Windows 365

With Windows 365 for Agents, a stage’s agent can borrow a Cloud PC to test a website in Edge, run a program, click through it and take screenshots. The coding itself still runs on the stage’s workbench. The Cloud PC is a computer the agent uses, not where it works.

Windows 365 is optional. Nothing about it is set up when you install, so a customer who never uses it never needs a Global Administrator.

Everything below is done once per tenant, from Admin → Windows 365. The screen shows the same steps, with your own values filled in to the commands.

Before you start#

You will need:

Licences: Agent 365, Microsoft Intune, Windows Enterprise E3 or higher, and Entra ID P1. There is no per-user Windows 365 licence, because Cloud PCs for agents bill by the hour.
A Global Administrator for steps 2 and 4. A Privileged Role Administrator who is also an Application Administrator can do step 2.

Eido Build cannot check your licences. A missing one shows up later as a refusal from Microsoft.

What it costs#

A Cloud PC costs about $0.40 for each hour it is in use, rounded up to the hour, plus $5 a month for each Cloud PC kept always available. These are Microsoft’s US list prices and are billed to your Azure subscription by Microsoft.

Set it up#

Create a billing policy

In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, go to Copilot → Cost management → Billing policies. Name a subscription, a resource group and a region, then switch Windows 365 for Agents on for it under Pay-as-you-go services.

Create it in Eido Build’s own resource group and Eido Build finds it by itself. The screen shows the subscription and resource group to choose. The region must be inside the geography your Cloud PCs will be in.
Grant Eido Build its permissions

The screen shows one command that grants Eido Build’s identity the Microsoft Graph permissions it needs. Press Open Cloud Shell, paste the command, run it, then press Refresh on the screen.

The command says granted for each permission. It grants only what is missing, and can be run again safely.
Create the agent

Type a sign-in name for the agent on one of your domains, such as buildengine-agent@contoso.com, and press Create agent. This makes the agent’s identity in your Entra tenant. Whoever presses the button becomes the agent’s sponsor.

If it stops part way, press it again. It carries on from where it stopped and never makes a second agent.
Let the agent use Cloud PCs

A Global Administrator presses Grant consent. Microsoft’s own consent page opens in a new tab. Accept it, close the tab, and press I’ve accepted.
Create a provisioning policy

Press New policy. Choose the geography, the image, and how many Cloud PCs to keep always available. Microsoft takes 20 to 30 minutes to provision it.
Try it

On the Agent VMs tab, Run the check borrows a Cloud PC, tests it, and gives it back.

Let a stage use a Cloud PC#

In Admin → Projects → Workflows, open an agent stage and, under Tools, tick The agent may use a Windows 365 Cloud PC. Set how many Cloud PC hours the stage may use, from 1 to 8.

The agent borrows a Cloud PC the first time it needs one and gives it back when it is done or the stage ends. The hours appear in the work item’s cost.

On such a stage you can also tick a project action that prints a sign-in link. The agent opens the link on the Cloud PC without ever seeing it.

Watching the Cloud PCs#

The Agent VMs tab lists every Cloud PC Eido Build has borrowed: when, for what, and whether it is still out.

Button	What it does
End	Gives the Cloud PC back now. Microsoft wipes it.
Check	Asks Microsoft where it has got to. This counts as using it, and restarts Microsoft’s 30 minute idle timer.

A Cloud PC nobody touches for 30 minutes is taken back by Microsoft.

When something is refused#

What you see	Usually
The permissions step still reads short after the command worked	Azure is still handing out an older token. Press Refresh. If it stays short, wait and try again later.
Create agent stops part way	Entra has not noticed the last thing it made yet. Press it again.
Create agent answers 403	The permissions in step 2 are not granted, or not in effect yet.
No billing policies are offered	The billing policy is not in Eido Build’s resource group, and Eido Build cannot read where it is. The screen shows the command that fixes this.
Making a policy is refused about billing	The wrong billing policy, or Windows 365 for Agents is not switched on in it.
Consent fails with `AADSTS650052`	Your tenant does not yet know one of Microsoft’s apps. The screen has a section with the command that adds them.
“No free W365 sessions”	Every Cloud PC in the policy is out or being wiped. End the one that is out, or wait.
403 from a Cloud PC later on	Consent in step 4 was never completed.