones using daylight savings (DST) not reflected in the Nerdio Manager console.
   5. Desktop images shown as unavailable in Azure region when using Azure Compute Gallery

v4.8 (Released: 03/22/2023)

1. Intelligent OS Disk Pre-Staging – PREMIUM FEATURE - Nerdio Manager learns to predict user behavior based upon previous logon times. Pre-stage the running OS disk type of personal desktops according to learned user habits, saving resource costs and optimizing performance. Demo.

   

2. AVD Modeler: PaaS & License Costs – Include Nerdio Manager Azure PaaS services and license costs in AVD model calculations. Learn more.

   

3. Scripted Action Groups – Create collections of scripted actions and assign these scripts as groups rather than individually during standard deployment tasks. Learn more. Demo.

4. Automatic Activation of Staged Images – Automatically activate staged images after a specified number of days. Learn more. Demo.

   

5. FSLogix Office Container - Archive & Delete  - Manage FSLogix Profile and Office containers when troubleshooting.

6. Granular Pre-stage Timers – More granular options for user-driven OS disk pre-staging, auto-scale host pre-staging, and auto-scale working hours section. Demo.

7. AADJ USER or ADMIN Role Assignment (General Availability feature) – Assign either the Virtual Machine User or Virtual Machine Administrator role to AADJ dedicated personal desktops when adding a user. Demo.

   

8. Cloud PC Optimized Images – Additional Cloud PC optimized images have been added in this release.

   

9. VM Boot Diagnostics Storage Type – Use managed storage account for boot diagnostics, by default. There is also an option to select a custom storage account, or to disable the collection of boot diagnostics data.

   

10. Agent Update: FSLogix 2210 hotfix 1 (2.9.8440.42104). Please note: Microsoft has changed the default behavior for FSLogix profile capture activities in this version. Please refer to this article for details
11. Agent Update: AVD agent Version 1.0.6028.2200.
12. Resolved Issues:
1. Resource Groups mapping for pool VMs not removed from if the Resource Group is deleted from the Azure console.
2. Optimized queries via REST API
3. Errors deploying User Cost Attribution feature in some regions
4. Pre-stage schedule conflicts with scale in delay
5. Azure NetApp Files pre-stage - Volume and capacity pool fixes

v4.7 (Released: 02/22/2023)

1. Nerdio Advisor: AVD Modeler – Introducing a new suite of tools called Nerdio Advisor. It will provide cost modeling and optimization recommendations to ensure your environment is configured with the right settings to meet your needs. In this version, the AVD Modeler lets you create detailed models for new host pools. These models will provide anticipated costs and savings, allowing you to tweak settings to meet your requirements and budget for upcoming deployment without actually spinning up any Azure resources. Learn more.

   

2. End User Personal Desktop Revert to Original Size – PREMIUM FEATURE – Administrators can now force desktops that were resized by end users to revert to their original size after a specified time. Learn more.

   

3. ‘Encryption at Host’ Support – Encryption at host can now be configured directly from the Nerdio Manager console for both platform-managed key and customer-managed key scenarios. Learn more.

   

4. RDP Shortpath for public networks – A new default option has been added to control the use of RDP Shortpath for public networks on a per host pool basis.

5. Per User Currency Preferences – Currency preferences can now be selected and viewed on a per-user basis. Learn more.

6. User Cost Attribution Reports - PREMIUM FEATURE – A new tagging report will allow customers to review their environment to ensure all resources are correctly tagged for cost reporting.

   

7. Dedicated Desktop 'Start and Stop' Time Options - Additional time intervals for dedicated personal host pools 'start and stop' function to allow for longer shut down windows, plus the ability to fully disable auto scale shut down tasks.
8. Resolved Issues: 

1. ‘Microsoft.RecoveryServices’ registration is not validated when a subscription is linked. 

2. Deleted resource groups remain visible. 

3. If an Availability Zone is specified, but the chosen VM size does not support Availability Zones, no indication is shown. 

4. ControlUp hosts do not show any indication that they were successfully joined to the Monitor.

5. When cloning a dynamic host pool without auto-scale configuration, a static pool is created.

6. No ability to specify subscription ID during update tasks. 

7. 'Managed disk storage account type change is not allowed’ error on Auto Shrink tasks in some scenarios 

8. Auto-scale task in Error state but sub-tasks all showing Complete.

9. Compatibility issues in newer versions of Mozilla Firefox.

10. Subnet available IPs information incorrect for DR locations.

11. Scheduled re-image job not stopping after 1 failed task when specified.

12. When deploying to a tenant which includes existing Nerdio installations, the process fails because roles already exist.

13. Failures when attempting to download hourly host pool details report.

v4.6 (Released: 12/25/2022)

1. Nerdio SQL Database Fault Tolerance (premium feature) - Replicate Nerdio Manager SQL database using failover groups to mitigate the risk of Azure SQL database outages. Learn more. Demo

   

2. Geographically distribute MSIX AppAttach Images (premium feature) - Upload MSIX AppAttach packages to multiple linked file shares. When adding applications, the package in the file share closest to the host pool’s region is prioritized to reduce latency. Demo

   

3. Custom RemoteApp Maintenance Tasks - Run custom actions and specify a schedule when enabling RemoteApp maintenance mode. Demo
   

   

4. RDP Settings Profiles - Create global RDP profiles for quick assignment to new and existing host pools. Apply profiles directly from host pool properties or the host pool creation page. Learn more. Demo

   

5. Auto-shrink Administrative Notifications - Administrators can now choose to be notified when Auto-shrink enabled desktops are scheduled for removal.

   

6. GitHub Enterprise Support - Integrate your corporate GitHub Enterprise repositories into the Nerdio Manager to access organizational scripted actions content. Learn more.

   

7. Reset FSLogix User Profiles - Log off and archive or delete user profiles from an Azure Files share directly from the User Sessions page to troubleshoot user issues. Demo

   

8. "cm-resource-parent" Cost Management Tags - Make use of the new "cm-resource-parent" tag for cost reporting in the Azure console. Demo

   

9. Apply to Existing Hosts for Scheduled Actions – Administrators can now choose to schedule bulk host pool actions when 'Apply to existing hosts' is selected. Demo
10. Custom Storage Account Names - Administrators can now use their own naming conventions for Nerdio Manager’s core storage accounts. Learn more.
11. ControlUp API support - API management of ControlUp functions within Nerdio Manager has been added.
12. Updated Sepago Agent - Sepago agent version 2.8.0 has been added to this release.
13. Resolved Issues:

    1. Virtual Machine Login role not consistently applied.

    2. Certificates removed from the app registration on update.

    3. ‘Exclude from auto scale’ time restrictions unbounded.

    4. Downloading hourly pool details report is limited to 2 months.

    5. Unable to add RemoteApps if a single group is added.

    6. Deployment date not updated if deployed via CloudShell.

    7. Existing ControlUp agents redeploying when enabled in NME
    8.  Storage autoscaling not working if storage account keys are disabled
    9. Link virtual network - insufficient privileges on first attempt
    10. Special characters not supported in Global Search bar

Past Versions

v4.5 (Released: 11/23/2022)

1. Intelligent Azure Capacity Extender (premium feature) - Overcome Azure compute capacity limits and soft limits on CPU core quotas by using intelligent mitigation for the Azure Capacity Extender. When selecting this option, the best and most similar VM size will be dynamically selected. Learn more. Demo.
   
2. User Self-Service Resize (premium feature) - allow end users of personal desktops (e.g. developers) to resize their own desktops and disks from a list of allowed options. Learn more. Demo.

   

3. ControlUp Integration – Nerdio is excited to announce ControlUp integration. Deploy ControlUp monitoring agents to host pools automatically from the Nerdio Manager for Enterprise console. Demo
4. FSLogix Profile Reset - Delete or archive a user’s FSLogix profile to quickly resolve profile-related issues. Learn more. Demo.
   
   
5. Azure Compute Gallery Replicas - Images in the Azure Compute Gallery (ACG) can now be replicated, allowing for increased concurrent VM creation actions per image. Learn more..Demo.
6. FSLogix File and Folder Redirection - Create custom rules to deliver dynamic file or disk redirection to users based on username or group membership. Learn more. Demo.
   
7. Host Pool Cloning Enhancements - When performing a clone operation, assign a custom App Group name and specify the target Resource Group and for the cloned pools. Learn more. Demo.
   
8. Global Search - User Sessions & RemoteApps - Administrators can now search for current user sessions and Remoteapps directly from the Global Search bar.
9. Bypass Drain Mode for personal host pools - For scenarios where placing hosts in drain mode prior to desktop shutdown is is undesirable, administrators can now skip this action.
10. Cloud PC Regional Settings - Cloud PC provisioning policies now support the inclusion of region settings. Learn more.
    
11. Resolved Issues
    1. Administrators not able to set a personal host pool auto-shrink delay longer than 30 days.
    2. Logs not getting refreshed automatically in some scenarios.
       
    3. Scripted action wrapper updated for better compatibility.
    4. Dashboard errors observed in Azure US Government environments when using Azure Resource Graph API features.
    5. Creating an Azure AD joined file share may result in an error.
    6. Error ‘Unexpected non white-spaces character after JSON' when associating hosts.
    7. Azure files > Monthly Savings and Costs: Incorrect message when auto-scale is disabled.
    8. Send Message on User Sessions page sending the notification twice.
    9. Stale OS disks not being deleted after desktop restore.
    10. Browser performance improvements.

v4.4 (Released: 10/20/2022)

1. Azure Capacity Extender (premium feature) – Overcome the Azure compute capacity limits by specifying multiple fallback VM sizes for use if capacity is exhausted for your preferred VM size in the region. This ensures that hosts creation, auto-scale, auto-grow, and auto-heal operations do not fail due to Azure capacity constraints. Learn more. Demo.
2. Global Search Bar –Search for resources, objects, and settings from the top of any page to quickly navigate to your desired location. Demo.
3. RBAC Scope for Images – Narrow the scope of available images to users with custom RBAC roles for desktop image management. Demo. 
4. Auto-start Hosts for Maintenance – Power on all hosts in a pool during maintenance window operations to ensure installation of the latest AVD agent and other updates. Demo.
5. RemoteApp Maintenance Mode – Place RemoteApps in maintenance mode to allow for changes while keeping the session host active for other applications. Learn more. Demo.
6. Image Association Details – View and search image-to-host pool associations from the Desktop Images page. 
7. Host Pool Actions Shortcut – Host pool level actions from the Session Host page. Demo.
8. Domain Join Azure Files with a Computer Account - Join Azure Files storage accounts to AD by creating either a user object or a computer object in Active Directory.  When using the computer account option, AES256 encryption is automatically enabled. Learn more. Demo.
9. Allow Desktop Start Actions to be Grouped - This extends the batched action functionality from previous releases. Demo.
10. New REST API Endpoint: Import MSIX Image File - Upload an existing MSIX app attach image in VHD(X) format by specifying a link to the file.
11. Visual Studio Developer Desktop Images – Expanded the listing of Azure gallery images to include Visual Studio Developer images.
12. Exclude Unassigned Desktops from Auto Shrink - this option allows administrators to prevent new, unassigned desktops from being automatically removed via Auto Shrink.
13. Resolved Issues
    1. Virtual machine Logon role not assigned to personal desktop users who had not been assigned to the host pool before being assigned to the desktop manually.
    2. Unassigned VMs could not be automatically powered on for maintenance tasks.
    3. Scale-out actions not performed if a current scale in action is in progress when ‘"reimage used hosts" is enabled.
    4. Cloning host pools not cloning certain properties.
    5. "Exclude from scale-in" pool operations not applying to currently running VMs.
    6. Azure Monitor tab is not present on host pool properties page when in Standard Edition mode.
    7. Download logs resulted in a timeout error in some large environments.

v4.3 (Released: 9/16/2022)

1. AVD per-user cost reporting (premium feature) – report on precise per-individual-user costs by allocating the total cost of AVD deployment (compute, storage, network, PaaS, SaaS) to individual users based on duration of their usage of AVD desktops during the selected time period. Learn more.
2. Personal host pool auto-shrink – Automatically remove desktops from personal host pool when these desktops have not been used for an extended period. Learn more. Demo.
3. Automatic backup and restore of session hosts – enable automatic Azure backup on pooled and personal host pools. Back up and restore individual hosts. Learn more. Demo.
4. FSLogix Office Containers – manage FSLogix Office Containers configuration in addition to the Profile Container configuration. Office Containers separate Microsoft Office data (e.g. OST file) from the overall user profile for easier troubleshooting.  Office Containers and Profile Containers are stored in separate VHDX files and can be stored on different file shares. Learn more. Demo.
   
