↓ Background
About Client and Challenges
A global organization embraced a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) strategy to support its growing hybrid and remote workforce. The JustCodify team deployed a combination of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), to provide employees with secure, flexible access to their work environments from anywhere.
While this multi-platform approach delivered scalability and centralized management, the end-user experience suffered. Employees frequently worked from different devices and locations, and the existing profile management tools could not keep up with the dynamic demands of a distributed workforce.
The organization needed a solution that could:
- Deliver fast, consistent logons.
- Ensure user profiles—including files, settings, and application data—roam seamlessly across session hosts.
- Improve Microsoft 365 performance, particularly for Outlook, OneDrive, and Teams, in non-persistent environments.
Challenges
Despite the flexibility of AVD several technical and operational challenges emerged:
Slow Logons
- Users faced long sign-in was slow because profile data loaded from roaming or redirected folders.
- Peak-hour usage amplified these delays, creating frustration and productivity loss.
Profile Inconsistencies
- User preferences and settings were often lost or corrupted when moving between session hosts.
- Helpdesk team faced repeated incidents of profile-related errors, driving up support costs.
Sub-Optimal Office 365 Experience
- Outlook, OneDrive sync and Teams performed poorly without persistent profiles.
- Search indexing was unreliable, making it harder for users to quickly locate emails and files.
Support & Maintenance Overhead
- JustCodify team spent significant time troubleshooting profile corruption and synchronizing user data.
- The lack of automated scaling added extra complexity as the workforce continued to grow.
The result was an inconsistent user experience and increased operational costs, undermining the value of the organization’s VDI investment.
Solution: FSLogix Implementation
To address these issues, the JustCodify team designed and deployed a Microsoft FSLogix solution tailored for their multi-platform virtual desktop environment.
Key Steps and Components
- Profile Containers in VHD/VHDX Format
User profiles were stored as virtual hard disks (VHD/VHDX) and dynamically attached to each user session at logon. This eliminated traditional copy operations, enabling instant profile availability regardless of which VM or session host a user accessed. - Office 365 Containers for Cached Performance
Dedicated containers were implemented to store Outlook OST files, OneDrive content, Teams cache, and Windows Search indexes. This allowed Office apps to run in full cached mode, significantly boosting performance and reducing reliance on slower network calls. - Centralized, Resilient Storage
Profiles were hosted on Azure Files and SMB network shares to ensure high availability and elastic storage growth. This approach provided both performance consistency and disaster recovery capabilities. - Active Directory Integration
FSLogix was seamlessly integrated with the existing Active Directory environment, ensuring familiar authentication workflows and policy enforcement without requiring a redesign of group policies or user access controls. - Performance Optimization & Autoscaling
- Per-VM login limits were applied to prevent resource contention.
- Dynamic session host scaling was introduced in AVD to balance performance with cost efficiency, automatically spinning resources up or down based on demand.
Results
The FSLogix deployment transformed the virtual desktop experience across Azure Virtual Desktop, Citrix, and VMware environments.
| Outcome | Impact on Business & IT |
|---|---|
| Significantly Faster Logons | Average sign-in times dropped from minutes to seconds, immediately improving productivity. |
| Consistent Roaming Profiles | Users received a personalized desktop—including all apps, settings, and files—on any session host without reconfiguration. |
| Optimized Microsoft 365 Performance | Outlook operated in full cached mode, Teams chats and OneDrive files synchronized faster, and Windows Search indexing worked reliably. |
| Reduced Support Costs | Helpdesk tickets related to profile corruption or sync failures decreased substantially, freeing IT resources for strategic projects. |
| Scalable & Resilient Infrastructure | Azure Files autoscaling and dynamic AVD host pools ensured cost control and supported future workforce expansion without downtime. |
Key Takeaways
- Fast, Reliable User Profiles: FSLogix ensures that user settings and data follow the user across any virtual desktop environment.
- Optimized Cloud & Hybrid Workspaces: Office 365 apps perform as though installed locally, enabling a true desktop-like experience for remote employees.
- Simplified Management: Centralized profile storage and automated scaling reduce administrative burden and improve operational efficiency.
- Future-Ready: The solution supports ongoing growth, whether expanding the workforce, adopting new VDI platforms, or migrating more workloads to the cloud.
Conclusion
By integrating FSLogix Profile and Office 365 Containers, the organization overcame the key challenges of slow logons, profile inconsistencies, and poor Microsoft 365 performance. This implementation delivered a fast, consistent, and secure virtual desktop experience that scales with business needs—enabling employees to work efficiently from anywhere while lowering IT costs.