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Following our June 18  disclosure, we are excited to announce that the limited public preview of Windows 365 Reserve is now live —offering secure and on-demand Cloud PC access from anywhere when you need it most.

In today’s always-connected workplace, even a single device failure can ripple across an organization—halting productivity, delaying deliverables, and straining IT teams. Multiply that disruption across thousands of employees, and the impact becomes massive. Exacerbated by cyberattacks, the cost of employee and device downtime is no longer theoretical—it’s a business-critical concern. That’s why we’re introducing Windows 365 Reserve: a modern, secure, and scalable solution that helps employees stay productive and connected when the unexpected strikes.

What is Windows 365 Reserve?

Windows 365 Reserve is a standalone, Windows 365 offering that provides temporary, secure, and dedicated Cloud PC access when a user’s primary PC is unavailable, granting users up to 10 days of Cloud PC access per year. With this solution, organizations can proactively establish protections that reduce both financial and operational impacts when disruptions arise. If a user’s device unexpectedly fails, administrators can swiftly provide secure, pre-configured Cloud PCs—ensuring employees regain access and productivity from any secondary device while their primary device is repaired or replaced. Through Windows 365 Reserve, organizations can:

• Proactively cover employees for quick response to unexpected device interruptions


• Deploy on-demand Cloud PCs with all necessary corporate applications and settings


• Manage these temporary Cloud PCs alongside other devices within Microsoft Intune


• Enable secure employee access from any secondary device, anywhere via the web or Windows App

Key Benefits of Windows 365 Reserve

1. Restore productivity fast
   

   Proactive setup ensures administrators can quickly deploy fully configured Cloud PCs to users when their primary device is unusable—complete with Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft Intune policies, and secure access from any device. This provides minimal disruption and fast return to productivity.

   
   


2. Simplified IT management
   

   Manage Windows 365 Reserve Cloud PCs like any other device via Microsoft Intune—centralized policies, automated provisioning, and simple license control. The license provides a user up to 10 days of Cloud PC access per year, with flexibility to use this time consecutively or divide as needed. Windows 365 Reserve simplified management aims to minimize IT workload during outages or incidents while providing control over when Cloud PC time is used.

   
   


3. Secured by design
   

   Windows 365 Reserve follows Zero Trust principles, applies your organization’s security posture by default, and allows easy access revocation through Microsoft Intune with admin controls —making it a secure fallback option during outages or incidents.

   
   

Strengthening business continuity with Windows 365 Reserve

We’ve heard customer concerns about challenges preparing for disruptions from device loss, theft, delays, malfunctions, and an increase in disruptive incidents such as malware and ransomware. With Windows 365 Reserve, organizations have peace of mind knowing that, when disruption occurs, a safety net is in place. It extends the resiliency and security of Windows 365 to information workers using physical Windows PCs or tablets today. Administrators can quickly provide preconfigured Cloud PCs and minimize downtime. This proactive approach to endpoint continuity helps to keep teams productive when unforeseen device issues arise.

Note: while Windows 365 Reserve delivers enhanced availability, it remains subject to scale limitations such as Azure capacity constraints and requires a network connection to connect to use the Windows 365 Reserve Cloud PC.

Windows 365 Reserve – the IT admin experience

Deploying Windows 365 Reserve was designed to be simple and quick, frontloading decision making to ease on-demand Cloud PC provisioning down the road. Once licenses have been purchased for the organization’s tenant, admins create a provisioning policy for their Windows 365 Reserve licenses. The Windows 365 Reserve provisioning policy is a simplified version of the Windows 365 Enterprise and Windows 365 Frontline provisioning policy, and determines:

• Which geography the Cloud PCs will be created in


• Which Microsoft Entra user groups will get reserve coverage


• (Optional) Which major gallery image version, language pack, and scope tags will be applied to the Cloud PC when provisioned

To maximize efficiency, provisioning success, and ability to scale in widespread disruption events, Windows 365 Reserve automatically selects the following on behalf of customers:

• One default Cloud PC size


• The region, based on capacity, within the geography the Cloud PCs will be created in


• Microsoft Hosted Network (MHN); Azure Network Connections (ANC) and custom networks are not supported


• The latest gallery image version that is supported in the region at provisioning time; custom images are not supported

Admins can create Windows 365 Reserve provisioning policies in Intune.

Provisioning policy and user group assignments must be set at least seven days before admins can provision Reserve Cloud PCs. After this period, those Cloud PCs can be provisioned on demand any time while the license is active.

Unlike Windows 365 Enterprise and Windows 365 Frontline, Windows 365 Reserve Cloud PCs are not created automatically when the provisioning policy is created. Instead, administrators can use Intune to quickly deploy Reserve Cloud PCs to users experiencing device issues, with pre-configured apps, settings, and security policies for fast productivity.

Admins can provision Windows 365 Reserve Cloud PCs for select users and groups.

Windows 365 Reserve provides up to 10 days of Reserve Cloud PC access per user per year. Windows 365 Reserve offers administrators timely notifications when a user’s Cloud PC access is approaching expiration, ensuring there are no unexpected interruptions. When users return to their primary device, admins can deprovision the Cloud PC from Intune to preserve remaining access time for later, while the license is active.

Admins can deprovision the Windows 365 Reserve Cloud PC, pausing the “days left” counter.

Windows 365 Reserve – the end-user experience

Once deployed, end users can access the temporary Cloud PC from any device – managed devices or unmanaged, personal devices; depending on their organizations’ policies – using the web or Windows App. Users will receive clear instructions and can conveniently view the expiration date of their Windows 365 Reserve Cloud PC.

Clear end-user messaging and expiration date

End users can click to connect securely and be redirected to a full desktop environment with their organization’s resources.

Windows 365 Reserve notifies users when their Cloud PC access is approaching expiration. When end users return to their primary device, they can deprovision their temporary Cloud PC from the Windows App to reserve access time for future use.

Pending expiration notice starting at 3 days prior to expiration; end user can “return” their Cloud PC to preserve remaining access time for later, while the license is active.

Note: Windows 365 Reserve is in preview; admin and end-user designs are subject to change. Not all features may be available at launch, and feature set may vary as the product evolves.

Join the gated public preview!

Windows 365 Reserve is currently in gated public preview. While participation is limited, you can complete this form or contact your Microsoft account team to express interest in participating in the preview and receive updates from the Windows 365 Reserve team.

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