5. Azure Resource Graph API Use Optimization – overcome Azure Resource Provider (e.g. Microsoft.Compute) API limits by leveraging Azure Resource Graph API.  Use Features:ResourceGraphOptimizations Advanced App Service configuration option to enable.
6. Self-service end user restore (premium feature) – allow end users of personal desktops (e.g. developers) to restore their own VM from backup. Learn more. Demo.
7. Self-service end user desktop re-image (premium feature) – allow end users of personal desktops (e.g. developers) to re-image their own VM using an image made available to them by the administrator. Demo.
8. Global Scheduled Tasks Custom View – view and manage all scheduled tasks on a single Custom View page. Learn more.
9. Global RemoteApps Custom View – view and manage all RemoteApps published across all host pools on a single Custom View page.
10. Global Custom Views Groups – Custom Views Groups created by AVD admins and populated with Custom Views assigned to other users are designated as global and will appear for all users who are assigned to a Custom View within the group.
11. “MY CUSTOM VIEWS” group – Helpfully groups all running hosts, all user sessions, all RemoteApps and all scheduled tasks into a single customizable menu. Changes can be made from the Settings > Custom Views menu if required. Demo.
12. Host Pool Utilization Insights – view average and peak user-to-CPU and user-to-RAM ratios for each host pool to determine if VMs and host pools are optimally sized, oversized, or undersized. Learn more. Demo.
13. Enhanced searching – use built-in search field on all pages to filter items displayed in the table (e.g. find hosts using a specific image). Search matches are highlighted. Demo.
14. “Excluded from auto-scale” filter option – list session hosts excluded from auto scale operations using this filter.
15. Multiple resource group and network linking – select multiple resource groups or networks to link at the same time instead of linking them one-by-one. Learn more. Demo.
16. Automatic FSLogix Agent update on build – Administrators can now choose to update the FSLogix agent to the newest available version on build if an older version is detected in the image.
17. Scripted action ‘Update Windows 11’ – This scripted action allows Administrators to differentiate between Windows 10 & Windows 11 update tasks in their desktop pools.
18. Host pool DR without FSLogix Cloud Cache - Host pool active/active DR can now be enabled without FSLogix Cloud Cache configured on the FSLogix profile.  Profile replication from primary to secondary region must be handled in another way.
19. Updated FSLogix and AVD agent – Versions of agents deployed have been updated to FSLogix 2201 hotfix 2 (2.9.8228.50276) and AVD Agent Version 1.0.4739.1000.
20. Resolved Issues
    1. 1. After typing CONFIRM in the text input, could not use the Enter key to submit
       2. Azure tags not applying to new image versions created in Azure Compute Gallery with “set as image” operation
       3. Cloning desktop images across Azure regions or subscriptions fails when image name is too long
       4. Manually linking Log Analytics Workspace fails with “object reference not set to an instance of object” error
       5. Converting static to dynamic host pools would fail when host pool contains VMs that are connected to different networks.  This validation can now be skipped.
       6. Automatically re-imaging host on user log off in a host pool where “Start VM on connect” is enabled would cause the VM to be stopped before Azure associates the session host and VM object
       7. Last Login column data not showing for host pools that use Sepago monitoring
       8. Use of certain invalid or special characters in AVD object names (e.g. workspaces and host pools) allowed
       9. When cloning host pools, the new App Group names are not intuitive
       10. When scripted actions are configured to run after AVD host creation, hosts may appear in a deactivated state
       11. RemoteApp ‘Friendly Name’ contains inaccurate value

v4.2 (Released: 7/15/2022)

1. AVD per-user cost reporting (Private Preview - Premium Feature) – report on precise per-individual-user costs that allocate the total cost of AVD deployment (compute, storage, network, PaaS, SaaS) to individuals based on duration of their usage of AVD desktops during the selected time frame. Learn more.
2. International currency configuration – select local currency for display of all Azure cost information in Nerdio Manager.  Supported currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD. Learn more. Demo
                                  
3. Personal host pool auto-grow – dynamically expand the size of a personal desktop host pool by adding new session host VMs when the number of available (not assigned to a user) desktops falls below a pre-defined number or % of total. Learn more. Demo
4. Re-image hosts opportunistically without forcing users to log off – re-image task will optionally wait for users to log off and only then re-image the session host VM.  Alternatively, re-image process can force users to log off after a pre-defined grace period delay. Learn more. Demo
5. Dynamic resource recommendations and filtering– create recommendation and filtering rules to assist with selection of VM sizes and OS disks when creating host pool or adding hosts. VMs are recommended based on vCPU availability in selected subscription and region, processor, VM family & version, number of cores & GB of RAM, and local temp storage.  OS disks can be recommended based on storage type (premium, standard, SSD, HDD, or Ephemeral) and disk size.  Resource selection rules can be used to suggest the best VM for a specific AVD use-case while taking into account core quota availability.  They can also be used to limit the types of VMs and OS disks that can be used globally, in a Workspace, or even at specific host pool level. Learn more. Demo
   
6. Validate IP address availability – verify that there is a sufficient number of available IP addresses on the selected network before deploying new VMs.
7. Pre-stage OS disk for personal desktops – Ensure that all OS disks of stopped desktop VMs are converted to the faster “running” OS disk type before users connect in the morning and converted back to the cheaper “stopped” OS disk type after users log off for the day. Demo
8. Custom Views Groups – simplify management of large AVD deployments by creating groups of Custom Views for items like host pools, session hosts, and user sessions that span multiple workspaces.  Custom Views groups can have unique icons and contain any number of views.    Custom Views groups can also be sorted automatically or manually to help with organization and order. Learn more. Demo
9. Custom Views to RBAC role assignment – Custom views can be assigned to user who created the view, everyone with access to Nerdio Manager, or to one or more RBAC roles (both built-in and custom).  Limit access or make Custom Views available to admins based on their role. Demo
    
10. Advanced VM naming patterns – specify session host VM naming pattern to use sequential numbers or random alphanumeric characters.  VMs can be named based on prefix + auto-generated 4-character suffix or based on a naming pattern with unique characters placed anywhere in the name of the VM. Learn more. Demo
11. Trusted Launch support for custom images – when creating a new custom image and storing it in an Azure Compute Gallery, use Trusted Launch to allow session hosts created from this image to be more secure. Demo
12. Display AVD agent and FSLogix apps version – versions of AVD agent and FSLogix apps included with every build of Nerdio Manager are listed on the UPDATES page.
13. Custom RBAC roles to manage only hosts, users & groups assignments, and/or user sessions – granular RBAC role definition options to manage AVD workspaces.  Role definitions now include Read Only & Full Access to one or more Workspaces, but also the ability to manage only session hosts, users & groups assignments, and/or user sessions. Learn more.
14. Scheduled and bulk actions dynamic group size – default group (batch) size is automatically set to be ~20% of the number of selected items. For example, if 10 hosts are selected to be re-imaged, the default group size is set to 2 by default.
15. Schedule tasks for individual session hosts – individual host operations (e.g. re-image, resize, start/stop) can be scheduled at the session host level in addition to the host pool level. Demo
16. Cloud PC optimized images from Azure gallery – display Cloud PC optimized images listed in Azure Marketplace Gallery to be used for Windows 365 or AVD desktops.  When Windows 365 is enabled these images will be listed by default.  Otherwise, use advanced app service option to display these optimized images.
17. Skip removal of local profiles during image creation – during the image creation process Nerdio Manager removes all local user profiles.  This increases the likelihood of Sysprep success. Selecting this option will bypass this step and will not remove local user profiles before running Sysprep.
18. Extended logging of Azure requests in task details – counts of requests to Azure over 5-minutes intervals on a per-task basis and verbose logging in case of Azure API limit errors.
19. Start/stop non-deallocated image VM – if desktop image VM was shut down from within Windows without being deallocated, Nerdio Manager will detect this condition and recommend starting or deallocating this VM.
20. Validate Azure VM agent status during VM creation – when creating new VMs (e.g. session hosts, desktop images, etc.) validate that the Azure VM agent status is “Ready” before proceeding with the rest of the configuration.  This indicates that the VM provisioning processes succeeded. If status is not Ready, subsequent extensions will fail. 
21. Prevent workspace self-assignment by AVD Admins – advanced App Service configuration option prevents users with AVD Admin RBAC role from assigning workspaces to themselves that weren’t assigned to them by the workspace creator.
22. Create a hybrid worker VM (scripted action) – builds a hybrid worker VM on a secured network and links it to the automation account used by Nerdio Manager to run Azure Runbooks scripted actions.  Used in highly secure environments where private endpoints are required for all PaaS components of Nerdio Manager.
23. Updated FSLogix version to 2201 hotfix 2 (2.9.8228.50276) – updated FSLogix installation extension to latest GA version.
24. Resolved Issues
    1. Extra Azure storage accounts created during manual VM association process
    2. Personal session hosts placed in drain mode when stopped, users unable to log in with “Start VM on Connect”
    3. Custom tags specified at host pool level not applying to extensions
    4. Incorrect GPU drivers installed for NCas_T4_v3 VMs
    5. Re-image all hosts in a host pool task would fail when there are hosts in an “unhealthy” state
    6. Inability to deploy Sepago Log Analytics workspace to West US 3 region
    7. Unmanaged Azure Compute Gallery images not listed when image VM is not in a linked resource group
    8. Unmanaged Azure Compute Gallery images version not displaying in image list
    9. Cloning host pool does not copy custom RDP properties

v4.1 (Released: 5/20/2022)

1. Azure Stack HCI (premium feature) – link Nerdio Manager to an on-premises Azure Stack HCI cluster. Create and manage Hybrid AVD host pools with VMs running on-premises using physical hardware.  Create, manage, update, and export desktop images to be used for creation of session host VMs.  VM are automatically created and managed through the familiar Nerdio Manager interface.  Session hosts can be multi-session or single session and advanced features like scripted actions, monitoring, FSLogix, and more are fully supported. Learn more.  Demo
2. Azure API Limit Booster (premium feature) – extend Azure API limits in very large AVD deployments with thousands of VMs. Multiple client app registrations can be linked to one or more Azure subscriptions and API calls will be evenly distributed across these client app registrations multiplying the API limits thresholds. Learn more.  Demo.
3. Azure Dedicated Hosts – automate deployment of AVD session host VMs onto Azure Dedicated Hosts to enable compute isolation, which can be important in highly secured and compliant environments. After creating a host group and at least one dedicated host, individual AVD host pools can be enabled to use isolated capacity by creating VMs on selected host groups and dedicated hosts. Learn more.  Demo.
4. Last user login time – add a new column to session hosts table that displays the date and time when the last user logged in. Hosts in the list can be sorted by this value to find ones that haven’t been used in a while. Learn more.  Demo.
5. AVD agent scheduled updates – specify days and times to update the AVD agent, side-by-side stack, and Geneva Monitoring agent per host pool. Learn more.  Demo.
6. Exclude hosts from auto-scale on manual start/stop – disable auto-scale on selected hosts for a number of hours when manually powering the VM on or off. When starting VMs on a schedule to apply updates auto-scale will not automatically stop them until after the number of hours specified elapses. Learn more.
7. Exclude multiple hosts from auto-scale – select multiple hosts and use bulk action to exclude them from auto-scale until date/time specified or indefinitely.
8. Azure Files default share-level permissions – add a default share-level permission on storage account, instead of configuring individual share-level permissions for Azure AD uses or groups. With a default share-level permission, all authenticated users and groups will have the same level of access to the file share.  Users and groups can be authenticated against the on-premises Active Directory that the storage account is associated with.  Default share-level permission is useful when all users need same level of access to the content (e.g. read-only access to MSIX images) or if managing permissions at file/folder level is preferred rather than at Azure roles level.  Demo.
9. Detect Firewall restrictions on Storage Accounts – to auto-scale or otherwise manage Azure storage accounts, Nerdio Manager App Service must have access to the storage account. If network firewall is enabled on the storage account but Nerdio Manager App Service is not allowed access, a warning message will be displayed with instructions on how to resolve the problem. Learn more.
10. Highlight and fix failed host additions – session hosts VMs that cannot be properly created because of networking or Active Directory issues are highlighted on the session hosts page and easy remediation actions to restart or delete the VMs are provided. Learn more.  Demo.
11. Edit published RemoteApps – modify properties of previously published RemoteApps. Learn more.
12. Customize session host views - show or hide individual columns when viewing session host tables.
    
