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-->This article describes the requirements and limitations for using Microsoft Teams in a virtualized environment.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is virtualization technology that hosts a desktop operating system and applications on a centralized server in a data center. This enables a fully personalized desktop experience to users with a fully secured and compliant centralized source.
Microsoft Teams in a virtualized environment supports chat and collaboration. And with the Windows Virtual Desktop, Citrix, and VMware platforms, calling and meeting functionality is also supported.
Teams in a virtualized environment supports multiple configurations. These include VDI, dedicated, shared, persistent, and non-persistent modes. Features are in continuous development and are added on a regular basis, and functionality will expand in the coming months and years.
Using Teams in a virtualized environment might be somewhat different from using Teams in a non-virtualized environment. For example, some advanced features might not be available in a virtualized environment, and video resolution might differ.
To ensure an optimal user experience, follow the guidance in this article.
Note
For details about Teams VDI on different platforms, see Teams features by platform.
Using Teams in a virtualized environment requires the following components.
The Teams desktop app was validated with leading virtualization solution providers. With multiple market providers, we recommend that you consult your virtualization solution provider to ensure that you meet the minimum requirements.
Currently, Teams on VDI with audio/video (AV) optimization is certified with Windows Virtual Desktop, Citrix, and VMware. Review the information in this section to ensure that you meet all requirements for proper functionality.
The following platforms have virtual desktop infrastructure solutions for Teams.
Platform | Solution |
---|---|
Windows Virtual Desktop | |
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops | |
VMware Horizon |
Windows Virtual Desktop provides AV optimization for Teams on VDI. To learn more and requirements and installation, see Use Teams on Windows Virtual Desktop.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly known as XenApp and XenDesktop) provides AV optimization for Teams on VDI. With Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Teams on VDI supports calling and meeting functionality in addition to chat and collaboration.
You can download the latest version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops at the Citrix downloads site. (You'll need to sign in first.) The necessary components are bundled into the Citrix Workspace app (CWA) and Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) by default. You don't need to install any additional components or plugins on CWA or the VDA.
For the latest server and client requirements, see this Citrix website.
VMware Horizon is a modern platform for secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps across the hybrid cloud. To offer a great end-user experience, VMware Horizon provides media optimization for Teams. This optimization improves overall productivity across virtual desktops and apps, and enhances user experience when calling and meeting using Teams.
You can download the latest version of VMware Horizon from the VMware Downloads page. The required media optimization components are part of the Horizon Agent and Horizon Client by default and there's no need to install any additional plug-in to use the optimization feature for Teams.
To get the latest requirements and instructions on how to configure media optimization for Teams, see this VMware website.
You can deploy the Teams desktop app for VDI using a per-machine installation or per-user installation using the MSI package. Deciding on which approach to use depends on whether you use a persistent or non-persistent setup and the associated functionality needs of your organization.
For a dedicated persistent setup, either approach would work. However, for a non-persistent setup, Teams requires a per-machine installation in order to work efficiently. See the Non-persistent setup section.
With per-machine installation, automatic updates is disabled. This means that to update the Teams app, you must uninstall the current version to update to a newer version. With per-user installation, automatic updates is enabled. For most VDI deployments, we recommend you deploy Teams using per-machine installation.
To update to the latest Teams version, start with the uninstall procedure followed by latest Teams version deployment.
For Teams AV optimization in VDI environments to work properly, the thin client endpoint must have access to the internet. If internet access isn't available at the thin client endpoint, optimization startup won't be successful. This means that the user is in a non-optimized media state.
In a dedicated persistent setup, users' local operating system changes are retained after users log off. For persistent setup, Teams supports both per-user and per-machine installation.
The following is the recommended minimum VM configuration.
Parameter | Workstation operating system | Server operating system |
---|---|---|
vCPU | 2 cores | 4,6, or 8 It's important to understand the underlying non-uniform memory access (NUMA) configuration and configure your VMs accordingly. |
RAM | 4 GB | 512 to 1024 MB per user |
Storage | 8 GB | 40 to 60 GB |
In a non-persistent setup, users' local operating system changes are not retained after users log off. Such setups are commonly shared multi-user sessions. VM configuration varies based on the number of users and available physical box resources.
