Windows 365 Cloud PC point-in-time restore

[Guest Sean McNeill]

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a new public preview feature for Windows 365, point-in-time restore. In this blog, I am going to do a quick run through of the service and how to set it up.

 

In my demo lab, I have two Windows 365 Cloud PCs: one is Hybrid Azure AD Joined and one is Azure AD Joined. Both Cloud PCs are 2vCPU, 8GB RAM and 128GB disk.

 

Restore point service configuration

 

 

To enable or modify point-in-time restore, navigate to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center, select Devices and then select Windows 365—or just click here—to view your Cloud PCs.

 

The Overview pane for Windows 365 Cloud PCs in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

Select the User settings pane.

 

The User settings blade for Windows 365 Cloud PCs in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

If you have already created a local admin policy, you can modify that one, or create a new one. In my lab I chose to modify my existing policy. If you do not have a policy, go ahead, and select Add to create a new policy.

 

Select your local admin policy. In this example, my policy is named “W365 Local Admins and Restore Service.”

 

Viewing the settings and assignments for a Windows 365 policy in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

Notice that this policy automatically configured a 12-hour restore point frequency.

 

To modify the policy, select Edit next to Settings to modify. This will enable you to enable (or disable) and modify the name of the local admin policy, allow users to initiate the service, and modify the frequency of the restoration points.

 

Modifying the settings for the local admin policy for Windows 365 Cloud PCs in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

I checked the box for “Allow users to initiate restore service” and kept the default 12-hour frequency for the restoration point. Once you are satisfied with your selections, select Next and then Update.

 

Restoring a Cloud PC

 

 

First, let's cover restoring a Cloud PC from the admin perspective, then from the perspective of the end user. From the Windows 365 blade in Microsoft Endpoint Manager, select All Cloud PCs.

 

Viewing all Cloud PCs in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

Select the Cloud PC that you would like to restore/recover then select Restore (preview) to bring up the restore point menu. Select a restore point and click Select.

 

Selecting a restore point for a Windows 365 Cloud PC in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

Select Restore to begin the restore process.

 

Confirming the decision to restore the Cloud PC in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

You will then see a message that the restoration has been initiated.

 

How the IT admin sees that a Windows 365 Cloud PC restore is in progress in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center

 

From the web portal, the end user will see that the Cloud PC is being restored. Open in browser will be greyed out until the process is complete.

 

The end user experience during a Cloud PC restoration

 

In the All Cloud PCs area of the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center, the restored Cloud PC will have a status of Provisioned once the operation is complete. In my test lab, it took about 12 minutes to restore my Cloud PC.

 

 

Once the restoration is complete, the end user once again has the option to "Open in browser."

 

What the IT admin sees during the restore operation and once the process is complete

 

If you configured the settings to allow users to initiate the service, your end users can opt to restore their Cloud PC themselves. From the web portal, they simply have to select the Gear icon next to the Cloud PC name, and select Restore (preview).

 

The end user menu accessible via the Settings icon next to their Cloud PC name in the Windows 365 web portal. Options include restart, restore (preview), rename, troubleshoot, and system information.

 

They are then asked to confirm that they want to restore that Cloud PC, and to select a restore point. Once they select Restore, the process will initiate.

 

The end user checks a box to confirm that they want to restore the Cloud PC, and then selects a restore point (date and time)

 

End users will see a message in the web portal to indicate that the restoration is in progress. Once the operation is complete, "Open in browser" will again be an active option.

 

The end user sees a message stating that the Cloud PC is restoring. Once the operation is complete, they can again access their Cloud PC.

 

Well, this wraps up this blog! We hope you enjoy Windows 365 and the new restore feature.

 

For more information, see the following documentation:

 

• Overview of restoring a Cloud PC to a previous state with Windows 365 Enterprise
  
• Configure Windows 365 to permit point-in-time restore of Cloud PCs
  
• Restore a single Cloud PC to a previous state
  
• Restore multiple Cloud PCs in bulk
  

 

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