13. RDP Shortpath for Public Networks (scripted action) - RDP Shortpath transport is a feature of Azure Virtual Desktop that establishes a direct UDP data flow between Remote Desktop Client and Session host. RDP uses this data flow to deliver Remote Desktop and RemoteApp while offering better reliability and consistent latency. Enable RDP Shortpath to increase user session performance by running this scripted action on hosts within a host pool. 
14. FSLogix Profiles shrink optimizations (scripted action) – expanded capabilities of existing FSLogix Profiles shrink script to allow specifying variables during runtime or schedule creation, improved temp VM resource clean up in case of errors, added additional parameters like DeleteOlderThanDays, and support for mounting SMB shares with username/password and Azure storage account keys.
15. New REST API
    1. Get list of MSIX apps in images library
    2. Get list of MSIX App Attach storage locations
    3. Upload MSIX apps
    4. Add multiple session hosts with single API call
    5. Add session hosts to multi-session host pools
    6. Configure multiple pre-stage triggers
16. Resolved issues
    1. Azure Files storage account name and length validation
    2. Azure Files permissions on newly created shares are now more restrictive by default
    3. AD profile user added as local administrator on temp VM when joining Azure Files to AD

v4.0 (Released: 4/3/2022)

1. Premium Edition – new edition of Nerdio Manager for Enterprise with premium functionality for large and complex AVD deployments. Support for multiple deployment architectures including cross-sovereign cloud and upcoming on-premises Azure Stack HCI, advanced auto-scaling and storage optimizations, Windows 365 license cost management, advanced DR options, flexible RBAC controls, upcoming per-user cost attribution, REST API integration, Azure DevOps support, and much more.  Learn more.
2. Azure Log Analytics cost optimization (premium feature) – Log Analytics is used by Azure Monitor AVD Insights (and other monitoring solutions like Sepago) to collect and store diagnostic data. The size and cost of Log Analytics can quickly grow and make up a large component of the overall AVD cost.  Azure Log Analytics pricing is complex and depends on ingestion rate, retention period, performance counters collected, and sampling frequency.  Nerdio Manager analyzes all these dimensions and makes recommendations on how to best optimize Log Analytics costs.  Learn more.  Demo.
   1. Pricing tier recommendation based on historical ingestion rate
   2. Retention period adjustment with “what if” cost impact analysis
   3. Performance counters sampling frequency profiles for low, medium, and high logging levels with cost impact
   4. Individual counter sampling frequency adjustment based on largest cost contributors and “what if” cost impact analysis
3. Customizable auto-heal task sequence – when a host is detected to be in a broken state (e.g. Unavailable, Upgrading for too long, lost domain trust, etc.) an auto-heal sequence can be defined to remediate the problem. The sequence can include VM restart, scripted actions (e.g. re-install SxS, re-register host with AVD, etc.) and VM remove, which will re-create the host through auto-scale. Learn more. Demo.
4. Auto-heal sequences for personal host pools – auto-heal sequences can be used with both pooled and personal desktops. Personal desktops can be automatically restart (one or more times) and scripted actions can be executed against them such as SxS re-install or AVD host re-register. Learn more
5. Windows 365 point-in-time restores - Point-in-time restore lets an administrator restore a Cloud PC to the exact state it was at an earlier point in time. Admins can also give users permission to restore their own Cloud PCs. You can choose to save short-term restore points every 4, 6, 12, 16, or 24 hours. Each Cloud PC will have 10 restore points saved at the intervals that you define in the user setting. For example, if you chose four hour intervals, a Cloud PC will have 10 restore points spread out every four hours over the last 40 hours. Learn more here and here. 
6. Exclude hosts from auto-scale – individual session hosts within host pools with auto-scale enabled can now be excluded from scale in and/or scale out indefinitely or for a predefined period. Useful when certain VMs are not healthy and need to be put into maintenance mode or when long running operations must not be interrupted during scale in time window. Learn more. Demo.
7. Generate RDP file to access VMs – generate RDP file with a click of a button that connect admins directly to an image VM or a session host VM. Learn more
8. Apply Azure tags to new resources – when creating new resources (desktop images, Azure Files shares, workspaces, host pools, and hosts) specify custom Azure tags to be applied to all relevant Azure objects (e.g. VMs, disks, network interfaces, images, app groups, etc). Tags applied during dynamic host pool creation will be remembered and automatically applied when new resources are added to the host pool in the future. Learn more. Demo.
9. Days after “Patch Tuesday” scheduling – schedule image or host operations to happen a certain number of days after Patch Tuesday Update images after Patch Tuesday and roll out updated image to host pools. Learn more. Demo.
10. Directory profiles friendly names – add friendly names to Active Directory, Azure AD, or Azure AD DS directory profiles. Friendly names make it easier to select the correct profile in environments with many options due to multiple domains and/or OUs.
11. Clone directory profile – clone existing directory profiles (Active Directory, Azure AD, or Azure AD DS) without access to the underlying secure password information. Learn more. Demo.
12. Scripted actions execution timeout – Azure runbook scripted actions using “Individual” execution mode can now have a custom timeout period to allow long running processes to complete without being detected as failed. Learn more
13. Remember previously added personal desktop image and size – properties of most recently added personal desktop VM (image, VM size, OS disk, resource group, and network) will be remembered and set as default for future host additions.
14. Power on host pool VMs for X hours (scripted action) – Schedule an Azure runbook scripted action to power on all VMs in a host pool and prevent them from scaling back in for a predefined number of hours. This is useful in situations where maintenance needs to run on these VMs during a maintenance window and they cannot be shut down.
15. Change OS disk type (scripted action) – Schedule an Azure runbook scripted action to convert OS disks of stopped VM to Standard HDD, Standard SSD, or Premium SSD storage tier. Useful with personal host pools using “user-driven” auto-scale to prepare all VMs in the morning to have a fast disk and change it back to cheaper storage at night.
16. Verify successful App Service start after update – app update process verifies the successful start of App Service before completing.
17. Remove dependence on User.Read.All application-level permission – User.Read.All application API permission can now be removed from Nerdio Manager App Registration API permission list without adverse effects to the platform. Learn more
18. Remove dependence on Group.Read.All application-level permission – Group.Read.All application API permission can now be removed from Nerdio Manager App Registration permission list without adverse effects to the platform. Learn more
19. Configurable Sysprep timeout value – App Service configuration setting to change the number of minutes the “set as image” process waits for Sysprep to complete (default is 15 minutes). Useful in environments where Sysprep or computer shutdown takes a very long time.
20. Updated FSLogix version to 2201 (2.9.811.53415) – updated FSLogix installation extension to latest GA version.
21. Resolved issues
    1. Disable incompatible disk sizes when resizing VMs
    2. “Set as image” API call does not append notes to Change Log
    3. Installation of NVIDIA GPU drivers causes a restart of VM and interrupts “Create VM” task
    4. Force unlinking of resource groups even if host pools are present
    5. Custom DNS policies where FQDN of VMs doesn’t match the domain name appear as “not associated”
    6. NME_Username tag not being added to OS disks and network interfaces of personal desktops
    7. FSLogix App Masking application discovery tasks will not initiate several tasks incorrectly.
    8. Azure Compute Gallery versions were incorrectly selecting the most recent version when an older version was chosen during re-image and provisioning.
    9. Uninstalling FSLogix and AVD Agents will now complete properly when importing a desktop image.

v3.5 (Released: 2/17/2022)

1. Azure DevOps repositories - synchronize scripted actions with Azure DevOps repositories. Use your favorite tools, like Visual Studio Code, to edit and maintain scripted actions with all the power of Azure DevOps workflows, versioning, and so much more. Scripted actions are automatically synchronized with Azure DevOps repositories and any changes take effect immediately without the need for configuration changes to be made in Nerdio Manager. Demo
2. Azure Files AAD Join – create new Azure Files shares and automatically join them to Azure AD. AAD-joined file shares can be used to host FSLogix profiles and used with AAD-joined session hosts.  Demo
3. Modify user assignment on personal desktops - assign, un-assign, or change the assigned user on personal desktop VMs. 
4. Azure Automation Hybrid Runbook Worker – leverage dedicated hybrid worker VMs to integration Azure Automation accounts with environments that require private endpoints. Hybrid worker VMs are connected directly to a VNet and Scripted actions can be used when Key Vault and other NME components are only accessible via private endpoints. Demo
5. Windows 365 Enterprise AAD Join ­– provision Cloud PCs without on-premises AD domain  controllers. Both customer-managed and Microsoft-managed VNets are supported.  Cloud PCs provision faster and join Azure AD automatically. Demo
6. Bulk actions in custom views – run bulk actions like “Run script”, “Restart”, and “Power off” on session hosts in custom views.  Demo
7. Session host performance statistics – view real-time session host VM performance statistics directly on the session hoss page. Stats include server uptime, CPU utilization, free RAM %, and OS disk queue depth. Demo
8. Hourly scheduling interval - schedule Scripted actions, desktop images operations, and host pool bulk actions to run as frequently as every hour. 
9. Start VM on Connect with all auto-scale triggers – all auto-scale triggers can now be used with Start VM on Connect. Previously, only “user-driven” trigger could be used.  Scale in process will detect that VM was started outside of Nerdio Manager and add a delay before scaling in the VM to allow user sufficient time to log in.  Demo
10. Burst capacity with User-driver auto-scale trigger – once all available VMs are consumed, auto-scale will automatically build new burst capacity VMs. 
11. Extended User-driven auto-scale trigger log off delay – new selections to wait before scaling in an empty session host VM when using User-driven trigger. New options added: 8 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours.  Demo
12. Power on spare hosts during auto-heal – if auto-heal operation requires deletion and re-creation of broken host VM, a spare VM will be powered on to replace the capacity, if available.  Demo
13. Display per-MAU costs – add per-monthly-active-user costs calculations to Workspaces and Host pools costs & savings columns
14. DESKTOPS module for Admins – the DESKTOPS module provides self-service capability to users with “end-user” RBAC role. Now the DESKTOPS module is visible to users with custom RBAC roles, when selected.
15. Scripted actions variables for Desktop Images - new variables are passed to scripted actions when running “set as image” operation on desktop images ($DesktopImageVmName, $DesktopImageActiveVersion, and $DesktopImageStagedVersion). Demo
16. “NME_username” tag for personal desktops – new tag is created on personal desktop VMs when a user is assigned to the session host. Demo
17. UI enhancements
    1. Counts of filtered and total items in tables – counts of rows are now shown in various tables. Demo
    2. New “VM running” status filter on session hosts page – with this new status filter it is possible for display only session hosts that are currently started. Demo
    3. TiB units free space % for Azure NetApp Files volumes – used and total space is now shown in TiB (previously GiB) and free space % is shown for all Azure NetApp Files volumes.
    4. Searching for “not contains” strings in all search fields. For example: filtering hosts that don’t contain “avd” in the name by searching for -“avd”.  Demo
    5. Both host pool name and friendly name are displayed on User sessions page
18. New REST API methods
    1. Get list of scheduled tasks on Desktop Image
    2. Assign Workspaces to users/groups with built-in roles
19. Resolved issues
    1. Incorrect time zone shown on scheduled tasks on the “Next Run” line
    2. Active "Set as image" task preparing a staged image version is blocking host creation from active image version until it completes
    3. “Set all hosts to running OS disk type” when User-driven auto-scale trigger is selected
    4. Auto-heal stalled host removal interferes with host pre-staging

v3.4 (Released: 12/31/2021)

