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cheapest virtual Desktop / DaaS
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cheapest virtual Desktop / DaaS

Hi,

There seem to be quite a few providers offering "Desktop as a service" - but most seem to be business-centered in pricing.

Looking for a SINGLE (!) virtual Win 7 or Win 10 machine.
Any ideas about the ceapest option?

Of course the option always would be to go for a KVM and manually install it, but as that means running a Win Desktop machine unprotected in the wild, not exactly my first choice...

I checked AW Workspaces, but apparently you need to run not one but two virtual ADs there which adds up to several 100 $$ even without a single Workspace.

OVHs plans is also rather business-oriented.
All of them don't really seem to scale down to ONE instance properly.

UbiDesktop.com is at least a bit more competitive on the pricing side (9EUR/month), but I have problems runing stuff as Admin (can't install office).

Any ideas? A price in the range of <5,- EUR would be my target for something that runs perhaps 2h/month.

Comments

  • feezioxiiifeezioxiii Member, Host Rep
    edited November 2018

    If you want something budget friendly, you can just grab a Windows VPS and secure it yourself by changing rdp port, Administrator username, complex password and setup an Active Directory, or even 2nd factor authentication.

    Otherwise, if you want everything to be pre-configured for you, you have to pay for that :sunglasses:

    You can't have the best of both world you know :wink:

    Thanked by 1southy
  • @feezioxiii said:
    If you want something budget friendly, you can just grab a Windows VPS

    Most on the market seem to be Windows Server - I want Win 7 or 10, either with or without license...

    Cheapest way to get that would probably be to get a KVM VPS.
    But as said...

    and secure it yourself by changing rdp port, Administrator username, complex password and setup an Active Directory, or even 2nd factor authentication.

    ...hmmm. I don't know. I never tried exposing a Windows box to the big bad world...
    Just feels wrong.
    I mean it would probably have SMB port exposed. That alone screams "uuuaaaaahhhhh", does it not?
    So either Windows has become much better than I thought or you are giving a risky advice here.

  • @southy said: Most on the market seem to be Windows Server - I want Win 7 or 10, either with or without license...

    Cheapest way to get that would probably be to get a KVM VPS.

    You could get a KVM with sufficent specs, install Linux on it, then install VirtualBox on Linux, and then install Windows 7 in VirtualBox (and set up port-forwarding as desired). This should work, but am not sure that it would be worth the hassle (or the money).

    Thanked by 1southy
  • If you don't want kvm and install your own iso then your only options is that Enterprise desktop virtualization.. the limit is not on provider but from Microsoft, because only some windows 10 Enterprise license that allowed to run as vdi/DAAS, and it's all per company licensing.

    It's complicated licensing system, but if you want to know then you can start from this :

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/CloudandHosting/licensing_sca.aspx

    http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/8/D/98D6A56C-4D79-40F4-8462-DA3ECBA2DC2C/Licensing_Windows_Desktop_OS_for_Virtual_Machines.pdf

    Thanked by 1southy
  • @hardgamers said:
    If you don't want kvm and install your own iso then your only options is that Enterprise desktop virtualization..

    In fact there are providers that offer virtual Win7/Win10 machines speciffically for "Desktop as a service".
    I suppose these do use that Enterprise Desktop virtualisation.

    Examples:
    AWS workspaces & OVH cloud desktop (both targeted at business with high minimum price)
    And ubidesktop.com (which would work fine for personal use as prices start at 9,90 EUR/month).

    That's just what I am looking for - My request was just: where do I get it the cheapest?

    Price to beat is ubidesktop.com at 10 EUR/month.

    Which is probably already pretty low, considering that they provide the Windows license.

  • FHRFHR Member, Host Rep
    edited November 2018

    @southy said:

    @feezioxiii said:
    If you want something budget friendly, you can just grab a Windows VPS

    Most on the market seem to be Windows Server - I want Win 7 or 10, either with or without license...

    Cheapest way to get that would probably be to get a KVM VPS.
    But as said...

    and secure it yourself by changing rdp port, Administrator username, complex password and setup an Active Directory, or even 2nd factor authentication.

    ...hmmm. I don't know. I never tried exposing a Windows box to the big bad world...
    Just feels wrong.
    I mean it would probably have SMB port exposed. That alone screams "uuuaaaaahhhhh", does it not?
    So either Windows has become much better than I thought or you are giving a risky advice here.

    Install OpenVPN, and firewall off all ports except OpenVPN.

  • zllovesukizllovesuki Member
    edited November 2018

    Ignoring everything (legality, practicality, potentially sanity), you can use any hypervisor to run your Windows VMs, and run Apache Guacamole to give you the RDP over HTML5 experience.

