Microsoft has introduced the restricted public preview of Home windows 365 Reserve, a service that gives short-term desktop entry to pre-configured cloud PCs for workers whose computer systems have change into unavailable as a result of cyberattacks, {hardware} points, or software program issues.
Home windows 365 Reserve gives as much as 10 days of entry per consumer yearly to those cloud-based Home windows 365 catastrophe restoration PCs, enabling organizations to mitigate productiveness points throughout outages with out requiring bodily alternative for faulty units.
Microsoft says the present gated public preview requires utility approval, with broader availability deliberate following the testing section.
“Even a single gadget failure can ripple throughout a corporation—halting productiveness, delaying deliverables, and straining IT groups. Multiply that disruption throughout 1000’s of staff, and the affect turns into large. Exacerbated by cyberattacks, the price of worker and gadget downtime is now not theoretical—it is a business-critical concern,” Microsoft stated on Monday.
“That is why we’re introducing Home windows 365 Reserve: a contemporary, safe, and scalable resolution that helps staff keep productive and linked when the surprising strikes.
This cloud-based service works as a standalone Home windows 365 providing that directors can deploy as pre-configured Cloud PCs by means of Microsoft Intune, provisioned with company purposes, safety insurance policies, and Microsoft 365 entry.
As soon as provisioned, customers can entry their new short-term desktops from every other gadget by means of net browsers or Microsoft’s Home windows App, all by way of a safe connection, whereas the principle computer systems are being repaired or changed.
Microsoft says that Home windows 365 Reserve additionally applies your group’s safety posture by default, follows Zero Belief rules for elevated safety throughout outages and downtime, and the 10-day annual allocation can be utilized consecutively or divided throughout a number of incidents.
Directors can even obtain automated notifications when consumer entry approaches expiration, permitting them to keep away from interruptions or deprovision the Cloud PCs to protect remaining time for future use in the event that they’re now not wanted.
“Whereas Home windows 365 Reserve delivers enhanced availability, it stays topic to scale limitations resembling Azure capability constraints and requires a community connection to hook up with use the Home windows 365 Reserve Cloud PC,” the corporate added.
In June, Microsoft introduced new safety defaults for Home windows 365, efficient within the second half of 2025, that can disable clipboard, drive, USB, and printer redirection on newly provisioned Cloud PCs to scale back the danger of information theft and malware assaults.
One month earlier, the corporate additionally enabled virtualization-based safety, Credential Guard, and hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI) by default on Home windows 365 Cloud PCs operating Home windows 11 gallery photos, creating safe reminiscence enclaves and stopping malicious code execution on the kernel stage.
46% of environments had passwords cracked, almost doubling from 25% final 12 months.
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