1. Multi-trigger auto-scale – Configure host pools to scale in and out based on up to 3 usage criteria. Auto-scale triggers can be CPU+RAM, CPU+RAM+Sessions, CPU+Sessions, or RAM+sessions.  Host pool capacity will increase (scale out) when ANY of the scale out triggers are true and will decrease (scale in) when ALL scale in triggers are true. Demo
2. Windows 365 license auto-assignment – Avoid purchasing too many Windows 365 licenses for users who will not log into the Cloud PC. Authorize users to access a Cloud PC and allow Nerdio Manager to automatically assign a Windows 365 license when the user actually logs in for the first time.  Save up to 40% in unused license costs. Demo
3. Windows 365 unused license reclamation – Reclaim unused Windows 365 licenses from users who are no longer using their Cloud PC for a pre-defined period of time. Users may leave the organization or change their work habits to no longer use a Cloud PC.  Reclaimed licenses can be used for other users or cancelled. Demo
4. Windows 365 inactive user license parking – Cloud PCs are not used 24/7 since users are actively connected to their Cloud PC only 40-50 hours per week. Park a user’s Cloud PC license while the user is not connected and use a less expensive, "parking" license instead.  When user connects back into the Cloud PC the original license is re-assigned.  This reduces the total number of needed licenses and can save up to 25% on monthly license costs. Demo
5. Trusted Launch – automatically enable Trusted Launch for session host generation 2 VMs by setting a property on a host pool. Demo
6. “Manage hosts only” custom RBAC role – Delegate host VM management to admins without ability to make changes to host pool configuration. Demo
7. Ephemeral OS Temp Disk placement – Leverage capabilities of new VM families to place Ephemeral OS disks (EOSD) in the temp disk allocation rather than the included disk cache. This allows for smaller VMs sizes to leverage EOSDs (e.g. D4d_v5 up to 150 GB OS disk and d2d_v5 up to 75 GB OS disk) Demo
8. Retain OS and data disks when deleting and re-imaging hosts – advanced App Service configuration to not delete OS and data disks when hosts are deleted or re-imaged.
9. Move VM to another Availability Zone (scripted action) – Move VMs from current Availability Zone to another within the same Azure region. Useful when capacity is constrained in the default AZ1.
10. Assign list of users to personal desktops (scripted action) – Assign a list of comma separated users to unassigned personal desktops in a host pool.
11. Search personal host pool by username - Search hosts in a personal host pool by assigned username. 
12. Resolved issues
    1. Incorrect job ID being returned during re-image host REST API call
    2. Auto-heal attempting to repair VMs recently started by “Start VM on Connect” before the user gets a chance to log in
    3. AAD joined VM registration not removed from AAD when host VM is removed or re-imaged
    4. Scripted action running multiple times in some Azure regions
    5. Join to AVD sub-task completing with an error after a long time even though it succeeds
    6. Improved handling of MSIX image removal
    7. AAD joined VM with Intune policies affecting AVD agent installation.  AAD join process can be moved to happen after AVD agent installation with advanced App Service option.

 v3.3 (Released: 11/5/2021)

1. Installed apps management – leverage FSLogix App Masking technology to automatically discover applications installed on a host pool and configure rules to determine which users can access which applications. User access can be controlled at individual app level and can be assigned by user or security group.  Multiple apps can be grouped together for consolidate access management.   Simply install all the needed apps on the desktop image, update session hosts, and define which users can access which apps. Demo
2. RAM auto-scale trigger – host pool auto-scale behavior can be driven by host VM RAM usage. Scale out (power on or create new VMs) when usage exceeds a pre-configured maximum threshold and scale back in (delete VMs or power them off) when usage drops below a minimum threshold.  Nerdio Manager now supports 5 auto-scale triggers to accommodate any use-case.  They are: CPU, RAM, Average Active Sessions, Available Sessions Buffer, and User-driven. Demo
3. Custom RBAC roles – create custom roles to control admin access to all areas of Nerdio Manager. Custom roles define scope and level of access and can be assigned to users and security groups.  Users can access modules in read-only or full access mode. Demo
4. Availability Zone selection - select automatic or manual mode for distributing VMs across a set of Availability Zones.  In automatic mode, VMs will be evenly distributed across all zones in an Azure region.  In manual mode, admins can specify the zones they want used.  In situations when Availability Zone 1 is out of capacity, VMs can be configured in zones 2 and 3 only. Demo
5. “What’s new” announcements – relevant product updates will be displayed the first time a user opens a newly updated version of Nerdio Manager. Announcements will include new features with detailed descriptions and links to video tutorials and documentation.
6. Collect CPU, RAM, and sessions data – Dynamic host pools with auto-scale enabled will collect usage data and display it on Auto-scale History page to assist with auto-scale configuration and VM sizing. CPU, RAM, and user session data is graphically visualized to help determine optimal scale out/in thresholds and optimal user-to-VM density.
7. Prevent users from saving passwords – enable host pool level option to require users to always type in their passwords when logging into a desktop session. This prevents users from being able to use saved credentials on their local devices. Demo
8. Session timeout setting – define custom browser session timeout settings and control session refresh behavior of Nerdio Manager application. Default session timeout is 60 minutes with auto-refresh enabled.  App Service configuration settings can be used to control this timeout duration and auto-refresh.
9. Force unlinking of resources - previously resources deleted in Azure portal outside of Nerdio Manager preventing unlinking of certain Resource Groups and Networks.  Now unliking can be forced even there are "orphan" objects still referring to the network or resource group.
10. Updated AVD agent installation extension – latest version of AVD agent version (1.0.3373.2600) is automatically installed during session host creation. The agent is then updated by AVD service automatically when new version becomes available.
11. Updated FSLogix version to 2105 HF_01 (2.9.7979.62170) - Updated to the latest FSLogix Apps release per Microsoft guidance.
12. New API calls
    1. Trigger "Force auto-scale start" task after changing auto-scale properties (if enabled)
    2. Run script on desktop image
    3. Update and delete scripted actions
13. Resolved issues
    1. Notification service mail token expiration – indicator if Exchange Online token has expired and click to renew it
    2. Ephemeral OS disk VM shut down in Windows – auto-scale will proactively start VMs with Ephemeral OS disks that were shut down from within the operating system
    3. OS disk auto-scaling during “re-image on log off” – VMs that are automatically re-imaged on user log off will be automatically converted to “Stopped VM” OS disk type
    4. Removed "Allow" command line option from RemoteApp publishing page as it's no longer supported
    5. Enabled user message by default on re-image hosts pop-up
    6. Custom RDP properties on host pools properly synchronized with Azure portal settings
    7. Removed Windows 11 "preview" labels since it's now GA and added ability to use Windows 11 when creating desktop image from existing VM
    8. Gen2 VMs are now requires for Cloud PC images

 v3.2 (Released: 10/1/2021)

1. Azure AD join support for multi-session host pools AND FSLogix - both personal and pooled host pools can be used with Azure AD joined session host VMs.  FSLogix is supported when used with Azure Files and is automatically configured to use Azure blob storage mode with securely stored storage access keys and Cloud Cache. Demo
2. “User-driven” multi-session host pool auto-scaling mode – new auto-scale trigger to scale out using Start VM on Connect and scale in based on lack of sessions on session host VMs. Combine user-driven scaling with pre-stage schedules to improve users' login experience during logon storms and leverage scale in time restrictions. Demo
3. Individualized UI themes – each user of Nerdio Manager can configure their own UI theme. Demo
4. Drain all hosts during scale in hours – set drain mode on all hosts while scaling in after work hours keeping only the minimum number of hosts accessible to new sessions. Accelerate consolidation of users onto minimum active hosts and scale in all other VMs. Demo
5. Scheduled scripted actions for Desktop Images – run scheduled scripted actions on Desktop Images (for example Windows updates).  VM will be powered on, script will be executed based on schedule, and VM will be shut back down. Demo
6. Use backup versions of Shared Image Gallery images - unmanaged, backed up versions of desktop images are listed in their own section of the Desktop Images drop down list and can be used to restore any changes made to session hosts through re-image. Demo
7. Define execution order of Windows scripts and Azure runbooks – it is now possible to define the execution order of scripted actions based on a single list of actions rather than Windows scripts first and Azure runbooks second.  Windows scripts and Azure runbooks can be executed in any order. Demo
8. “VM create” and “AVD host register” scripted actions triggers – define when scripted actions will run during VM deployment. Some scripts can run immediately after VM is created while others can run after it is joined to AVD host pool but before the host is available to users. Demo
9. “SATrigger” and “SATriggerMode” variables for scripted actions – New status variables passed to scripted actions that provide context of how the script was executed (e.g. on a schedule, during VM creation, image creation, etc.) Demo
10. Azure Files SMB multichannel – enable Azure Files SMB multichannel by default when creating Azure Files shares to improve FSLogix performance. Demo
11. Download Application Insights logs – button to download App Insights exceptions directly from Nerdio Manager when submitting a support request. No need to do this in Azure portal. Demo
12. Cloud PC indicator when no primary user assigned (Windows 365) – indicator on Cloud PCs page of those devices where primary Intune user is not assigned and ability to assign Cloud PC user as the primary Intune user. Cloud PCs without Intune assigned users cannot be managed with Intune. Demo
13. Resize Cloud PC (Windows 365) – Resize Cloud PCs to an available size without user data loss. Demo
14. End Cloud PC grace period (Windows 365) – Immediately de-provision Cloud PCs that are currently in 7-day grace period. Demo
15. New REST API
    1. Support for multiple Nerdio Manager instances within a single AAD tenant using REST API
    2. Delete host pool
    3. Set re-image all hosts schedule on host pool
    4. Run or schedule script on host pool
    5. Enable and configure Azure Files auto-scale
    6. Enable and configure Azure NetApp Files auto-scale
    7. Get Named, Concurrent, and Monthly Active Users for past month
    8. Link new subscription
    9. Link new network
    10. Link new resource group
16. Security
    1. Control session or persistent cookies with App Service configuration option 
17. Fixed bugs
    1. Detect and work around erroneously reported Azure VM status being “stopped” while VM is running during scale in

v3.1 (Released: 8/30/2021)

