Report from Recast, Nerdio, and VMblog shows active change across VDI, Cloud PC, and published application environments
MINNEAPOLIS—June 30, 2026—Recast, in partnership with Nerdio and VMblog, today released the findings of the 2026 State of VDI Survey in a new report, “VDI Isn’t Done. It’s Being Reworked.” The results show that VDI remains part of the workspace mix, but many IT teams are changing how they operate, secure, and support these environments. Notably, administrators lack confidence in their ability to patch VDI environments in a timely manner, making them prone to risk.
VDI is not being abandoned, but it is being actively retooled
Contrary to industry lore, VDI isn’t dead. However, it is evolving. Only 2% of respondents planned to exit an existing deployment entirely in the next 12 to 18 months, while 49% of current users reported a significant change to their VDI, Cloud PC, or published application environment over the last two years. Plans were mixed across keeping, expanding, replacing, reducing, evaluating, or starting deployments, which points to active modernization rather than a broad move away from VDI.
VDI teams lack confidence that their environments are being patched on time
The survey highlights a patch confidence gap between operations and security. Among current users, only 34% were very or extremely confident that required operating system and third-party application updates were being applied on time. Security concerns extended beyond access, with 47% citing audit logging and traceability, 41% citing data leakage controls, and 31% citing patch or vulnerability exposure windows. Although confidence is not proof of failure, it is an important operating signal. Secure access matters, but teams also need timely updates, clear reporting, and proof that controls are working.
The real cost of VDI is the burden of everyday operational work
Performance variability was the top operational pain point at 41%, but 53% of current users cited at least one lifecycle-related issue, including image management and update effort, application delivery or updates, or user profiles and personalization. Additionally, 32% of current users cited high ongoing cost, and 61% of those asked about barriers to change cited budget constraints. Together, the findings suggest that much of the cost and friction in VDI comes from the everyday work of keeping environments current, usable, and supportable.
“Teams are not just asking whether VDI works. They are asking whether it can be easier to run,” said David Marshall, Founder and Executive Editor, VMblog. “The next phase is about reducing the manual work, improving visibility, and giving IT teams more confidence that their environments are patched, secure, and ready for users.”
“VDI has been declared dead more times than most technologies, but that isn’t what this survey shows,” said Will Teevan, CEO, Recast. “The more useful story is that teams are still relying on virtual desktops, Cloud PCs, and published applications while also trying to modernize the way they manage them.”
The report is based on a significant number of responses from IT professionals with awareness of VDI, Cloud PCs, and published applications. Percentages are rounded, and some questions were multi-select.
About Recast
We make the modern workplace work. Recast empowers IT teams to manage and secure modern enterprises—extending tools like Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager with powerful capabilities for application delivery, automation, remediation, optimization, and end-to-end visibility. Trusted across all continents and managing 60M+ endpoints, Recast helps keep endpoints secure, applications current, and employees productive. We make the modern workplace work—better, faster, and smarter.
About Nerdio
Nerdio is a leading provider of powerful, simplified cloud management solutions for businesses of all sizes. Trusted by enterprise IT departments and managed service providers (MSPs) alike, Nerdio equips organizations with seamless, cost-effective management tools for Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, and comprehensive Microsoft 365 solutions.
With over 23,000 customers worldwide, Nerdio accelerates cloud adoption, enabling companies to thrive in an era of hybrid work by providing modern, future-proof technology that adapts to evolving workplace needs.
For more information, please visit www.getnerdio.com.
About VMblog
VMblog, founded in 2004, is known as one of the oldest and best independent resources on the web for finding the most up-to-date modern data center technology news and information. VMblog provides decision makers with the information they need to make sound purchasing decisions, and it provides administrators, system architects, IT managers and C-level management the best place to go to quickly get the latest breaking news and in-depth coverage of issues, trends, people, events, reports and products that span the modern data center: cloud computing, virtualization, hyperconvergence, storage, security, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, DevOps, Kubernetes, business continuity and disaster recovery.
