UE-V

[SamTheMan]

Good afternoon all

 

I am looking into UE-V and I am finding a lot of conflicting information that I was hoping someone could clear up.

We are moving away from Roaming Profiles and want to move towards UE-V.

 

I watched a video from BTNHD on YouTube from the beginning of last year, which makes reference to a client for UE-V.

However, I have also seen someone say that the UE-V client is no longer required and is built in to Windows 10 Enterprise.

 

I have tried to find pricing information on Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack but there does not seem to be much info out there, is it free?

I know that it needs to be in the Volume Licensing Centre.

 

We are currently running Windows 10 Education, does this mean we do need the client?

Also, I have seen people mention a combination of Mandatory Profiles and UE-V, please could somebody explain?

 

Finally, I have also seen on EduGeek that Microsoft are turning their attention to Enterprise State Roaming - has anyone any experience with this?

 

Sorry for the long post!

 

Many thanks

Sam

[Arthur]

I have also seen someone say that the UE-V client is no longer required and is built in to Windows 10 Enterprise.

Correct.

 

We are currently running Windows 10 Education, does this mean we do need the client?

No client required on Education either since it is based on the Enterprise edition.

 

I have tried to find pricing information on Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack but there does not seem to be much info out there, is it free?

It's 'free' if you already have an suitable Microsoft volume licensing agreement with Software Assurance e.g. OVS-ES.

 

www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/en-US/productoffering/WindowsDesktopOperatingSystem/OVSES

 

Also, I have seen people mention a combination of Mandatory Profiles and UE-V, please could somebody explain?

I wouldn't bother with mandatory or roaming profiles these days.

[DrCheese]

Are you sure you want to deploy UE-V? Just use Enterprise state roaming on azure, it'll do 99% of what you used to use roaming profiles for.

[Norphy]

ESR requires an Azure AD Premium license, plus it needs the computers to be Azure AD joined. And it dumps everything into Azure which might not be what OP wants.

[meakjoe]

We had UE-V for a couple of years, but for the amount of work to set up and maintain it, the actual number of settings that roamed wasn't really worth it. We also found that it slowed down MS Office upon opening, unless the UE-V template was set to asynchronous. We've just recently disabled it and I don't think any users have noticed any difference, apart from programs opening quicker.

 

If you would like roaming settings, then look at FS Logix which Microsoft purchased a few years ago, and is normally included as part of licensing I think. This store user profiles in a .vhdx on a server allowing the profiles to be streamed rather than uploaded and downloaded. You will need a fair amount of spare on site storage for this though as they can end up being fairly large files.

[DrCheese]

ESR requires an Azure AD Premium license, plus it needs the computers to be Azure AD joined. And it dumps everything into Azure which might not be what OP wants.

 

P1 doesn't cost a lot. (OP has money for UE-V ) If you run a windows network nowadays that isn't hybrid you're behind the curve (massively) dumping stuff in azure is hardly a deal breaker.

Edited June 17, 2021 by DrCheese

[free780]

ESR requires an Azure AD Premium license, plus it needs the computers to be Azure AD joined. And it dumps everything into Azure which might not be what OP wants.

I wish Microsoft would sell a subscription for on prem only and call it Luddites 365.

[Norphy]

P1 doesn't cost a lot. (OP has money for UE-V ) If you run a windows network nowadays that isn't hybrid you're behind the curve (massively) dumping stuff in azure is hardly a deal breaker.

 

UE-V is part of the Windows license if you have Software Assurance, which you have OVS-ES or EES, you'll have. AAD P1 licenses aren't much, but it adds up if you're having to buy them for all staff and students.

 

I wish Microsoft would sell a subscription for on prem only and call it Luddites 365.

 

I'm happy to use cloud services where they're useful or where they save me time and/or effort. Example, Exchange and SharePoint. I'm not so convinced that ESR is a better solution when all of your computers are on the same network and everyone has to pull their settings down from the internet each time they log on to a new computer.

[DrCheese]

AAD P1 licenses aren't much, but it adds up if you're having to buy them for all staff and students.

You only have to license staff.

 

I'm not so convinced that ESR is a better solution when all of your computers are on the same network and everyone has to pull their settings down from the internet each time they log on to a new computer.

 

ESR is one setting to turn on in Azure AD settings & you never have to think about it again. If you ever start supporting Azure AD only devices it seamlessly roams across those as well. It's a quick and easy technology that doesn't pull down zillions of GB. UE-V requires all the in house setup/babysitting & as per the poster above is slow. It's just not worth it & I would bet on MS discontinuing it now ESR is a thing.

Edited June 18, 2021 by DrCheese