Before you begin
- A Microsoft Entra account that is a Global Administrator, to approve Atlas in your directory
- An Azure account that can create resources and assign roles in the target subscription (Owner, or Contributor plus User Access Administrator)
- Optionally, your Microsoft Entra tenant ID (Azure Portal > Microsoft Entra ID > Overview). If you do not have it at hand, leave it blank: the setup page learns it from your Microsoft sign-in
Step 1: Choose your cloud
Go to atlasavd.com/deploy and click Start free trial on the Azure Commercial card. Self-service trials are open in Azure Commercial today. Microsoft 365 GCC has its own card, and a GCC tenant must not choose Azure Commercial, because the signup checks your choice against what Microsoft reports for your tenant: a GCC tenant uses Join the waitlist on the GCC card instead. Review the Terms of Service in the dialog that opens, tick I have read and agree to the Atlas AVD Terms of Service, and click Agree and continue.
Microsoft 365 GCC and GCC High & Azure Government are coming soon. Use Join the waitlist on the card for your cloud and we will set up your trial as soon as it opens. Pricing is the same in every cloud.
Step 2: Fill in the signup form
Enter your name, work email, and optionally your company and Microsoft Entra tenant ID. The tenant ID is optional. When you leave the email field, the form looks it up from your work email's domain and fills it in for you (change it if Atlas should go into a different directory, for example a customer's). If it cannot be found, leave it blank, and the setup page asks you to sign in with Microsoft first so Atlas learns which directory your trial is for. If the field is filled in, the form signs you up for Azure Commercial; if Microsoft reports a different cloud for your tenant (for example GCC), the form says so and links you to the right option for your cloud. Complete the security check and click Continue to Microsoft sign in. No credit card is needed.
Want to create the app registration yourself instead of letting Atlas do it? Tick I'll set up the app registration myself. See Prefer to set it up yourself? below.
Step 3: Your setup link
Submitting the form takes you straight to your personal setup page on controlplane.atlasavd.us. We also email you the same link, with the subject Your Atlas AVD trial is ready to set up, so you can come back to it. The Activate Atlas AVD button in that email opens your setup page. (If the Atlas team started your trial for you, this email is where you begin.)
Your 30-day trial does not start yet. The clock starts only when your deployment comes online.
For security, a setup link expires 4 hours after it is issued. Until then you can close the setup page and reopen the same link to pick up where you left off. If it has expired, start your trial setup again at atlasavd.com/deploy and we will send you a new link.
Step 4: Confirm your subscription and accept the terms
The setup page opens with Subscription Verified, showing your plan, your name, email, and subscription ID. If you already agreed to the terms on atlasavd.com, the page skips this and goes straight to Microsoft sign-in (Step 5). Otherwise (for example, the Atlas team started your trial, or the terms changed since you agreed), review the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Data Processing Addendum, tick the box to agree, and click Accept and continue.
Step 5: Approve Atlas in Microsoft Entra
The setup page then takes you straight to Microsoft sign-in. Sign in with your Global Administrator account. Microsoft then lists the exact permissions Atlas is asking for. Review them and approve.
If you left the tenant ID blank on the signup form, the page first asks how much access Atlas should have and then opens a short Microsoft sign-in with no permissions to approve. Pick the account in the directory you want Atlas in; that tells Atlas which directory your trial is for. The permission approval above follows straight after, usually without signing in a second time.
Atlas then creates the AtlasAVD app registration in your directory and grants its permissions. A progress page keeps you posted. This usually takes 2 to 3 minutes, and a little longer in a brand-new tenant. When App registration ready appears with your new Client ID, click Continue — deploy from this page. Your Client ID is filled in for you, and there is no secret to copy and paste.
Atlas acts only as you, and only for this one sign-in. Its access is revoked when setup finishes. Atlas removes its small Atlas AVD Provisioning setup app from your directory automatically once your deployment is running. If that cannot be arranged, the setup page says so and shows how to delete it yourself; it has delegated permissions only, so it cannot act unless an administrator is signed in. If you decline the approval or setup does not finish, the setup page says so. Click Run setup again to repeat this step.
Step 6: Choose where to deploy
Click Sign in with Microsoft to deploy and sign in with your Azure account. Then fill in the deploy form:
- Azure subscription and Region: where your Atlas AVD resources will live.
- Resource group (optional): leave it blank and Atlas creates one named atlas-avd in the region you picked.