1. Azure AD joined VMs (preview) – add Azure AD directory profile and create session hosts and image VMs joined to Azure AD instead of Active Directory.  Automatically enroll VMs in Intune for centralized management without the need for Active Directory. (NOTE: While in preview, certain features are unavailable, including FSLogix profiles and Azure Files share access). Demo
2. Host pool Disaster Recovery – enable host pool level active/active DR configuration and Nerdio Manager will automatically distribute session hosts across two Azure regions. Users will be distributed across VMs in both regions as they log in and FSLogix profiles will be automatically replicated using Cloud Cache.  In case of an Azure region failure users will continue accessing VMs in the available region. Demo
3. Reserved Instances (RI) analytics and recommendations – save up to additional 60% on the cost of Azure compute by using Reserved Instances in combination with auto-scaling. Nerdio Manager will analyze prior auto-scale behavior and recommend quantity of CPU core reservations to purchase to take advantage of RI savings.  Demo
4. Multiple auto-scale schedules – create multiple auto-scale pre-stage settings to ramp up host pool capacity during certain days of week and times of days. In education environments multiple schedules can be used to turn on VMs based on a pre-defined class schedule. Demo
5. Custom pre-stage schedule day selection - auto-scale pre-staging schedule can be set based on preset date ranges (e.g. Monday-Friday) or by selecting one or more individual days of week. Demo
6. "User-driven" personal host pool auto-scaling mode – new auto-scaling mode for personal host pools that will automatically stop VMs when users log off and turn VMs back on when users attempt to connect. If users shut down their desktop VM in Windows (without deallocating in Azure) it will be automatically deallocated. Demo
7. Directory profile and FSLogix configuration when creating host pools – select Directory profile (e.g. Azure AD or Active Directory) and FSLogix configuration profile during host pool creation. Adds ability disable FSLogix before creating any session hosts, if it’s not needed. Demo
8. 32 GB OS disk support – save on session host VM OS disk costs by shrinking the image down to 32 GB on highly optimized images. Can be utilized together with the “Shrink OS disk” scripted action.  Small disks can also enable the use of Ephemeral OS disks on smaller VMs with smaller disk cache sizes. Demo
9. Force user log off on hung/stopped hosts – force log off user sessions if they cannot be logged off normally. Sessions “stuck” on crashed or stopped session hosts will be released so users can reconnect to another host in the host pool.
10. Azure list price discount configuration (advanced option) – this advanced App Service configuration option can apply a negotiated discount to Azure prices, which will be reflected in all costs and savings calculations. Demo
11. Add suffix to personal desktop creation – when creating a single personal desktop VM, allow Nerdio Manager to append a unique prefix, just like it does when creating multiple personal desktops, instead of using a "strict" provided name. Demo
12. Un-assign user from personal desktop (scripted action) – use this scripted action to remove user assignment from an existing personal desktop session host. The host will be put back into “unassigned” state and can be re-assigned to another user. Demo
13. “Run now” host pool re-image without deleting schedule – trigger a host pool re-image operation to “run now” without deleting an existing schedule.  It is also possible to modify the scheduled task properties without deleting and re-creating it. Demo
14. Automatic Nerdio Manager updates (scripted action) – use this scripted action Azure runbook to update Nerdio Manager app service to the latest available version. Schedule the scripted action to run unattended.
15. Configure regional Windows settings (scripted action) – use this scripted action during session host deployment (host pool VM deployment page) to customize the regional settings of deployed VMs.
16. Windows 11 support (preview) - deploy Windows 11 single-session and multi-session images.  Now available in the Desktop Images drop down selector. Demo
17. Auto-scale host pool queue size (advanced option) - limit the number of auto-scale processes that can run concurrently.  Each auto-scale task handles one host pool and runs every 5 minutes, by default.  In very large environments, limiting the number of concurrent tasks allows for distribution of SQL database IO and Azure API load rather than processing all host pools at the same time.  Demo
18. New REST API
    1. Return AVD host status when querying session host
    2. Delete session host
    3. Get list of all linked networks
    4. Get list of all linked resource groups
19. Fixed bugs
    1. Desktop image cloning not detecting hardware version properly as gen1/gen2
    2. Azure NetApp Files mount path detected incorrectly when volume name doesn't match mount path
    3. "Load VM statistics" error during re-image operation
    4. Default custom RDP properties explicitly set

v3.0 (Released: 7/14/2021)

1. Windows 365 Cloud PC – Nerdio Manager is now fully integrated with the newly announced Windows 365 Cloud PC service. Deploy cloud PCs in minutes by preparing your existing environment for Windows 365 Enterprise.  Manage cloud PCs, network connections, provisioning policies, user settings, and group assignments.  Leverage scripted actions to manage and optimize cloud PCs. Enabling demo | Images demo | Scripted actions demo
2. Teradici PCoIP – extend Azure deployments with Teradici PCoIP protocol. Automate Teradici CAS deployment and add PCoIP as an option to any existing or new host pools.  Both single-user personal (persistent) and single-user pooled (floating) host pools are supported.
3. FSLogix configuration profiles – configure one or more FSLogix configuration profiles and apply different sets of FSLogic settings to individual host pools. The default profile will apply to all new host pools, by default, but can changed to any other profile on the properties page.  Replaces the need to manage multiple FSLogix configurations via GPO and makes it easy to manage from a single interface. Demo
4. FSLogix Cloud Cache – enable FSLogix Cloud Cache with a check box on any configuration profile and specify up to 4 paths to replicate VHD profiles to. Great way to replicate FSLogix data across Azure regions and different files shares for resilience and disaster recovery. Demo
5. Azure China cloud – extend AVD deployments into Azure China cloud by adding Azure China subscription to an existing AVD deployments to be used for session host VMs. Nerdio Manager now supports Azure Global, Azure US Government and Azure China clouds. Demo
6. Product rename and WVD to AVD change – changed name from Nerdio Manager for WVD to Nerdio Manager for Enterprise to complement Nerdio Manager for MSP. All WVD and Windows Virtual Desktop references changed to AVD and Azure Virtual Desktop.
7. Custom views – create custom views of host pools, session hosts, and user sessions that can span multiple workspaces, resource groups, subscriptions, or Azure clouds. Configure the ideal page view with all searching and filtering capability and save the configuration to your own profile or for all Nerdio Manager admins.  Select a custom view as your default page that will open automatically on login to Nerdio Manager. Demo
8. Default page – select any page as the default and it will automatically open on login to Nerdio Manager. Demo
9. Add external users – grant RBAC role access to Nerdio Manager to external/guest Azure AD users. Demo
10. Azure AD DS profiles – new check box to let Nerdio Manager know that an Active Directory configuration profile is for Azure AD DS. When adding Azure Files shares, the storage account will be automatically enabled in Azure AD DS.  Also, “display non-AD synched users and groups” filter will enabled if any Azure AD DS profiles are created. Demo
11. Azure NetApp Files auto-scale history, costs, and savings – graphically view Azure NetApp Files auto-scale activity and track storage costs and savings.
12. Enable private endpoint for App Service and SQL database (scripted action) – enable private vNet endpoint on App Service and SQL database, which increases security of Nerdio Manager deployment and allows access to vNet integrated storage accounts.
13. REST API to assign secure variables to scripted actions – new API call to modify secure variable assignment to scripted actions without modifying the content.
14. Auto-scale max number of hosts – modify the default 999 VM per host pool limit via App Service configuration setting. Demo
15. Security hardening – apply hardened security settings to automatically deployed Azure resources
    1. App Service: “HTTPS Only” option set to On
    2. Storage accounts: Enabled “Secure transfer required”, Disabled “Allow Blob public access”, set “Minimum TLS version” to 1.2
16. FSLogix version 2105 – Updated to the latest FSLogix release.

v2.11 (Released: 6/4/2021)

1. Storage auto-scale (Azure NetApp Files) – ensure high performance of Azure NetApp Files at the lowest possible cost. The performance of an Azure NetApp Files volume is determined by the volume size, regardless of capacity actually used.  Storage auto-scale increases the volume size during times of peak demand (e.g. log-on and log-off storms) and decreases it automatically when the extra boost in performance is no longer needed.  This is done based on a schedule and/or in response to elevated IO latency.  Storage auto-scale also automatically grows volume (and capacity pool) size when capacity reaches a pre-defined threshold ensuring that it never runs out of space.  Combining storage auto-scale with FSLogix profile optimization scripted action provides best possible performance at the lowest cost, making WVD even more affordable. Demo
2. Auto re-image used desktops on log off – ensure that users always log into a pristine, image-based session host by refreshing (re-imaging) used VMs after users log off. In single-user pooled scenarios, desktops will be automatically re-imaged when users log off.  In multi-user pooled scenarios, session hosts will be re-imaged as soon as the last user logs off.  This way, all hosts will be always kept up-to-date and in pristine state. Demo
3. Variables integration with scripted actions – simplify the process of running Azure runbook scripted actions with Run now or Schedule command.  Instead of modifying the scripted action to define parameters inside of the script, specify all needed variables in UI when running it.  The scripted action can also define all required and optional variables and block execution unless all needed parameters are provided.  Demo
4. Summary dashboard – consolidated dashboard that combines usage, costs, and savings across all Workspaces in WVD deployment.  Select desired time range and view graphs of named, concurrent, and active users.  View graphs of host pools, hosts, and total CPUs.  Review and export data on compute and storage costs savings. Demo
5. Multi-select bulk actions on session hosts and user sessions – perform all session host actions (e.g. restart, drain mode, re-image, resize, delete, log off, etc.) on multiple hosts with multi-host actions. Similarly, perform actions on multiple user sessions (e.g. send message, disconnect, log off). Demo
6. Sorting by column in all tables – sort tables by columns throughout the portal.  Sort hosts by name or date provisioned, host pools by friendly name or type, or logs by user or resource name. Demo
7. Dark portal UI themes – use pre-defined or create your own dark UI themes. Demo
8. Re-designed host pool properties - consolidated all host pool properties pop-ups (e.g. Active Directory, FSLogix, WVD, VM deployment, etc.) into a single page that easier to navigate and make changes in one place. Demo
9. Start VM on connect for pooled host pools – enable “Start VM on connect” functionality with a single click for both pooled and personal host pools. Demo
10. Storage cost optimization for personal desktops – auto-scale can automatically change OS disk type of VMs in both pooled and personal host pools to a cheaper storage tier (e.g. from premium SSD to standard HDD) while the host VM is powered off and back to the more performance tier right before it’s started.  This provides a significant storage cost reduction while VMs aren’t in use. Demo
11. Place “old” hosts into drain mode while re-imaging – prevent users from logging into hosts based on previous version of an image while the host pool is being re-imaged. Once the first batch of hosts is re-imaged to the latest image version, the remaining hosts are placed into drain mode.  As each new batch of hosts comes online users are directed to new hosts only. Demo
12. Storage auto-scale history, costs and savings – costs and savings resulting from storage auto-scale are now tracked and can be graphed and reported on. Demo
13. Shrink image VM OS disk to 64GB (scripted action) – reduce the size of an image VM's OS disk from the default 128GB to 64GB. This reduces storage costs for session host VMs by requiring a smaller disk and allows for use of smaller VMs with ephemeral OS disks. Demo
14. Filter personal desktops by unassigned status – filter desktop VMs in personal host pools by assigned/unassigned status to see if new VMs need to be created to accommodate new users. Demo
15. Expanded logging for Azure runbooks - scripted actions Details logs now include all Azure automation output streams: stdout, error and warnings. Demo
16. New REST API calls Demo
    1. Get and update host pool Active Directory settings
    2. Get and update host pool FSLogix settings
    3. Get and update host pool Custom RDP settings
    4. Get and update host pool WVD settings
    5. Get and update host pool VM deployment settings
    6. Get and update host pool session time limits
    7. Get and update host pool custom tag
    8. Add/remove secure variables for scripted actions
    9. Trigger run once or schedule scripted actions Azure runbooks
    10. Get all scheduled tasks for host pool
17. Install Remote Display Analyzer (scripted action) - RDAnalyzer is a tool that analyzes display protocol performance.  Free version is installed by this scripted action but a subscription can be purchased from Remote Display Analyzer (rdanalyzer.com).
18. Windows 10 21H1 images - added support for deploying Windows 10 21H1 as a new desktop image.

