Microsoft Confirms New Black Screen Issue Affecting Windows 10 Azure Virtual Desktop Users

Microsoft has acknowledged a new issue that could result in frustrating black screens during the login process for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) users. This bug specifically impacts those who installed the July 2024 non-security preview update (KB5040525) on their Windows 10 devices.

Azure Virtual Desktop is a cloud-based service that provides virtualized desktops and applications over the Internet. This service allows users to access a full Windows experience from any device and supports both single-session and multi-session capabilities.

What is the potential impact of the black screen issue on Azure Virtual Desktop users?

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 users may experience a black screen for 10 to 30 minutes after logging into Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). Additionally, users may face issues with single sign-on (SSO) for Office applications like Outlook and Teams, which could hinder data synchronization and connectivity to backend services. This bug could also cause other applications in the Office suite to lose network connectivity.

“This issue is caused by a deadlock in the interactions between the Azure Active Directory (AAD) broker and the underlying AppX deployment service (AppxSvc) and Background tasks infrastructure service. You are more likely to experience this issue if you are using FSLogix user profile containers on multi-session environments,” Microsoft explained.

What is FSLogix?

FSLogix is a profile management solution designed to improve the user experience in virtual desktop environments. It redirects user profiles to a storage provider, helping to minimize login times and optimize file input/output operations. Additionally, FSLogix provides a local profile experience and supports high availability and disaster recovery.

Microsoft is actively investigating this issue and will provide updates as more information becomes available. It’s important to note that Azure Virtual Desktop is primarily used in enterprise environments, which means this problem is unlikely to affect users running the Windows 10 Home and Pro editions.