Announcing general availability of Azure Virtual Desktop Custom Image Templates

We are excited to announce that Azure Virtual Desktop Custom image templates is now general available in Azure Public Cloud and entering public preview in Azure Government Cloud and China. 

Custom image templates allow admins to build a custom “golden image” using the Azure Virtual Desktop management user interface. Leverage a variety of built-in customizations or add your own customization scripts to install applications or configurations.

Below is an example that showcases a selection of customizations that admins can choose from. These customizations cover common configurations used in golden images. Admins won't need to write their own scripts. They can also select install language packs, FSLogix agents or Teams as well as configure popular features like time zone redirection, screen capture protection or RDP Shortpath.

This feature is a wrapper for the Azure Image Builder (AIB) service. Once you have completed creating the template, Azure Virtual Desktop passes it to the AIB service. AIB will then distribute the resulting image to either a managed image or to the Azure Compute Gallery which supports capabilities such as automated versioning and image replication across any Azure region.

Once this golden image has been created, you can then create a host pool from this image.
You can also use any existing tooling to use this image and update your existing session hosts within a host pool.

Getting Started

Get started with the Custom image template documentation here. As this feature uses Azure Image Builder behind the scenes it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with this capability.

Also, check out this new video titled “The AVD Admins Super Power!!!" from Azure Academy which was produced for public preview. The GA UI has had minor updates since initial release, including language improvements and enhanced tool tips with documentation links.