The Privileged Path

Windows 365 PAW

Using Windows 365 Cloud PCs as dedicated privileged access environments — a modern, cloud-native approach to PAW deployment.

Overview

Windows 365 provides a persistent Cloud PC that can be dedicated to privileged administration. Each admin receives a cloud-hosted Windows desktop that is managed, hardened, and isolated from their primary work device.

This is one of the most practical PAW deployment options available today — especially for cloud-first organisations.

Why Windows 365 works for PAWs

  • Dedicated environment — each Cloud PC is a separate, persistent Windows instance
  • Cloud-managed — deployed and managed through Intune, no on-premises infrastructure required
  • Isolated from the endpoint — admin sessions run in the cloud, not on the local device
  • Always up to date — patching and compliance managed centrally
  • Accessible from anywhere — admins can reach their PAW from any compliant device

Design approach

Provisioning

  • Create a dedicated Windows 365 provisioning policy for admin Cloud PCs
  • Assign to a security group containing admin users
  • Use a separate Intune configuration profile with hardened settings

Hardening

  • Application control — restrict to admin tools and portals only
  • No email, Teams, or general productivity apps
  • Browser restricted to admin portal URLs
  • Local admin rights removed
  • Defender for Endpoint with elevated monitoring

Conditional Access

  • Require the Windows 365 Cloud PC (by device filter or compliance) for access to admin portals
  • Block admin portal access from non-PAW devices
  • Enforce authentication strength (phishing-resistant MFA)

Network

  • Consider Azure Network Connection to route admin traffic through a controlled network
  • Restrict outbound access to admin endpoints only

Licensing

Windows 365 Enterprise licences are required. The appropriate SKU depends on workload requirements — admin tasks are generally lightweight, so lower-tier SKUs often suffice.

Factor licensing cost against the savings from not purchasing dedicated physical hardware.

Trade-offs

Strengths:

  • Low barrier to deployment
  • No dedicated hardware required
  • Easy to scale across distributed teams
  • Strong isolation from user endpoint
  • Familiar Windows desktop experience

Challenges:

  • Requires internet connectivity
  • Ongoing subscription cost
  • Not suitable for managing on-premises infrastructure that requires local network access
  • Dependency on Microsoft cloud services

Getting started

  1. Define a dedicated Windows 365 provisioning policy
  2. Create a hardened Intune configuration profile for admin Cloud PCs
  3. Assign to Tier 0 administrators
  4. Configure Conditional Access to enforce admin portal access only from PAW Cloud PCs
  5. Monitor and validate compliance