v2.10 (Released: 4/30/2021)

1. Storage auto-scale (Azure Files Premium) – Ensure high performance of Azure Files at the lowest possible cost. The performance characteristics of Azure Files Premium are determined by the provisioned capacity quota.  Storage auto-scale increases capacity quota in response to increased storage latency (or on a schedule), and decreases it when the extra performance is no longer needed to save on costs.  Combining storage auto-scale with FSLogix optimization scripted action provides best possible performance at the lowest cost, making WVD even more affordable. Demo
2. GitHub integration – synchronize scripted actions with Public and/or Private GitHub repositories. Use your favorite tools, like Visual Studio Code, to edit and maintain scripted actions with all of the power of GitHub workflows, versioning, and so much more.  Scripted actions are automatically synchronized with GitHub repositories and any changes take effect immediately without any configuration changes made in Nerdio Manager.  All pre-built Nerdio scripted actions are migrated to public GitHub repository. Demo
3. Azure Cloud Shell installation and update – deploy and/or update Nerdio Manager using Azure Cloud Shell with an auto-generated Powershell script. No need to disable MFA, download scripts, or fight with local Powershell modules. Demo
4. Advanced installation options - ability to install Nerdio Manager for WVD without Azure AD Global Administrator rights by using a pre-configured app registration.  Also install several Nerdio Manager instances into the same Azure AD tenant with unique app registrations. Demo
5. Start VM on connect (preview) integration – check a box on host pool WVD properties page to automatically enable Microsoft’s newly released “Start VM on connect” feature on personal desktop host pools with direct user assignment. Demo
6. Global encrypted variables for Scripted actions – Define global variables that can be used by any scripted action. Variables are encrypted and stored securely in Azure Key Vault. Demo
7. Spot VMs (scripted action) – save up to 90% on Azure VM compute costs while testing a WVD deployment by creating session hosts as Spot VMs. Not to be used in production scenarios as VMs can be unexpectedly “evicted”.  Easily convert VMs from spot to pay-as-you-go and back to spot VMs with this scripted action.  Demo
8. Microsoft Edge optimizations (scripted action) – apply Microsoft recommended WVD optimizations to Edge browser on your image or session hosts with this scripted action. Demo
9. Automated Nerdio Manager backup (scripted action) – use this Azure runbook scripted action to back up Nerdio Manager app service, SQL database and key vault contents and store the backups in an Azure storage account. Can be launched on-demand or on a schedule. Demo
10. FSLogix storage capacity optimization (scripted action) – this scripted action, based on Jim Moyle’s FSLogix shrink script, can be used to reduce the white space inside of FSLogix VHD(X) containers and dramatically reduce storage costs. Combined with storage auto-scaling, it provides a big reduction in the Azure cost of FSLogix storage while maintaining high performance. Demo
11. Detect stale FSLogix file handles (scripted action) - crashed hosts can leave FSLogix VHD(X) container files locked on Azure Files shares.  This scripted action can detect any VHD(X) file locks that don't have a corresponding WVD session. Demo
12. WVD deployment template (scripted action) – create a complete WVD deployment using this deployment template that runs as a scripted action. Customize the template as needed and leverage the power of Nerdio Manager’s REST API to stand up a WVD environment in minutes. Demo
13. Auto-scale enhancement - Specify a delay to prevent pre-staged hosts from being scaled in after the start of work hours even if they are unused. Demo
14. New API calls
    1. Link and unlink resources groups Demo
15. Updated version of Sepago Azure Monitor agent and WVD Insights dashboard – Sepago agent has been updated to v259 and includes GPU integration and metrics.
16. Reseller billing via Azure Marketplace – Nerdio Manager resellers can now purchase the license for their customers via Azure Marketplace using their own CSP subscription.
17. UI Enhancements
    1. Customizable color themes Demo
    2. Filtering on host pools and session hosts pages Demo
    3. New STORAGE menu for managing Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files Demo
    4. Edit Desktop Image scheduled "set as image" scripted actions without deleting the schedule Demo
    5. WVD agent version indicator on session hosts pages Demo
    6. Color-coding of task status icon Demo
    7. Floating Save & Save & close buttons on long auto-scale config pages Demo
    8. Breadcrumbs improvements Demo
18. Bug fixes
    1. Fixed UI issue with very long resource names not wrapping properly
    2. Updated Azure Monitor Insights link to new GA link
    3. Removed MSIX App Attach “Public Preview” verbiage now that the functionality is GA
    4. Static, single-user pooled host pools that are converted to dynamic can now use the "Available (spare) desktops" auto-scale trigger

v2.9 (Released: 3/27/2021)

1. Multiple Azure Clouds – deploy and manage WVD environments that span across sovereign Azure Clouds.  Cross-sovereign cloud support allows identity (e.g. users and groups) to be in one Azure Cloud, while session host VMs are in another Azure Cloud.  Starting with support for Azure US Government and Azure Global (commercial), Nerdio Manager makes managing WVD deployments where identity is in GCC and VMs are in Azure US Gov (or vice versa) seamless. Demo
2. Desktop image staging - modify and update production images and test them without affecting current production host pools that use these images.  When updating an image, select for the new version to be created in "staged" mode.  Designated test host pools can start using and testing this image right away, but production host pools will only begin using it when it is activated after testing and validation.  The end-to-end process of image update, user acceptance testing, and deployment into production can be fully automated. Demo
3. Start pooled desktops on demand - end users can now start a session host in a host pool when all hosts are stopped using the self-service portal. Demo
4. Cost optimization for session host OS disks - define "running" OS disk storage type (e.g. Premium or Standard SSD) and "stopped" OS disk storage type (e.g. Standard HDD).  Auto-scale will change the OS disk to cheaper storage when it stopped and automatically change it to a more performance storage type when the VM is started.  This results in up to 75% in OS disk storage savings when the VM is not running. Demo
5. Run once and schedules for Azure runbooks scripted actions - Azure runbooks can now be triggered on demand (run once) or set to run on a schedule independent of a VM-specific trigger.  Additionally, Azure runbooks can be triggered on session host VM start, stop, create delete or desktop image capture. Demo
6. New VM events to trigger scripted action execution - Scripted actions can be attached to host pool VM events: VM start, VM stop, VM create, and VM delete.  For example: AntiVirus agent can be installed and registered on VM create and un-registered on VM delete or a monitoring agent can be installed on VM start and removed on VM stop. Demo
7. Multiple MSIX packages per image creation - upload multiple MSIX apps to be packaged together in a single VHDX image.  Combining multiple apps in a single image reduces the number of VHDX files mounted on each session host VM and improves performance. Demo
8. New REST API requests Demo
   
   1. Assign and un-assign users/groups to host pools and app groups
   2. Add new workspace
   3. List all managed Workspaces
   4. Add new static host pool
   5. Convert static to dynamic host pool
   6. Configure auto-scale on dynamic host pool
   7. Add new scripted action
9. New integrations Demo
   
   1. Sophos endpoint protection agent install and register when session host is created
   2. Sophos endpoint protection agent un-register when session host is deleted
10. New scripted actions
    
    1. Delay putting newly created hosts into production for some time to allow all installation processes to complete Demo
    2. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC with Chocolatey Demo
    3. Install Google Chrome with Chocolatey Demo
    4. Install Mozilla Firefox with Chocolatey Demo
    5. Install Microsoft Edge with Chocolatey Demo
    6. Install 7Zip with Chocolatey Demo
    7. Install Notepad++ with Chocolatey Demo
11. Run scripted actions on Desktop Images - trigger a scripted action to run on a Desktop Image VM on-demand from the action menu.  For example, install software or language packs.  Demo
12. Trusted launch capable Gen2 multi-session (EVD) Windows 10 images - added support for Gen2 EVD images that support Trusted launch.
13. Minor enhancements and bug fixes
    
    1. Pass $SubscriptionName in addition to $SubscriptionID to scripted actions Demo
    2. Converted all free text Powershell scripts attached to host pools and images to Windows scripted actions and stored them in library Demo
    3. Select a different host VM to power on when the first selected one fails to scale out (e.g. Availability zone capacity limits)
    4. Validate app permissions when enabling email notifications
    5. Client IP information found in task logs can be pulled from XFF header using IpTracking:Header advanced configuration option
    6. Fixed issue with joining Azure Files storage accounts to AD with Advanced settings options collapsed
    7. Optimized Users, Hosts and Application monitoring dashboards for better performance
    8. Updated WVD Azure Monitor insight configuration based on latest guidance from Microsoft to reduce data ingestion by over 80% and save on Azure Log Analytics Workspace costs
    9. Searching and filtering enhancements on Scripted actions page
    10. Extended notification emails to optionally include tasks details in the body and JSON file as attachment

v2.8 (Released: 2/17/2021)

1. Native WVD MSIX App Attach integration – leverage native WVD MSIX App Attach integrations via the WVD agent. Assign MSIX packages to host pools from Nerdio Manager image library or use existing images storage on any SMB storage including Azure NetApp Files and file servers.  Demo
2. MSIX App Attach images library with versioning – Upload and manage MSIX App Attach images to an Azure Files share. Update images to new versions and automatically apply to all host pools with existing assignments.  Leverage images with multiple MSIX packages inside for more efficient app delivery.  Demo
3. Upload and manage MSIX images in CIM format – upload and manage MSIX images in read-only CIM format, which reduces IO required to deliver the application. Uploading native MSIX, VHD, VHDX and CIM formats is supported.  Demo
4. Self-signed MSIX certificates management – upload and manage a library of self-signed or CA-issued certs that were used to package apps in MSIX format. These certificates can be automatically installed on desktop images or session hosts during provisioning.  Demo
5. Azure Monitor for WVD integration – automatically enables and configures WVD integration with Azure monitor. Zero configuration required.  Azure Monitor Insights for WVD can be used instead of or in conjunction with Sepago Monitor.  Demo
6. Alerting and notifications – define rules to generate email alerts based on various conditions and actions. Select whom to notify based on tasks, statuses, resources, etc.  Demo
7. Join AD automatically when creating Azure Files shares – when creating new or managing existing Azure Files shares, join the storage account that contains the share to Active Directory or Azure AD DS. Done automatically by creating a temporary VM and using stored AD credentials to create a computer object in selected OU.  Demo
8. Link existing Azure Files shares and Azure NetApp Files volumes – link existing Azure Files shares and Azure NetApp Files volumes to Nerdio Manager environment. Once linked, Azure Files shares can be managed in NMW and joined to AD.  Demo
9. Manage permissions and quota on existing Azure Files shares – adjust provisioned quota and SMB file share permissions on existing Azure Files shares.  Demo
10. Synchronize permissions on Azure Files shares with host pools – select which WVD host pools are using a specific Azure Files share, File Storage SMB Contributor permissions are automatically added to the share based on the users and groups that have access to the host pools.  Demo
11. SMB Multichannel – enable SMB Multichannel on new or existing Azure Files storage account. Azure Files SMB Multichannel enables clients to use multiple network connections that provide increased performance. Increased performance is achieved through bandwidth aggregation over multiple NICs and utilizing Receive Side Scaling (RSS) support for NICs to distribute the IO load across multiple CPUs. Demo
12. New Scripted Actions type: Azure runbooks – in addition to running Powershell scripts inside of Windows OS, Azure scripts add the ability to run Powershell scripts directly in Azure outside of a particular VM. This is accomplished with Azure Automation Runbooks and can leverage both AzureRM and Az Powershell modules.  Several example scripts are included.  Demo
    1. OS disk encryption – enable OS disk encryption on session host VMs as they are being created.
    2. Install Windows Antimalware – install Windows Antimalware client via Azure extension on session host VMs as they are being created.
    3. Add public IP address – create a new static IP address for each newly created session host VM.
13. New Windows scripted actions
    1. Add user as local administrator to personal desktop – Windows scripted action to assign desktop user as local administrator on a personal desktop.  Demo
    2. Windows 10 updates - new scripted action to install the latest Windows 10 updates.  Demo
14. New WVD metadata locations - North Europe and West Europe Azure geographies added to Add workspace page. Demo
15. FSLogix version 2009 HF_01 - Updated to the latest FSLogix Apps release per Microsoft guidance.