For a non-persistent setup, the Teams desktop app must be installed per-machine to the golden image. (To learn more, see the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section.) This ensures an efficient launch of the Teams app during a user session.
Using Teams in a non-persistent setup also requires a profile-caching manager, for efficient Teams runtime data synchronization. Efficient data synchronization ensures that the appropriate user-specific information (such as a user's data, profile, or settings) is cached during the user's session. Make sure data in these two folders are synched:
Note
A roaming folder (or, if you are using folder redirection, a caching manager) is required to ensure that the Teams app has the runtime data and files required to run the application. This is necessary to mitigate network latency issues or network glitches, which would otherwise cause application errors and a slow experience due to unavailable data and files.
There are a variety of caching manager solutions available. For example, FSLogix. Consult your caching manager provider for specific configuration instructions.
Exclude the following from the Teams caching folder, %appdata%/Microsoft/Teams. Excluding these items helps reduce the user caching size to further optimize your non-persistent setup.
Consider the following when you deploy Teams with Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise on VDI.
Before you deploy Teams through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, you must first uninstall any pre-existing Teams apps if they were deployed using per-machine installation.
Teams through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise is installed per-user. To learn more, see the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section.
Teams is also being added to existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. Since Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise installs Teams per-user only, see the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section.
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise doesn't support per-machine installations of Teams. To use per-machine installation, you must exclude Teams from Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. See the Deploy the Teams desktop app to the VM and How to exclude Teams deployment through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise sections.
To learn more about Teams and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, see How to exclude Teams from new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and Use Group Policy to control the installation of Teams.
Download the Teams MSI package that matches your VDI VM operating system using one of the following links:
Note
For government clouds, see Install Microsoft Teams using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager for the download links to the MSI files.
The minimum version of the Teams desktop app that's required is version 1.3.00.4461. (PSTN hold isn't supported in earlier versions.)
Install the MSI to the VDI VM by running one of the following commands:
Per-user installation (default)
This process is the default installation, which installs Teams to the %AppData% user folder. At this point, the golden image setup is complete. Teams won't work properly with per-user installation on a non-persistent setup.
Per-machine installation
This process installs Teams to the Program Files (x86) folder on a 64-bit operating system and to the Program Files folder on a 32-bit operating system. At this point, the golden image setup is complete. Installing Teams per-machine is required for non-persistent setups.
The next interactive logon session starts Teams and asks for credentials.
Note
These examples also use the ALLUSERS=1 parameter. When you set this parameter, Teams Machine-Wide Installer appears in Programs and Features in Control Panel and in Apps & features in Windows Settings for all users of the computer. All users can then uninstall Teams if they have admin credentials.It's important to understand the difference between ALLUSERS=1 and ALLUSER=1. The ALLUSERS=1 parameter can be used in non-VDI and VDI environments, while the ALLUSER=1 parameter is used only in VDI environments to specify a per-machine installation.
Uninstall the MSI from the VDI VM. There are two ways to uninstall Teams.
PowerShell script: You can use this PowerShell script to uninstall Teams and remove the Teams folder for a user. Run the script for each user profile in which Teams was installed on the computer.
Command line: Run the following command.
This process uninstalls Teams from the Program Files (x86) folder or Program Files folder, depending on the operating system environment.
There are a variety of virtualized setup configurations, each with a different focus for optimization. For example, a configuration might focus on user density. When planning, consider the following to help optimize your setup based on your organization's workload needs.
In addition to chat and collaboration, Teams on VDI with calling and meetings is available with supported virtualization provider platforms. Supported features are based on the WebRTC media stack and virtualization provider implementation. The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture.
Important
If you currently run Teams without AV optimization in VDI and you use features that are not supported yet for optimization (such as Give and take control when app sharing), you have to set virtualization provider policies to turn off Teams redirection. This means that Teams media sessions won't be optimized. For steps on how to set policies to turn off Teams redirection, contact your virtualization provider.
