One Desktop Each, Reached From Anywhere
Staff sign in from a laptop, a home machine or a borrowed computer and land in the same Windows desktop with the same files and the same software every time. Nothing important lives on the device in their hand, which means a lost laptop is an inconvenience rather than an incident.
Azure Virtual Desktop, plain Windows RDP or a straightforward server per team, whichever actually fits. Most small teams get quoted the largest of those three, and the licensing underneath it is where the cost quietly sits, so we work out which one you need before anything is built.
Three Ways To Do This, And What Separates Them
They all end with a person logging into a Windows desktop from wherever they are. What changes is who runs the plumbing, how the licensing works out, and whether the bill is the same every month or moves with how much people use it.
Team size is usually the deciding factor, and the crossover point is lower than the sales conversation suggests.
One Server, Shared Sessions
A single Windows Server with everybody signing into their own session on it. The oldest approach here and still the cheapest by a wide margin, because you are paying for one machine rather than one per person.
- CostA fixed monthly server bill, plus access licences per user
- Runs onAny hosting provider you like, or your own hardware
- Trade offEveryone shares the same machine, so one heavy user is felt by the rest
A Machine Each
Every person gets their own server rather than a session on a shared one. Nobody affects anybody else, and somebody can be given a much bigger machine without changing anything for the rest of the team.
- CostOne server bill per person, so it climbs in a straight line
- Runs onAny provider, and machines can sit in different countries
- Trade offGets expensive past a handful of people and there is more to keep patched
Azure Virtual Desktop
Microsoft's own service, where desktops are pooled and scale up and down with demand. It plugs into the accounts and sign in policies you already run, and it is genuinely the right answer once a team gets large enough.
- CostUsage based, so the bill moves with hours worked and storage held
- Runs onAzure only, inside your own tenant
- Trade offNeeds the right Microsoft 365 or Windows licences behind every user
Where the money actually hides
The desktop is rarely the expensive part, the licensing behind it is. Shared sessions on your own server need an access licence for each person on top of the Windows Server licence. Azure Virtual Desktop needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 or Windows subscription per user before the compute bill even starts. And a machine each avoids some of that and replaces it with a straight multiplication.
Nobody enjoys this part of the conversation and it is where the surprise arrives if it gets skipped, so we price all three against your actual headcount at the start and you pick from real numbers. If your team already pays for Microsoft 365 at the right level, that changes the answer considerably, which is worth checking before anything else.
What Gets Set Up Either Way
Nine things, and they are the same whichever of the three options you land on. The platform changes where these are configured rather than whether they need doing.
A second step on every sign in
An app prompt on the phone rather than a code by text, since text messages can be moved to somebody else's SIM. A desktop reachable from the whole internet with only a password is the single easiest thing for a small company to lose, and this is what stops it.
Not reachable by the whole internet
Access comes through a gateway or a tunnel rather than the desktop port sitting open on a public address. Where you want it tighter than that, sign in can be limited to the countries or the addresses your people actually work from.
Accounts that come from one place
People use the credentials they already have rather than a separate set for the desktop, and an account disabled in your directory loses the desktop at the same moment. Offboarding stops being two jobs, which is where access quietly gets left open.
Everyone's own files and settings
Profiles set up so a person gets their own desktop, their own documents and their own application settings back every time, even on a shared machine. Done badly this is the thing that makes people hate virtual desktops, because their work seems to vanish between sessions.
Printing and local devices
The printer at home or in the office works from inside the session, along with scanners, card readers and USB devices where the software needs them. Boring to set up and the first thing anybody complains about when it was skipped.
Your software installed and licensed
Office, accounting packages, the industry tool, the line of business application. Installed once for everybody on a shared setup, or built into an image so a new starter gets a working desktop rather than an empty one.
Tuned so it does not feel remote
The right region so the distance is short, the connection settings adjusted for the bandwidth people actually have at home, and video and audio configured properly for calls. Most complaints about lag come from the machine being in the wrong country rather than being too small.
Backed up, and the restore tested
Snapshots or backups on a schedule, with a restore actually run once to prove the copy works. If everybody's work now lives on one machine, that machine failing without a proven backup is a considerably worse day than a lost laptop ever was.
Adding and removing people
A written procedure for the two things you will do most, giving a new starter a desktop and cutting somebody off the day they leave. Short enough that whoever is around can follow it without calling us.
The thing to think about before committing
Everybody's work now depends on one internet connection and one platform staying up. That is a real concentration of risk and it is worth naming rather than discovering. A laptop that dies affects one person, and a desktop platform having a bad morning affects everyone at once.
Which is manageable and does need planning, so the backups get tested rather than assumed and there is a written answer for what people do during an outage. If your reason for wanting this is one person needing a machine that stays awake rather than a whole team needing desktops, the single Windows server is cheaper and simpler and we would point you there instead.
Packages And What They Cost
Our fee is paid once for the build, and the running cost is whatever the servers and licences come to on your own accounts. Pick by team size, and if you land between two of these we quote for what you actually need.
Small Team
One server with everybody in their own session, built and handed over working. The cheapest way to get a team off local machines.
- Server sized around what your people actually do
- A session and a profile for each person
- Multi factor sign in on every account
- Access through a gateway, not an open port
- Your software installed for everybody
- Printing and local devices working
- Backups running with a restore tested
- Written notes for adding and removing people
Growing Team
Six to twenty people, with accounts coming from your existing directory so offboarding is one action rather than two.
- Everything in Small Team
- Sign in through your existing accounts
- Access limited by group, country or address
- Bigger machines for the people who need them
- Performance tuned for home connections
- Video and audio configured for calls
- A build image so new starters get a working desktop
- Thirty days of questions answered after handover
Azure Or Custom
Azure Virtual Desktop properly built out, a team past twenty, several locations, or an existing setup that nobody is happy with.
- Azure Virtual Desktop built inside your own tenant
- Pooled desktops that scale with demand
- Licensing checked against what you already pay for
- Profile storage set up so nothing is lost between sessions
- Existing deployments diagnosed and repaired
- Migration from local machines or another provider
- Documentation your own people can work from
Added To Any Package
- Each person beyond the package $10
- A second server or a second region $100
- Moving files and profiles off local machines $50
- A training session for the team $50
- Ongoing support and patching, monthly $200 / mo
Servers, Azure consumption and every Microsoft licence stay on your own accounts and never run through us. We work the monthly figure out with you before anything is created, and if your existing Microsoft 365 subscription already covers part of it that gets counted properly rather than quietly ignored.
Tell Us How Many People And What They Run
Headcount, the software everybody needs, and whether you already pay for Microsoft 365. Those three answers are enough to cost all three options against each other and come back with real monthly numbers rather than a figure that grows once the licensing arrives. If you already have desktops and people are complaining about them, send the complaint and we will tell you what is causing it.
Talk about your team