Have you tried restarting? #8 (Happy new year!)
AVD multi-session and Intune pains, Microsoft news, calls for speakers everywhere, music and (somewhat) lazy thoughts to kick off 2026 with a bang.
Happy New Year! Here we are again after the holiday break. It’s common to say that accumulated extra kilos can be dispensed with and the desire to restart is lacking. But let’s talk about us: we’re at issue #8 of “Have you tried restarting?” but you’ve never told me if you like it, what you think about it, whether you find it useful. How about sharing your thoughts in this first issue of 2026? There’s no better moment, right?
If you’d like to chat about it, just reply to this email with your feedback on the newsletter: I read and respond to everyone!
Perfect, let’s begin!
📌 In this issue
• FAQ... but with style: “In my environment I have Azure Virtual Desktop machines in multi-session mode, managed with Intune. Some policies I created on these machines don’t work. Why? Are there any limitations on the types of policies and settings applicable to AVD multi-session session hosts?”
• Microsoft News Radar: news directly from Microsoft sources.
• Community Picks: community creators never stop, not even during the holiday season: fortunately they’re there.
• Events: new year, new events, new calls for speakers!
• On a personal note: the keyword is...
❓ FAQ... but with style
Question
“In my environment I have Azure Virtual Desktop machines in multi-session mode, managed with Intune. Some policies I created on these machines don’t work. Why? Are there any limitations on the types of policies and settings applicable to AVD multi-session session hosts?”
Answer
Yes, and what you’re experiencing is completely normal. Intune has limitations when it comes to managing multi-session AVD hosts. Not all settings and policies that work perfectly on traditional desktop endpoints are supported on Windows Enterprise multi-session.
The specific limitations
Microsoft officially supports multi-session in Intune, but only a few configuration templates are truly supported: trusted certificates (Trusted, SCEP, PKCS) and VPN (Device Tunnel only). All other traditional templates are not supported and will appear as “Not applicable” in your compliance reports.
The device vs. user constraint
There’s a critical aspect that many don’t know: while on a classic endpoint this wouldn’t be a problem, on AVD multi-session device-level configurations cannot be assigned to users, and vice versa. In a multi-session environment, where dozens of users access the same physical host, most policies must be assigned at the device level through device groups. If you assign a policy to a user thinking it will work, you’ll get errors.
Okay, so how do you know which settings will work?
Few people know this simple trick: start filtering the Settings Catalog using “OS edition = Enterprise multi-session” to display only the configurations actually supported.
After applying the filter, the available settings will be those truly compatible with AVD multi-session.
Then assign all policies at the device level, not to users. And most importantly, always test your configurations by checking compliance reports: if a policy shows “Not applicable”, it’s because it’s not supported on multi-session.
As always, I’ll leave you with the comfort of official documentation for further insights.
📎 Using Azure Virtual Desktop multi-session with Microsoft Intune
📎 Assign device profiles in Microsoft Intune
🛰️ Microsoft Radar
A selection of content directly from Microsoft sources: lots of news announced at Ignite.
Microsoft Intune
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Surface IT Pro
Microsoft Entra
Microsoft 365 copilot
🌐 Community Picks
The most useful community content I’ve come across in these weeks.
🔗 Surface Management Portal: complete technical analysis for IT Administrator
👤 Francesco Cantoni
An article that explores the Surface Management Portal in depth in Intune, illustrating its functions, advantages, limitations and ideal scenarios for enterprise Surface management.👤 Silvio Di Benedetto
The article presents the news in Windows Admin Center v2511, including high availability, advanced security for Windows Server 2025 and migration tools from VMware to Hyper-V, offering practical insights for modernizing infrastructure management, auditing and automation.🔗 Updated My Script To “Cleanup Entra ID Devices”, Faster and better logging👤 Mr T-Bone
The updated version of a very useful PowerShell script for cleaning up obsolete devices on Entra: faster, more robust, with advanced logging/reporting. Useful for security, accurate inventory and automation.
🎭 Events and Call for Speakers
Community and Microsoft events, plus the main open Call 4 Speakers. Here’s my selection.
📅 January 23, 2026 - 💻 Online
POWERCON2026 is a free online event that brings together innovation, security and modern IT governance, with concrete technical sessions on cloud, AI, Microsoft 365 and hybrid infrastructures, led by top experts and MVPs, with full recordings available.
📅 January 30, 2026 - 💻 Online
Monthly update on news from the Microsoft 365, Teams, MTR, Purview, MDO, Copilot world, together with Luca Vitali, Fabrizio Volpe, Raffaele Colavecchi.
📅 April 13, 16-18, 2026 - 💻 Online and/or 🌍 In person
Global Azure 2026 returns: special days in April 2026 to share the passion for Microsoft Azure together through technical sessions, inspiration and networking.
Since Global Azure will be in April (there’s still time) and there are several Italian instances, more than the event itself I’d like to highlight the calls for speakers. Here they are.
I’m certain that there will also be an instance in Italian at Lugano (Switzerland) but, at the time I’m writing this newsletter issue, the C4S is not yet available. You’ll definitely find it in the next February issue!
Disclaimer
The events I highlight in “Have you tried restarting?” do not constitute a complete list: I share the ones I personally pick up and that I think are useful to the community. If an event is missing, I simply missed it or didn’t become aware of it: if you want to let me know about yours, write to me. Publication is for informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement, approval, sponsorship or partnership unless explicitly stated otherwise.
🎧 On a personal note
Outside the IT world, here’s what’s been inspiring me lately.
📖 What I’m reading (books, newsletters and more)
Books
Newsletters
🎵 What I’m listening to (monthly musical monkeys)
✍️ Random thoughts
I expected different holiday vacations: more active, less “lazy” and during which I could re-knot some things left hanging, resume habits frozen after a decidedly strange and exceptional period. Instead, they were decidedly “lazy”, perhaps too much. The keyword now is “shock”.
See you soon!
Riccardo
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