We recommend that you evaluate your environment to identify any risks and requirements that can influence your overall cloud voice and video deployment. Use the Skype for Business Network Assessment Tool to test whether your network is ready for Teams.
To learn more about how to prepare your network for Teams, see Prepare your organization's network for Teams.
If you're migrating from Skype for Business on VDI to Teams on VDI, besides the differences between the two applications, there are some differences when VDI is also implemented. Some capabilities that aren't currently supported in Teams VDI that are in Skype for Business VDI are as follows:
Teams on Chrome browser doesn't provide a replacement for the Teams desktop app for VDI with AV optimization. The chat and collaboration experience works as expected. When media is needed, there are some experiences that might not meet user expectations on the Chrome browser:
If your organization wants to only use chat and collaboration features in Teams, you can set user-level policies to turn off calling and meeting functionality in Teams.
You can set policies by using the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell. It might take some time (a few hours) for the policy changes to propagate. If you don't see changes for a given account immediately, try again in a few hours.
Calling polices: Teams includes the built-in DisallowCalling calling policy, in which all calling features are turned off. Assign the DisallowCalling policy to all users in your organization who use Teams in a virtualized environment.
Meeting policies: Teams includes the built-in AllOff meeting policy, in which all meeting features are turned off. Assign the AllOff policy to all users in your organization who use Teams in a virtualized environment.
To assign the DisallowCalling calling policy and the AllOff meeting policy to a user:
To assign a policy to multiple users at a time:
Or, you can also do the following:
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsCallingPolicy to assign the DisallowCalling calling policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage calling policies, see Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy.
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy to assign the AllOff meeting policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage meeting policies, see Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy.
If you have an existing implementation of Teams on VDI with chat and collaboration in which you had set user-level policies to turn off calling and meeting functionality, and you're migrating to Teams with AV optimization, you must set policies to turn on calling and meeting functionality for those Teams on VDI users.
You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell to set and assign calling and meeting policies to your users. It can take some time (a few hours) for policy changes to propagate. If you don't see changes for a given account immediately, try again after a few hours.
Calling polices: Calling policies in Teams control which calling features are available to users. Teams includes the built-in AllowCalling calling policy, in which all calling features are turned on. To turn on all calling features, assign the AllowCalling policy. Or, create a custom calling policy to turn on the calling features that you want and assign it to users.
Meeting policies: Meeting policies in Teams control the types of meetings that users can create and the features that are available to meeting participants that are scheduled by users in your organization. Teams includes the built-in AllOn meeting policy, in which all meeting features are turned on. To turn on all meeting features, assign the AllOn policy. Or, create a custom meeting policy to turn on the meeting features that you want and assign it users.
To assign the AllowCalling calling policy and the AllOn meeting policy to a user:
To assign a policy to multiple users at a time:
Or, you can also do the following:
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsCallingPolicy to assign the AllowCalling calling policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage calling policies, see Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy.
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy to assign the AllOn meeting policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage meeting policies, see Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy.
When users connect from an unsupported endpoint, the users are in fallback mode, in which AV isn't optimized. You can disable or enable fallback mode by setting one of the following registry DWORD values:
To disable fallback mode, set the value to 1. To enable audio only, set the value to 2. If the value isn't present or is set to 0 (zero), fallback mode is enabled.
This feature is available in Teams version 1.3.00.13565 and later.
The following calling and meeting features are not supported:
Note
We're working on adding calling and meeting features that are currently only available in non-VDI environments. These might include more admin control over quality, additional screen sharing scenarios, and advanced features recently added to Teams. Contact your Teams representative to learn more about upcoming features.
The following are known issues and limitations for calling and meetings:
For Teams known issues that aren't related to VDI, see Support Teams in your organization.
This is a known issue with Citrix VDA versions 1906 and 1909. To work around this issue, add the following registry DWORD value, and set it to 204 (hexadecimal).
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARECitrixCtxHookAppInit_DllsSfrHookTeams.exe
Then, restart VDA. To learn more, see this Citrix support article, Troubleshooting HDX optimization for Teams.