Hi folks, we’re back again with our next monthly update from the Ubuntu Desktop team.
We’re approaching the halfway point of the cycle now and this month I wanted to put a spotlight on some of the work done by the Enterprise Desktop team, a subteam of the broader Desktop group dedicated to delivering new enterprise management features for easier administration of Ubuntu Desktops at scale. Ubuntu Desktop is a critical tool for developers across a wide range of industries, from research labs in government and academic institutions to automotive companies, VFX houses, retail and call centers.
This means that when users choose Ubuntu at the start of their Linux journey, they can be confident that the skills they develop will benefit them throughout their entire career. Increasing the ease of adoption within these institutions adds inherent value to all desktop users and our enterprise support funds further advancements across the desktop stack and enables us to keep growing the team.
Let’s take a look at some of their recent work.
Ubuntu on Windows
This week we published our first Ubuntu 24.04 LTS images for Windows Hyper-V which enables users to create instant Ubuntu VMs on Windows. Keep an eye out for this image appearing in the Hyper-V ‘Quick Create’ menu soon!
For Ubuntu WSL users I recommend trying our new cloud-init tutorial for WSL which arrived alongside Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. By seeding a cloud-config file in your Windows filesystem, each new WSL instance you create will automatically inherit the same configurations, minimising setup time after a fresh install. Administrators can use this feature to standardise WSL instances across their developer estate and ensure each new instance conforms to company policies.
We’ve seen considerable growth in Ubuntu WSL users over the last two years, from those just getting to grips with Linux development to large scale enterprise deployments. To get a rough idea of relative usage, check out the 2023 Stack Overflow survey.
If you’re interested in working at the intersection of Windows and Linux and feel passionate about bringing a high quality Ubuntu experience to a whole new audience, check out our careers page.
ADsys updates in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
ADSys is the Active Directory Group Policy client for Ubuntu that simplifies the task of configuring Ubuntu systems in a Microsoft Active Directory environment. This client augments the existing user authentication functionality provided by SSSD or Winbind with support for a comprehensive range of device and user policies and is available via Ubuntu Pro.
In Ubuntu 24.04 LTS we added the following policies to our feature set:
- Privilege management and removal of local admins
- Remote scripts execution
- Managing apparmor profiles
- Configuring network shares
- Configuring proxy settings
- Certificate autoenrollment
As of this week, all of the above have now been backported to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS so that organisations can benefit from the full functionality of the client without the need to upgrade.
PPA testing for Authd is available
Whilst Active Directory remains the most popular mixed OS management tool for many organisations, the direction of travel is towards cloud-based solutions.
Authd is our new authentication daemon for cloud-based identity providers such as OpenID Connect and Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). As we get closer to landing this functionality we’re opening up testing to the community. A new PPA with supporting documentation is now available on the GitHub page and we invite IT administrators to put it through its paces and report issues.
The current implementation includes changes to GNOME shell to accommodate a QR code view in the login screen for device authentication and to openssh to support interactive remote authentication.
What else is new?
A big week for the enterprise squad then, but what about the rest of the release? Let’s run through some more updates. 
GNOME 46.2 and GNOME Initial Setup changes
As part of our plan to deliver an OEM-config equivalent experience via Subiquity and GNOME Initial Setup we’ve made some enhancements in time for Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS. This flow is outside of the standard installation experience and is leveraged in situations where OEMs and organisations wish to pre-provision Ubuntu Desktop on behalf of users.
GNOME Initial Setup is triggered when no existing user account is detected and can be configured by specifying oem mode in an autoinstall config. This flow now has added Ubuntu branding for a more consistent experience, an optional EULA pdf view, machine hostname configuration and improved keyboard navigation.
A catch-up update for mutter 46.2 is now in Noble proposed, with a patch to disable the upstream change related to Xwayland support for legacy apps rendering in NVIDIA Wayland sessions. This is due to outstanding issues with the NVIDIA driver versions included in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS but this feature will be present in Ubuntu 24.10.
Snap update improvements
The snap story on desktop is also getting some additional love this cycle with a revamp of how we handle and message snap updates. This work is for Ubuntu 24.10 and has yet to land in the daily builds but here’s a sneak peak at our intended behaviour with some in-progress designs.
When an update is available for a running snap, users will be able to click the notification to go straight to the App Center’s ‘Manage’ page. If multiple snaps have updates available they will also be grouped into a single notification.
Once a running snap is closed, users will see a progress pop-up to confirm to the user that an update is being applied.
Snaps that refresh in the background will not display a pop-up, but their status will be surfaced in the dock.
Clearer messaging of snap activities is a key focus this cycle and I look forward to sharing more information on additional improvements closer to release!
Ubuntu Core Desktop on Core 24
The migration of all of our seeded snaps to Core 24 is progressing rapidly. This includes Ubuntu Core Desktop which has now completed this transition behind the scenes. There are ongoing architectural discussions around base components of Core Desktop that we plan to resolve before providing a representative development preview build to the community.
Until next time!
That brings us to the end of this July update. With each release we try to deliver a little something for everyone and I hope over the course of these updates you’ve found something that gets you excited for Ubuntu 24.10 and the upcoming point release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. As always I look forward to your comments and feedback on our progress.
Going forward it’s time to start bringing all these parts together, but there are a few more Easter eggs still to come. Stay tuned!
Oliver