Bug fixes:

1. Resolved issue with WVD Admins being unable to create or assign new WVD workspaces if role assignment was done by AAD group
2. Resolved issue with conflict between session host VM create and re-image jobs running at the same time
3. Resolved issue with long Azure AD cache updates (longer than 60 minutes) in tenants with more than a million user objects

 v2.7 (Released: 12/29/2020)

1. Geographic distribution of Desktop Images via Shared Image Gallery - distribute desktop images to multiple Azure regions by selecting the locations where the images should be available.  Can be enabled on new or existing images.  A single desktop image VM can now be used to update WVD session hosts in all locations. Demo
2. Scripted actions - create PowerShell scripts and store them in a library.  These custom scripts can be applied at various times: host creation, host deletion, desktop image creation, desktop image update, etc.  Scripted actions can be used to install software, apply custom settings, download updates, and much more.  Several useful scripts and examples are provided as part of this release. Demo
   
   1. Install latest version of Microsoft Teams and enable audio/video optimization for WVD
   2. Install latest version of Microsoft 365 Office Apps and turn off updates
   3. Install Zoom VDI client for WVD
   4. Apply Virtual Desktop Optimizations (customizable)
   5. Enable RDP Shortpath
   6. Enable WVD screen capture protection
3. MSIX package creation - Upload native MSIX installer files and let Nerdio Manager automatically expand them into a VHDX container, capture all needed metadata, and make the app available for host pool attachment. Demo
4. Pass credentials to scripted actions and Powershell scripts - enable secure passing of AD credentials stored in Azure Key Vault to Powershell scripts or scripted actions to avoid specifying sensitive information in the script in clear text.  Useful when connecting to a network resource (e.g. file share) as part of the script since it runs in LocalSystem context, by default. Demo
5. Desktop Image change log  - before "sealing" the image (i.e. running "set as image" task) document any changes that were made.  A report can be generated to show these changes and who made them. Demo
6. Desktop Image refresh from Azure Marketplace - schedule a regular refresh of a desktop image from Azure Marketplace using the latest patched version.  Customize the image with scripted actions and have it automatically deployed to host pools for full end-to-end update automation. Demo
7. REST API Swagger documentation - Swagger documentation with inline API testing is built right into the product.  Explore available API calls, payload formats, and test API calls from Swagger. Demo
8. Throttle concurrent VM creation - control the number of concurrent Add host tasks to avoid running into Azure API rate limits and minimize errors and retries.  Demo
9. Customize Resume/Cleanup frequency of automated tasks  - Nerdio Manager automatically resumes failed tasks and after subsequent failures automatically cleans up by rolling back any changes made.  This new setting allows admins to specify how many times a failed task should be retried and how many times a cleanup should be attempted.  Demo
10. Auto-heal detection of stale heartbeats - under some conditions, session hosts will report "Available" WVD agent status but will not accept new connections.  New auto-heal condition has been added - "Stale heartbeat (>2hr)".  When last heartbeat is older than 2 hours auto-heal will restart (or rebuild) the host automatically.  Demo
11. Retain desktop image on update - save a copy of desktop image objects when it is updated.  Revert back to the saved backup if there are issues with the applied updates.
12. RDP Shortpath - enable RDP Shortpath with a pre-defined scripted action available from the Nerdio-provided library. This is a feature of Windows Virtual Desktop that establishes a direct UDP-based transport between Remote Desktop Client and Session host. RDP uses this transport to deliver Remote Desktop and RemoteApp while offering better reliability and consistent latency.  Demo
13. WVD screen capture protection - Enable WVD screen capture protection with a pre-defined scripted action available from the Nerdio-provided library.  This feature prevents sensitive information from being captured on the client end-points. When enabled, remoted content will be automatically blocked/hidden in screenshots, screen shares and also from malicious software that may be continuously capturing the screen content.  Demo

Release bug fixes and enhancements

1. Fixed issue with UI error when specifying custom AD profile on host pool properties
2. Fixed issue with REST API enabling process when the Azure AD tenant has a large number of existing App registrations
3. Azure AD groups can now be assigned WVD Admin role
4. Added ability to specify a custom Azure NetApp Files account name during creation
5. Added optimizations to Azure Files join to AD script
6. Added ability to manually refresh cached Azure VM and disk sizes
7. Added singlemoninwindowedmode RDP custom property

2.7.2 bug fixes and enhancements

1. "Retain desktop image on update" now works for both scheduled and on-demand tasks.  Previously, it would be effective only with scheduled "set as image" operations.
2. Gen2 Azure VMs are now supported in Shared Image Gallery.
3. When creating Shared Image Gallery via Nerdio Manager "set as image" operation, the SIG resource is now created in the resource group that contains the Desktop Image VM and image objects.  Previously, it was created in the Nerdio Manager app's resource group.
4. Fixed a rare auto-scale situation where session hosts placed manually into drain mode were being counted towards available sessions when using session-base scale out algorithms.
5. Fixed issue with Microsoft Teams installation Scripted Action related to VDI environment validation.
6. Fixed typo in WVD Screen Capture protection Scripted Action.

 v2.6.0 (Released: 11/23/2020)

1. REST API - Leverage the power of Nerdio Manager automation by integrating with existing ITSM platforms (e.g. ServiceNow).  Add and re-image hosts, create or update desktop images, control user sessions and much more.  Demo1 (Enable), Demo2 (Use)
2. Host pool cloning - Create a copy of a host pool with all of its settings: auto-scale config, app groups and RemoteApps, MSIX AppAttach, user/group assignments, VM deployment settings, etc.  Save time by creating host pool "templates" that can be cloned to any Workspace, Azure region or subscription instead of starting from scratch.  Demo
3. File handle management on Azure Files - View a list of open file handles on Azure Files shares.  See which host is locking a user's FSLogix profile VHD or MSIX AppAttach package.  Select one or more open file handles and release them.  Demo
4. Bulk host pool actions - Perform any action on all hosts in a host pool with user notification and while controlling the concurrency of the operation.  Demo
   1. Run any Powershell command on all hosts in a host pool  Demo
   2. Add any number of hosts to a host pool
   3. Re-image all hosts in a host pool
   4. Resize all host VMs and OS disks
   5. Delete all hosts
   6. Restart all hosts
   7. Power on all hosts
   8. Power off all hosts
   9. Set drain mode on all hosts
   10. Log off all user sessions in a host pool
   11. Disconnect all user sessions in a host pool
   12. Send message to all users logged into a host pool
5. Schedule bulk host pool actions - create an automated schedule for host pool actions.  Restart, power on/off, or run Powershell script on all hosts once or on a recurring schedule (e.g. nightly).
6. Run Powershell during host scale in - Execute any Powershell commands when a session host VM is being scaled in: stopped and/or removed.  Clean up any VM registrations with external management systems before the host is deleted.  Demo
7. Run Powershell on desktop images - Execute any Powershell commands when creating or updating a desktop image.  Install applications or apply any customizations to the desktop images before they are "sealed" and used for deployment.  Demo
8. Deallocate stopped VMs - Hosts shut down from inside Windows are in stopped, but not deallocated, state and are generating Azure compute costs.  Nerdio Manager can automatically detect VMs in this state and deallocate them proactively.  Demo
9. Apply host pool changes without re-imaging - changes to FSLogix, Sepago, user session time limits and AppAttach settings can now be applied to live hosts without the need to re-image.  Demo
10. Anonymous health check probe - get status of Nerdio Manager, SQL DB, Azure and WVD access via an unauthenticated URL.  Can be used by monitoring tools to check environment health. (https://nwm-app-XXXXXXXXXXX.azurewebsites.net/public/health/status)
11. App Service WebJob monitoring - continuously monitor and auto-restart Azure App Service WebJob to ensure maximum app resiliency.  Demo
12. Auto-scale enhancements
    
    1. Auto-heal now has an option to fix broken hosts even if they show "active" user sessions.  Demo
    2. Auto-scale can be globally disabled/enabled for all host pools
13. Windows 10 version 20H2 - Added Windows 10 version 20H2 to Marketplace images lists.
14. FSLogix version 2009 - FSLogix apps installer is updated to latest GA version 2009.
15. Custom RDP properties - added USBDeviceStoreDirect and KeyboardHook

Bug fixes

1. Fixed issue with active/disconnected session count when filtering by host name on the User session page
2. Fixed issue with display of more than 25 RemoteApps on Manage RemoteApps page
3. Added password confirmation field when specifying a local admin password
4. Ignore, and do not fail, Azure tag updates on host pools when Azure location restriction policy applies
5. On task restart, skip AD domain un-join if first attempt failed

v2.5.0 (released: 10/21/2020)

1. Automated image updates and host pool re-imaging - Schedule a recurring update to Desktop Images and automatically re-image host pools on a pre-defined schedule.  System and application updates can be automatically applied after hours without manual intervention. Demo1 Demo2
2. WVD Classic (Fall 2019) to ARM (Spring 2020) migration - move existing host pools from Fall 2019 object model to Spring 2020 (ARM) object model.  Choose to whether to move or copy user assignments.  Existing session hosts are automatically migrated or new ones can be created in the ARM host pool. Demo
3. Availability Zones - protect against data center failure by automatically distributing session host VMs across Availability Zones (data centers) in supported Azure regions. Demo
4. Multi-AD configuration profiles - create multiple Active Directory profiles with different credentials, AD domain and/or OU paths then apply these saved profiles to host pools and desktop images. Demo
5. Community Edition - free version of Nerdio Manager for WVD for use in personal lab environments. More info
6. GPU drivers - when creating session hosts using NV-series VMs NVIDIA and AMD GPU drivers are automatically installed. Demo
7. Session shadowing/control by non-admin users - enable selected non-administrator users or security groups to allow user session shadowing or control within a host pool.  By default, shadowing is only available to local administrators and this functionality allows any selected group of users to shadow other with consent. Demo
8. Log capture and download - request relevant system logs from VMs within the Nerdio Manager UI without logging into the VM directly.  Relevant logs are packaged and provided for download to speed up and simplify troubleshooting. Demo
9. Retain image object when deleting desktop image VM - when deleting a desktop image VM the associated image object can be retained for future use. Demo
10. Auto-scale enhancements
    
    1. Personal desktops powered on by the user will not be powered off for a period of 1 hour
    2. Personal desktops that do not have users assigned will not be automatically powered on
11. UI enhancements
    
    1. AppAttach upload - upload multiple AppAttach package at the same time and track status in a footer panel.
    2. Costs for v4 VM sizes - costs and savings information now includes new v4 VM instances.