- Database size: Standard_B2s (2 vCores, 4 GB memory) fits most deployments, including ones that manage several tenants. Standard_B2ms (2 vCores, 8 GB memory) gives more headroom. You can scale up later in Azure without redeploying.
- App Service Plan (optional): appears only when the subscription already has a plan in that region. Leave it at New plan for the default setup. The deployment creates its own private network for the database and Key Vault; to reach resources on a network of your own, peer that network with it in Azure afterwards.
- Admin email: the first Atlas AVD administrator, who signs in with this account.
- Billing email (optional): where invoices go. It is also copied on trial reminders. Leave it blank to use the email your trial was set up with.
Atlas checks live Azure capacity for the region you chose before anything is created. A green tick next to Region, Resource group and Database size means the check passed, so click Deploy now. If a region is short on capacity, Atlas lists regions that have capacity right now, or you can request more capacity in that region.
Step 7: Watch the deployment
Atlas deploys everything into your own subscription and shows live progress: the managed identity, Key Vault, PostgreSQL database, App Service plan and web app, app configuration, and supporting resources. This usually takes 5 to 10 minutes. You can leave the page open, and the deployment keeps running.
Step 8: Open Atlas AVD
When deployment finishes, the page shows Your instance is live. Click Open Atlas AVD and sign in with your usual Microsoft (Entra ID) credentials as the admin email you entered. Atlas AVD registers its own sign-in reply URL, so there is nothing to configure in Entra first.
Step 9: Check your welcome email
At the same time, the email address your trial was set up with receives Your Atlas AVD environment is live. It includes your Atlas AVD URL, the date and time your free trial runs until, and next steps. Bookmark that URL: it is where you manage your AVD environment from now on.
Step 10: Finish first-run setup
Your first sign-in opens the First-Run Setup wizard. Your Azure details are already filled in from the deployment, so most steps are review-and-continue. The wizard has 11 steps:
- Azure Setup: choose your language and review your tenant, subscription, and app registration details.
- Permissions and Confirm: check the permissions Atlas has, then run a live connection test.
- Tenant Config and Settings: set the VM administrator account and tenant defaults, then your time zone, currency, log retention, and the address scheduled reports are sent from.
- Premium, Atlas Compass, VM Defaults, Monitoring, and Global Software: turn on the extras you want and set session host defaults.
- Preview: choose which preview features appear in your sidebar, then click Complete Setup.
That's it. Next, create your first host pool, deploy session hosts, and assign users.
During your trial
- Your 30-day trial starts when your deployment first comes online, not when you sign up. Every feature is included.
- A banner in Atlas AVD counts down the days left and has a Choose a plan button.
- We email you 7 days before your trial ends and again the day before.
- When you choose a plan, you check out securely with Stripe (card, ACH, or an invoice on a prepaid term). Prepaying one, two, or three years up front saves 10%, 15%, or 20%. There is no Azure Marketplace purchase.
- If your trial ends before you choose a plan, nothing is deleted. Your host pools, session hosts, and settings stay as they are, and choosing a plan picks up right where you left off.
Prefer to set it up yourself?
Letting Atlas create the app registration is optional. If you ticked I'll set up the app registration myself at signup, or clicked the Cloud Shell link on the setup page, you get two reviewed scripts to run in Azure Cloud Shell (Bash) as a Global Administrator instead: Full access, or Read-only for evaluation. Each command shows its SHA-256 checksum, creates the app registration, and then deploys Atlas into your subscription in the same run: it asks for a resource group, a region and the first administrator, shows each part of Atlas as Azure creates it, and prints your Atlas address when it finishes. Prefer the Azure Portal wizard? Click Use the Azure Portal wizard instead on the setup page and paste in the Client ID and Client Secret the script prints. See Review the Setup Scripts for what to expect while it runs.
If something goes wrong
- Verification Failed on the setup page: the link has expired or is no longer valid. Start your trial setup again at atlasavd.com/deploy for a fresh link.
- Setup was not authorised or Setup did not complete: nothing was left behind in your directory. Click Run setup again with a Global Administrator account, or choose Set it up yourself with a script.
- Deployment failed: click Try again, or Cancel & clean up to remove what was created and start over.
- Can't sign in after deployment: make sure you are using the admin email you entered on the deploy form.
- Still stuck: reply to your setup email or contact support@atlasavd.com and we will help you get set up.