    Thanked by 1southy
  • @southy said: Price to beat is ubidesktop.com at 10 EUR/month.

    It's -15% if you pay yearly.

    Thanked by 1southy
  • KVM/VNC

    Thanked by 1southy
  • https://www.paperspace.com
    Has Win 10, Win 7 & Win 10 "bring your own license"

    pricing starts at 5$ monthly (for persistent storage) + 0,07$ per hour
    for 4 GB RAM / 2 CPU / 50 GB SSD = a rather decent scope for entry level.
    And that includes a Win license.

    And yes, it seems all of these "VDI" providers use Windows Server 2008/2016 in "desktop mode" which then seems to provide Win 10 / Win 7.
    Never heard of that but anyway...

    Also turns out OVH also has an offering for 10 GBP on their UK website, that does not require additional larger commitments.

    So current first summary: multiple offers around the 10 EUR-mark.
    1 significantly cheaper (paperspace)

  • @southy said: So current first summary: multiple offers around the 10 EUR-mark.
    1 significantly cheaper (paperspace)

    I'm probably missing something (I don't use Windows), but why not go with a LET provider that offers Windows and just set it up for "desktop mode"?

    Thanked by 1southy
  • @angstrom said:
    I'm probably missing something (I don't use Windows), but why not go with a LET provider that offers Windows and just set it up for "desktop mode"?

    See, I just learned that this exists.
    I have not dealt significantly with Window Servers for a long time and was not aware that

    • Server 2016 is essentially the same as Win 10, less the marketplace

    • Server 2016 actually has the option to provide "RDSH" = "Remote Desktop Session Host".

    I`m just reading up on the difference between RDSH (= Win Server providing sessions) and VDI (= independent Win 10 virtual machines).

    Fascinating.
    I missed a bit the last years it seems.

    The "Desktop mode" that you suggest would be a Win 2016 Server with a Session host? Or what is a "Desktop mode"? Or am I thinking too complex and you just mean "take the dam thing and use it" :-) ?

    Thanked by 1angstrom
  • southy said: The "Desktop mode" that you suggest would be a Win 2016 Server with a Session host? Or what is a "Desktop mode"?

    When you install WS2016, there is an option for the "Desktop Experience" which provides a full Windows GUI instead of just PowerShell.

    Thanked by 1southy
  • maybe the better question would be: what do you want to use it for or what do you expect from it. you probably are thinking too complex. just take a cheap windows VM and use it. securing it isn't as hard as you think it might be. ;-)

    Thanked by 1southy
  • southysouthy Member
    edited November 2018

    Wife‘s Laptop is crap.
    But she has a decent ipad and a BT keyboard for it.
    So I thought, you know, for the 2x month where she needs a PC for office and stuff... why not try something like ipad > VNC > Win VPS.

    yeah, I know, explaining it, sounds overkill, you were probably expecing a much more fancy use case. :-)
    Well, to my defense, I had the idea and then I got carried away in googling about fancy new WinServer features aaaaand now its the middle of the night again :-)

    And also: we are here for fun, right? RIGHT?

  • @southy said:
    Wife‘s Laptop is crap.
    But she has a decent ipad and a BT keyboard for it.
    So I thought, you know, for the 2x month where she needs a PC for office and stuff... why not try something like ipad > VNC > Win VPS.

    yeah, I know, explaining it, sounds overkill, you were probably expecing a much more fancy use case. :-)
    Well, to my defense, I had the idea and then I got carried away in googling about fancy new WinServer features aaaaand now its the middle of the night again :-)

    And also: we are here for fun, right? RIGHT?

    Correct.
    +1 for VNCing into powerful hardware from tablets/low end lagtops, etc.
    It IS fun.
    Although I would use slackware instead of windows.

  • @southy said:
    Hi,

    There seem to be quite a few providers offering "Desktop as a service" - but most seem to be business-centered in pricing.

    Looking for a SINGLE (!) virtual Win 7 or Win 10 machine.
    Any ideas about the ceapest option?

    Of course the option always would be to go for a KVM and manually install it, but as that means running a Win Desktop machine unprotected in the wild, not exactly my first choice...

    I checked AW Workspaces, but apparently you need to run not one but two virtual ADs there which adds up to several 100 $$ even without a single Workspace.

    OVHs plans is also rather business-oriented.
    All of them don't really seem to scale down to ONE instance properly.

    UbiDesktop.com is at least a bit more competitive on the pricing side (9EUR/month), but I have problems runing stuff as Admin (can't install office).

    Any ideas? A price in the range of <5,- EUR would be my target for something that runs perhaps 2h/month.

    There is Hetzner Cloud at €2.49 p/m (excl. EU VAT), but I'm not sure about licensing.

