Before you begin
- Any Atlas AVD plan. Winget Deployment, the Application Catalog, Browser Extensions and Managed Bookmarks are included from Starter up. Winget History needs Professional or higher.
- An Atlas AVD role that can manage the host pool's settings (administrators have it)
- Session hosts built by Atlas AVD (Create Host, autoscale or reimage), so the provisioning step runs on them
When your changes reach a session host
Software lists are applied when a session host is provisioned. Adding a package, an extension, a bookmark or a shortcut changes what the next new or reimaged host gets. It does not change hosts that are already running.
Packages install when new VMs are provisioned, not on existing hosts. To bring running hosts up to date, reimage them, or install the app on them now with Install Apps (below). Removing an item works the same way: existing hosts keep it until they are reimaged or reprovisioned.
How the three layers combine
Atlas combines the lists from three levels. A host gets everything from all three, and when the same package or extension appears at more than one level, the most specific level wins.
- Global baseline: the packages and extensions every tenant receives. It is first filled in by the First Run Wizard.
- Tenant additions: the Application Catalog apps enabled for this tenant, plus its own browser extension list.
- Host pool additions: the pool's Application Catalog settings and its own browser extension list.
A tenant that should not receive the baseline can turn off Inherit Global Software Baseline. The tenant's own lists and its host pools' lists still apply.
Set the baseline and tenant lists
Tenant-wide and global lists are managed in the Configuration Matrix (Settings → Configuration Matrix), in the Software Distribution category. The old Settings → Software page now opens this category for you.
- Global Software (Winget): expand the row to edit the global baseline and this tenant's Application catalog: the apps every host pool in the tenant inherits, which each pool can override or turn off. Pick a host pool at the top of the matrix to edit that pool's catalog from here too.
- Browser Extensions: expand the row to edit the baseline and tenant extension lists, and a pool's list when a pool is selected.
- Inherit Global Software Baseline: on by default. Turn it off for a tenant to leave out the baseline packages and extensions on all of that tenant's host pools.
Add Winget packages to a host pool
Open the host pool, go to Settings, and open Apps & Automation. A pool's Winget apps are listed in one place, the Application catalog section.
- Type at least two characters of the app's name (for example Google Chrome, 7-Zip or Notepad++) in the Application catalog search. Atlas searches the public winget catalog.
- Click a result to add it to the pool.
- To remove an app, click the X next to it and confirm. New hosts stop getting it; existing hosts keep it until they are reimaged.
Need an app on running hosts right away? On the host pool's Session Hosts tab, select the hosts and click Install Apps. Search for the winget packages, then confirm. Atlas installs them on the selected hosts and shows an App Installation Log while they run. Add the package to the pool's list as well so new hosts get it too.
Fine-tune apps with the Application Catalog
The Application catalog section of Apps & Automation lists the catalog apps this pool installs, including the ones it inherits from the tenant (shown under Inherited from tenant). For each app you can:
- Turn it on or off for this pool with its switch. A disabled app is not installed on the pool's new hosts.
- Pin a version. Leave Pinned version empty to install the latest version.
- Override the Winget install arguments. Leave Install arguments override empty to use the inherited arguments.
- Choose Customize for this pool on an inherited app to change it for this pool only. Pool settings take precedence over the tenant's.
Force-install browser extensions
The Browser Extensions section of the Software tab adds Chrome and Edge extensions to the pool. Atlas force-installs them through browser policy when a host is provisioned, so users cannot remove them.
- Search the extension catalog (for example Okta, 1Password or uBlock Origin).
- Pick the extension and confirm. Each result shows whether it installs in Chrome, Edge, or both.
- Extensions marked + App also install a linked winget app, for example a desktop companion the extension needs. The confirmation names the app before you add it.
- Extensions marked Managed globally already come from the baseline or the tenant list, so the pool does not need its own copy.
Add managed bookmarks and desktop shortcuts
Open the host pool's Settings and go to the Shortcuts tab. Enter a name and a full http:// or https:// address, then choose how to deliver it. You can choose both.
- Managed Bookmark: added to the Chrome and Edge managed-bookmarks policy, so it appears on the bookmarks bar inside a folder you name (for example Company Links).
- Desktop Shortcut: a .url shortcut placed on the Public Desktop, so every user on the host sees it. You can group shortcuts into a desktop folder.
- Each list holds up to 100 entries, and names must be valid Windows file names.
Bookmarks and shortcuts are applied when a session host is provisioned or reimaged. Hosts that are already running keep what they were built with.
See what Winget updated on a host (Professional)
On Professional and higher plans, a session host's VM detail page shows Winget History: the app updates Winget-AutoUpdate installed on that host, and which ones failed with their exit codes. Click Refresh History to read the latest logs from the host. Opening the page shows the history Atlas already has and does not contact the host.
Not to be confused with the Software page
The Software page in the sidebar is a software inventory: it shows what Microsoft Defender has found installed across your machines, with versions and end-of-support status. It reports on software; it does not deploy it. To choose what gets installed, use the Configuration Matrix and the host pool's Software and Shortcuts tabs described above.
Troubleshooting
- A new package is not on a host: check when the host was built. Only hosts provisioned or reimaged after the change get it. Use Install Apps for running hosts.
- A package installed on one pool but not another: check the Application catalog section for that pool. The app may be disabled there, or the pool may pin a different version.
- No tenant baseline apps arrive: check that Inherit Global Software Baseline is on for the tenant.
- You cannot add or remove items: your role cannot manage this host pool's settings. Ask an administrator.