App-V birthday to you, Win10: Virty tools baked in Anniversary update

Microsoft is packing its desktop virtualization into Windows 10 Anniversary Update next month – but you'll need an Enterprise or Education agreement to receive it.

From August 2, the client's release date, Application Virtualization (App-V) and User Environment Virtualization (UE-V) will come as standard for both the Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions. Until now, you had to download and install App-V and UE-V separately.

However, those on Windows Professional who'd also installed App-V and UE-V won't get the virtualization software with their upgrade package.

Instead, they'll need to switch to either the Enterprise or Education edition, because upgrading to Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Update from the existing Windows 10 Pro will delete your App-V and UE-V binaries.

Moreover, you'll only get Windows Enterprise, and Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) that also includes App-V and UE-V, through Microsoft's volume-licenses attached Software Assurance.

Windows 10 Pro is available via Software Assurance in addition to being for consumers and pre-installed on OEM PCs, but that won't matter.

App-V and UE-V in the Windows 10 context will only come via Enterprise edition, which is only available on a Microsoft volume agreement.

Enterprise packs a number of other features currently absent in Pro – Direct Access, Windows To Go Creator, AppLocker, BranchCache and Start Screen Control with Group Policy.

Announcing the packing news, Microsoft manager J.C. Hornbeck said: "If your organization is currently running App-V or UE-V on Windows 10 Professional or earlier and plans to upgrade to the Windows 10 Anniversary release, you will need to deploy the Enterprise edition to use App-V and UE-V on those devices.

"If you are using Windows Professional when you upgrade to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and your organization uses App-V and UE-V for management functionality, you will need to upgrade to the Enterprise or Education edition." ®