  • Hetzner Cloud has very good performance.

  • exception0x876exception0x876 Member, Host Rep, LIR

    @angstrom said:

    @southy said: Most on the market seem to be Windows Server - I want Win 7 or 10, either with or without license...

    Cheapest way to get that would probably be to get a KVM VPS.

    You could get a KVM with sufficent specs, install Linux on it, then install VirtualBox on Linux, and then install Windows 7 in VirtualBox (and set up port-forwarding as desired). This should work, but am not sure that it would be worth the hassle (or the money).

    Seems like a little overkill. If the provider supports a private network between VMs, you can just create a small Linux VM, install VPN server there, and then connect through it to your Windows box, which uses the Linux VM as an internet gateway and is not connected to the public internet directly.

    Thanked by 1angstrom
  • @southy said:

    @hardgamers said:
    If you don't want kvm and install your own iso then your only options is that Enterprise desktop virtualization..

    In fact there are providers that offer virtual Win7/Win10 machines speciffically for "Desktop as a service".
    I suppose these do use that Enterprise Desktop virtualisation.

    Examples:
    AWS workspaces & OVH cloud desktop (both targeted at business with high minimum price)
    And ubidesktop.com (which would work fine for personal use as prices start at 9,90 EUR/month).

    That's just what I am looking for - My request was just: where do I get it the cheapest?

    Price to beat is ubidesktop.com at 10 EUR/month.

    Which is probably already pretty low, considering that they provide the Windows license.

    yes, those providers use enteprise desktop licensing for virtualization .. thats why they charge you high fee .. you don't have any options but to use enterprise windows even ubidesktop use enterprise license .. you can't find anything cheaper because the licensing cost from microsoft is already high. Pricelist for windows 10 enterprise E3 ( per user based ) is $84/years ( $7/month ) since october 2018 and this is just for the license. And actually each company that rent DAAS need to have their own AD and it also need another cost. for ubidesktop i think they just add/register each user to their own AD so you can only rent their desktop virtualization ( i don't know if this is legal or not ).

    Customer price = License cost + VM Cost + Support cost + Profit

    so $10 in ubidesktop already on the rock bottom price.

    windows 10 pro / home license doesn't have right to use on SHARED SERVER so we can't use that on VPS/VM by legal. By legal your only options is use enterprise windows license and going to provider that already have agreement with microsoft.

    by technical, nothing can stop you to use KVM VPS that support your own ISO to install your own windows and license .. if you want something cheaper than $10/month then this is your options.

    Thanked by 1southy
  • FHRFHR Member, Host Rep

    @eol said:

    @southy said:
    Wife‘s Laptop is crap.
    But she has a decent ipad and a BT keyboard for it.
    So I thought, you know, for the 2x month where she needs a PC for office and stuff... why not try something like ipad > VNC > Win VPS.

    yeah, I know, explaining it, sounds overkill, you were probably expecing a much more fancy use case. :-)
    Well, to my defense, I had the idea and then I got carried away in googling about fancy new WinServer features aaaaand now its the middle of the night again :-)

    And also: we are here for fun, right? RIGHT?

    Correct.
    +1 for VNCing into powerful hardware from tablets/low end lagtops, etc.
    It IS fun.
    Although I would use slackware instead of windows.

    If you'd ever try VNC over WAN (especially when you have limited bandwidth available; think lower than 1Mbps), you would know that it's unusable for "normal" desktop usage like using a browser, watching YouTube and other stuff.

    RDP is much much better in this regard.

    Thanked by 1southy
  • @FHR said:

    @eol said:

    @southy said:
    Wife‘s Laptop is crap.
    But she has a decent ipad and a BT keyboard for it.
    So I thought, you know, for the 2x month where she needs a PC for office and stuff... why not try something like ipad > VNC > Win VPS.

    yeah, I know, explaining it, sounds overkill, you were probably expecing a much more fancy use case. :-)
    Well, to my defense, I had the idea and then I got carried away in googling about fancy new WinServer features aaaaand now its the middle of the night again :-)

    And also: we are here for fun, right? RIGHT?

    Correct.
    +1 for VNCing into powerful hardware from tablets/low end lagtops, etc.
    It IS fun.
    Although I would use slackware instead of windows.

    If you'd ever try VNC over WAN (especially when you have limited bandwidth available; think lower than 1Mbps), you would know that it's unusable for "normal" desktop usage like using a browser, watching YouTube and other stuff.

    RDP is much much better in this regard.

    In my experience, VNC works pretty well, but -- yes -- this also depends on BW. The main problem with VNC is that it doesn't support sound.

    Indeed, RDP would be the natural choice for Windows-to-Windows connections.

    Thanked by 1southy
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