Test driving the Microsoft Teams AV Redirection and media optimizations preview for WVD!

You have probably heard the news via various social channels, the Public Preview for Microsoft Teams A/V Redirection and media optimizations is here!

This will create a direct path between your users when sharing video, significantly improving the video and audio and overall user experience when using Audio & Video within Microsoft Teams.

Many have been waiting for this next step because is takes the overall Office 365 Experience, which was already significantly improved with the acquisition of FSLogix, to the next level! Users can now participate in Teams Meetings right from their WVD Desktop and have a smooth experience! A very welcome update, specially during the COVID-19 situation we’re still in.

Of course I had to test drive this functionality in our WVD.Ninja lab environment! Setting it up is actually quite easy! I’ve drafted out the installation steps below.

(1) Prepare your image for Teams

Before installing Microsoft Team, set the following registry key on the host using GPO Registry Preferences, other 3rd party tools you might already use, or add it to your custom template image. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Teams, IsWVDEnvironment, DWORD, 1

(2) Install the Teams WebSocket Service

Download and install the WebSocket Service. No specific install options are required.

(3) Install Microsoft Teams with per-machine option

Download the Teams MSI package that matches your environment. It is recommend to use the 64-bit installer on a 64-bit operating system. Make sure you use the option ALLUSER=1.

(4) Verify both installs

Verify that both installs were performed correctly. It should show up as shown below.

Now open Microsoft Teams, logon, go to About and click on version. Your Teams client should now show “You have Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.4461 (64-bit). WVD Media Optimized.”

And as you can see I have my local devices available & ready inside WVD to jump into a Microsoft Teams call with optimized Audio/Video support! A couple of quick tests show a great experience, I will test drive some more over the coming week.

For more information follow the Microsoft Teams on Windows Virtual desktop Docs page