Windows Virtual Desktop issues

Troubleshooting overview, feedback, and support for Azure Virtual Desktop

In this article

This article provides an overview of the issues you may encounter when setting up an Azure Virtual Desktop environment and provides ways to resolve the issues.

Session host virtual machine configuration

In this article

Use this article to troubleshoot issues you're having when configuring the Azure Virtual Desktop session host virtual machines [VMs].

Introduction

There could be many ways to perform AVD troubleshooting. However, I’m going to share my experience in this blog. These are random tips to troubleshoot AVD issues. The AVD Error codes are available in Microsoft documentation here.

What are the AVD Troubleshooting Options?

• Azure Portal – Check whether VMs are up and Running
• Try to run the Remote commands from Azure Portal -> Virtual Machines -> Operations -> Run Command.
• Evaluate Group Policies from AD to check whether those policies are blocking access to the AVD Host Pool VM.
• Confirm whether the user is assigned to appropriate AVD host pool application groups
• PowerShell, PowerShell, and PowerShell
• Event Logs – Microsoft-Windows-RemoteDesktopServices-RdpCoreTS/Operational

AVD Troubleshooting Options Tips Tricks – Azure Virtual Desktop

Oops, we couldn’t connect to “Session Desktop” – We couldn’t connect to the gateway because of an error. If this keeps happening, ask your admin or tech support for help. Reconnect / Cancel – “Can’t log in to HostPool” AVD Troubleshooting Tips.

What Are The Windows Virtual Desktop Issues?

As of this writing, Microsoft has created [and keeps updated] a troubleshooting page for Windows Virtual Desktop. Currently, it lists 18 issues - all of which can cause frustration for the end user— ranging from invalid tokens, to MSI exceptions, to connection not found. For each known issue, Microsoft also provides a solutions for fixing them.

Each issue requires multiple steps to be taken to resolve it. Some are:

• Opening the Registry Editor
• Checking log files for error IDs
• Manually turning services on/off
• Selecting and applying options
• Restarting the VM
• Increasing capacity of the VM

Some of the issues listed might not even be noticeable to the end user immediately, but cause a slow down or lag in the Windows Virtual Desktop environment. Errors or issues that are noticeable to the end user can cause them to experience significant delays, not be able to access programs properly, or not access their desktop at all.

This then causes inefficiencies as much time is wasted because the end user not only tries to figure out how to fix the problem, but also takes the distraction as an opportunity to go on their smartphone/social media account. According to some statistics, employees admit to spending more than 2 hours of their work day checking their phones and taking 23 minutes to recover from a distraction.

Employees in most organizations — after they realize that they can't fix the issue and are back from their distractions — will submit a Level 1 support ticket for a fix. While some of these can be fix by lower level support, others require more technical fixes or admin privileges that Level 1 does not have access to.

So IT now needs to confirm the error, search for a solution, implement the fix if it is a known issue, figure out a fix for an unknown issue, reboot the machine, and check for proper error resolution. Between Level 1 and 2 support, this drawn-out process results in lost time and money for the company from the affected employee and the IT staff. Even when Level 2 support gets the ticket, sees the issue, and knows the fix, they still need to manually perform it.

Introduction

One of the challenges of work from home is that people no longer have physical access to their work computers on-premises. This can either be employees who worked at a desk, teachers who had a computer in their classrooms, or students who need to access computers in a lab on campus.

End users simply want a familiar desktop environment to continue to work. Their own home computers are familiar and comfortable, but CSOs don't want them downloading content to their personal hard drives or unsanctioned cloud services.

Citrix and VMWare Horizon exist to meet some of these needs, but are complicated to set up and manage, and still tax the ISP circuit. Standing up a desktop virtualization environment is expensive and can take months to successfully implement.

Troubleshooting Tip — Windows Virtual Desktop [WVD]