Bug fixes

1. Scalability improvements for very large environments with thousands of session host VMs.  Azure requests can now be split in chunks based on configuration.
2. Auto-select the correct OS disk size when re-imaging a static host pool that was converted to dynamic.
3. Pause re-image process when "Power off & set as image" is running.

v2.4.0 (released: 9/21/2020)

1. MSIX AppAttach - Upload and publish AppAttach VHD(X) packages directly from Nerdio Manager.  Leverage Azure Files with AD integration for App package storage, assign users and groups to individual apps, and assign apps to host pools.  Users assigned to apps who log into these host pools receive the app automatically. Demo 1, Demo 2, Demo 3, Demo 4, MSIX AppAttach Overview
2. Azure Government - Nerdio Manager for WVD is now available in Azure Government Marketplace and can be used to deploy, manage and auto-scale WVD environments for US government customers.
3. Multiple app groups - create and manage multiple desktop and RemoteApp app groups.  A single host pool can now support a combination of session desktops and multiple RemoteApp app groups. Demo
4. Virtual desktop optimization tool - automatically run Microsoft's Windows 10 1909 and 2004 virtual desktop optimization tool on session host VMs as they are deployed.  This results in drastically improved performance and increased user-per-CPU density. Demo
5. User session time limits - apply user session time limits at host pool level.  Automatically log off disconnected sessions, limit the duration of idle sessions, control empty RemoteApp session behavior and more. Demo
6. Post-deployment Powershell script and optimizations - execute Powershell commands on session host VMs after they are deployed.  Environment variables such as host pool name, subscription ID, resource group, etc. are passed to the Powershell script and the VM can perform any customizations immediately post deployment.  Also, set VM time zone and time zone redirection for WVD clients. Demo
7. Accelerated Networking - Azure VM accelerated networking is now enabled by default on all VMs that support it.  This greatly increases network performance of large session host VMs. Demo
8. Availability sets - Azure availability sets of variable size can be optionally enabled.  When enabled, session host VMs are automatically placed in availability sets when deployed.  Demo
9. Applications usage dashboard  - New applications dashboard displays all apps used on each host pool including per-application CPU, RAM and disk utilization.  Application utilization can be displayed by user to analyze individual users' productivity. Demo
10. Az version of deployment script - Nerdio Manager can now be deployed via Azure Automation or two versions of Powershell script: AzureRM-based and new Az-based version.
11. Auto-scale enhancements
    
    1. Restrict individual session host scale in - exclude one or more session host VMs from after hours scale in operations until a specified date/time or indefinitely.  Useful in cases when long-running tasks on session hosts cannot be interrupted for some time. Demo
    2. "Never" option for dynamic personal desktops - it is now possible to set personal desktops to power ON and/or OFF at the beginning/end of work hours: Never, Once, or Continuously. Demo
    3. Spare pooled single-user desktop capacity outside of work hours - single-user pooled desktops now have two "spare" capacity buffer settings: during work hours and outside of work hours. Demo
12. UI Enhancements
    1. Host pool action menu - the drop down action menu for host pool management has been redesigned
    2. Host pool desktop experience  - desktop experience (i.e. types of host pools) have been renamed to
       1. Multi user desktop
       2. Multi user RemoteApp
       3. Single user desktop (pooled)
       4. Single user desktop (personal)
    3. Update notification icon - a new icon will appear next to the UPDATES menu when a new version of Nerdio Manager is available

Bug fixes

1. Optimizations in Azure AD user and group caching for very large environments (1m+ objects)
2. Warning when "Backup Reader" role is not set on Azure subscription and attempting to backup a desktop image

v2.3.0 (released: 8/13/2020)

1. Split Azure AD tenant and multi-AAD tenant - split the WVD deployment between an "identity" Azure AD tenant (where user info resides) and multiple "session host VM" Azure AD tenants where the compute and storage infrastructure for VMs is deployed.  One identity AAD tenant can have one or more VM AAD tenants with multiple Azure subscriptions linked to it. Demo
2. Auto-heal broken session hosts - auto-scale can automatically detect broken WVD session hosts and attempt to repair them by either restarting or deleting and re-creating the VMs without user intervention. Demo
3. Desktop Image versioning - leverage native Azure backup to create versions of desktop images before making changes and easily revert to prior versions.  Take a backup of an image while powering it on to modify or manually trigger a backup at any time. Demo
4. Desktop Image optimizations - optimize images when they are created by applying settings such as time zone redirection and setting VM timezone. Automatically clean up previous WVD agent or FSLogix installs if importing the image from a session host VM. Demo
5. Clone Desktop Image to another region - clone an existing desktop image to a remote Azure region by selecting its destination network.  Same image can be cloned into multiple regions and used for session host deployment or re-imaging in those regions. Demo
6. Static to Dynamic host pool conversion - automatically convert an existing host pool to a dynamic one and enable auto-scale without the need to recreate the host pool or redeploy session hosts. Demo
7. User sessions dashboard enhancements - see User Input Delay and Logon Duration information for host pools and individual users. Demo
8. New Session hosts dashboard - visualize the utilization and performance of session hosts across many dimensions such as CPU, RAM, disk, latency, user input delay, logon duration, bandwidth, egress transfer, and more. Demo
9. Updated Sepago Azure monitor agent - new version (v25) that support user input delay and logon duration reporting.  TLS1.2 support.
10. UI Enhancements 
    1. Select from multiple Windows 10 versions including 1909 and 2004. Demo
    2. Split SETTING page into three logically grouped sub-pages
    3. Export usage summary option to see highest named, concurrent and monthly active users by month. Demo
    4. References to WVD ARM object model are now GA and non-ARM is called Classic

Bug fixes

1. Number of items per page settings are now retained when switching between host pools
2. Prevent creation of Gen2 VMs using VM sizes that don't support Gen2

v2.2.0(released 7/22/2020)

New features

1. Dynamic personal host pools - auto-scale personal/persistent desktops based on pre-set working hours.  Power off desktop VMs automatically at the end of the day and power them back on the following morning.  Users can power on/off their own desktop VMs with the End-user RBAC role. Demo
2. Shared Image Gallery (SIG) - quickly create NMW managed Desktop Images from existing Shared Image Gallery (SIG) image versions without creating a VM first.  Deploy or re-image session hosts directly from SIG images without the need to create a NMW managed Desktop Image first. Demo
3. Custom Azure images - quickly create NMW managed Desktop Images from existing Azure customer images without creating a VM first.  Deploy or re-image session hosts directly from custom Azure managed images without the need to create a NMW managed Desktop Image first. Demo
4. RBAC role assignment by AAD group - assign both Azure AD groups and individual users to Workspaces with pre-defined NMW RBAC roles. Demo
5. Per host pool costs and savings - see compute and storage costs and savings as a result of auto-scale over the past month for each host pool. Demo
6. Per workspace and tenant costs and savings - see per named/active/concurrent user costs and auto-scale savings over the past month for each workspace and WVD tenant. Demo
7. UI Enhancements 
   1. Updates page shows who installed the last update and when
   2. Date range selector on usage export screen
   3. Show powered ON and total hosts per host pool in list

Bug fixes

1. Desktop Image descriptions containing "/" no longer causes an error
2. Tenant/Workspace usage report formatting and column names updated
3. Being explicitly added as an Owner to resource group used for Log Analytics is no longer required and owner permission inheritance from subscription is sufficient
4. CPU and session data is now collected and stored for dynamic host pools by default

v2.1.0 (released: 7/2/2020)

New features

1. Multiple Azure subscriptions - single install of Nerdio Manager for WVD can now manage WVD resources in multiple Azure subscriptions. Demo
2. Ephemeral OS disks - save on OS disk storage costs and increase performance with Ephemeral OS disks that can be used for WVD session host VMs. Demo
3. Gen2 VM support - create Desktop Images and session host VMs using Gen2 architecture. Demo
4. New User Sessions report - Real-time and historic view of user sessions statistics and individual user sessions and connections. Demo
5. Monthly Active Users (MAU) tracking - in addition to named and concurrent users, you can now see Monthly Active Users over the past month. Demo
6. Usage history export - download up to 6 months of raw usage data per Workspace and WVD Tenant. 
7. UI Enhancements 
   1. Deep links to Azure objects throughout the product. Demo
   2. User sessions page enhancements

Bug fixes

1. Very long host pool names now wrap properly on the screen
2. Desktop Admin role Azure actions now run the API context of App

v2.0.1 (released: 6/17/2020)

New features

1. Auto-scale savings history - view and analyze storage and compute savings produced by auto-scale engine relative to peak capacity.  Savings can be viewed on a per host pool basis for any selected time range.  Visible on the auto-scale history screen. Demo
2. Azure Files deployment - automated creation of new Azure Files share (both premium and standard) with AD integration to store FSLogix profile containers. Demo
3. Scale in aggressiveness - control whether hosts with active or disconnected user sessions can be scaled in after business hours. Demo
4. Scale in to 0 active hosts - ability to have no running hosts after business hours and have pre-stage capacity bring hosts up the following morning.  Demo
5. Custom Azure tags - pre-configure custom Azure tags for all Azure resources associated with each host pool.  Tags can be used for charge-back and cost allocation. Demo
6. VM name re-use control - Added ability to turn off VM name re-use during automatic scale in and out operations. Demo
7. UI Enhancements 
   1. Split up Dynamic and Static host pools onto separate pages
   2. Added pagination and quick search to all screens with long lists of items
   3. Un-assign Workspaces to hide them from view for certain users Demo
   4. Default Desktop Image VM size is selected to be D2s_v3 instead of DS1_v2
   5. Graphical display of past 30 days of usage on WORKSPACES and WVD TENANTS screen after clicking on the values Demo

Bug fixes

1. Auto-scale now allows for pre-staging host capacity to include both turning on base capacity VMs AND creating new burst capacity VMs. 
2. Deleting desktop images that are not joined to the domain no longer tries to automatically disjoin from AD.
3. Hosts manually placed into drain mode in auto-scale enabled dynamic pools will get lowest priority when scale out process needs to activate a host.
4. Can now change session limit setting from Manage auto-scale screen when auto-scaling is turned off.

v2.0.0 (released: 6/1/2020)

NOTE: Global Administrator role required to enable ARM WVD Object Model

New features

1. Spring 2020 Update (ARM) object model support - enable management of WVD ARM object model.  Use ARM only, non-ARM only or hybrid mode. Demo
2. Sepago Azure Monitoring integration - deploy Azure Log Analytics and sepago session host VM agent to collect data.  Configure custom Log Analytics workbooks and link them directly to Nerdio Manager for WVD navigation menu.  Demo
3. Dynamic host pool cost estimation - view real-time minimum and maximum storage and compute costs of a selected dynamic host pool configuration based on selected region, VM size, OS disk and host pool capacity.  Demo
4. Licensing model selection - ability to select Named user or Concurrent user licensing model on SETTINGS page. Demo
5. UI Enhancements
   1. Counts of Active and Disconnected sessions are displayed on User sessions screen
   2. When restarting a host, allow control of logging off users are forcing VM to restart without logging off users first

Bug fixes

1. Display user sessions for those users who do not have a UPN being recognized by WVD management service.
2. Added Sunday-Thursday work week selection to Pre-stage host capacity configuration setting.
3. Microsoft.NetApp resource provider error no longer comes up on SETTINGS page when this provider isn't registered in the subscription.

v1.2.4 (released: 4/28/2020)

1. Role-based access control Demo
2. Azure NetApp Files deployment integration Demo

v1.2.3

1. 64GB OS disk support
2. WVD API limit mitigation
3. Azure AD cache filtering
4. Bulk host association

v1.2.2

1. Win7 support
2. Desktop Image cloning
3. Auto-scale history visualization
4. Export task logs

v1.2.1

1. Support for multiple networks (VNets), Regions and Resource Groups
2. AD cache optimizations
3. Ability to specify local admin credentials for newly created Hosts and Desktop Images