Windows 10 DaaS on Azure Servers

Software
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I need Windows 10, for almost nothing. Every once-in-a-while, I come across some 'tard circumstance, where I need to use an application that only runs on Windows; such as, WFH (work from home) apps, that may never be ported to linux.

Many of us have struggled with how to get Windows running on our linux machines and have discovered that in dual or multiboot mode Windows has to be installed first and basically controls the C:\ drive or “sda.” Those of us who have had the good fortune of having more than one drive and having gotten tired of the software maintenance required by multibooting, on a single drive, have aquiesced to allowing Windows full and unfettered control, over our C:\ drive, only to discover that Windows “write” protects our D:\ drive or “sdb,” after having installed our linux distros there. What a house of horrors, Windows won’t allow us any degree of control, over our own systems, even when we give it the prime C:\ drive, all to itself. What a jealous hog.

For many of us, the only choice has been to rip out Windows, by the roots, and destroy all traces of it. This has ultimately made life much more peaceful; and, our workflows have benefitted, as a result. But gosh-darn-it, that $60/hr website and software testing job, that I want, requires a Windows or Mac OS. Oh why, oh why, oh why do I need to have two PCs or laptops, just to stay employed. Good lord, can it get any more complicated.

Running Windows in a VM can be a really lame experience. That tiny little window it runs in is already annoying. Add to that, the fact that sometimes you can’t use audio from a virtualized Windows desktop, especially with older hardware. Then there is the Windows-To-Go option, which I haven’t tried; but, must be a better experience than virtualization. This solution is “not” straight-forward and requires additional software and expense, not to mention patience.

Finally, there appears to be another solution. I just discovered today, that “infosaic.com” offers Windows 10, as a service, running on Microsoft’s “linux” based Azure servers, starting at $11.95 per month. infosaic claims you get admin rights and the ability to install software. Whether or not I’ll be able to run my 'tard WFH app on it, remains to be seen; but, for the moment, this solution seems promising.

https://infosaic.com/

Has anyone tried this? What was your experience?

I’d love to hear what you think.

2 Likes
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Haven’t tried it myself but LTT just did a video today (https://invidio.us/watch?v=DS1FcT93Qy8) on a similar service called Shadow. Same price and built for gaming but you get full access to the desktop I believe.

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One approach to try (not ideal but then when is Windows ever ideal?) is:

  • no internal drive
  • external drive for Windows
  • external drive for Linux

Only ever have one external drive connected at a time.

Does Microsoft manage to *};^ that up too?

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That could work, with a Windows-To-Go installation on a USB drive or stick. With a laptop, portability gets completely destroyed.

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I saw that one too. That’s what motivated me to research the infosaic solution. I’ll take another look at the shadow solution and see if I can find any vendors. It may be even better.

BTW, maybe Purism can get LTT to review the Librem 14, when it becomes available. Based on the specs, it looks very competitive, with the ASUS Zepherus 14. It may even be superior, especially with the security features.

*Since you follow YT, can you recommend any other tech channels? I can offer “Let’s Learn Something.” This is a mechanical engineering channel and it rocks hard. This guy deserves some love and subscribers, if you’re into mechanics at all.

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If you use a portable external drive rather than a desktop external drive, particularly a compact portable external SSD drive, then portability is not terrible, just not as convenient or nice as it would otherwise be - but at least you are not sacrificing as much performance as you would if you used a USB flash drive.

Seems like Windows requires a hardware kill switch on each internal drive. :smile:

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LMFAO​:rofl::joy::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Perhaps, Purism can engineer that?

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This thread comes off as a clever way of advertising without being overt about it. I say that because of some of the logic being used in it.

For example, if you are going to complain about how tiny Windows runs in a VM, and ignore the fact that you can full screen or adjust the window box, then I just can’t take anything you are saying here seriously.

My username is: 2d is better, as in 2d graphics are better than 3d. I greatly prefer and advocate for the use of fixed camera viewpoints in game design.

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No wonder you call yourself 2 dis. You’re a troll

YOU SHOULD BE MARKED AS A TROLL!

Goodbye.

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A suspicious response. You could’ve just said “that’s not correct.”

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I have a Windows 10 VM in QEMU with basically 0 issues. I can boot it in a window (and make it fullscreen), or boot into it with GPU passthrough and get it on both my monitors and have a 99.9% native experience.

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Wow another troll.

I call them as they appear.

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I’ve got Windows on a M.2-SSD run through a fast USB-Adapter. Beside bloody Win not powering up the USB-Port of the computer sometimes which sometimes forces me to start the computer serveral times over and over, it works flawlessly and fast. There’s no other harddrive in that computer.

Downside: Windows only runs with THAT particular computer. But at least i can start this or that OS without them interfering with each other.

On the other hand unfortunately i couldn’t get Win running stable through KVM which would have been a neat solution (mainly trying to avoid Win nowadays and advocating for Linux)