Automatic start / stop of VM (Windows 10) in Azure

Question

Hello all,

First of all, I'm just a beginner with Azure...

I have a Windows 10 VM running in Azure that has a company app installed on it. Users use that app only few days a month - rest of the time it is not required to be up and running. What would be the best solution to achive the below?

1. for shutting down the VM - I can use "Auto-shutdown" feature under the VM. So this is fine
2. how to achive that a VM will start when a user wants to connect to it? ... a while ago, I've seen a feature called "Start VM on Connect" that was in public preview for WVD. Is this a way to go? Is that feature already released?

thanks

Answer 1

Hi @Michal Sumega ,

Using PowerShell to start a VM ion Azure is possible:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.compute/start-azvm?view=azps-5.7.0

Before you need to login to Azure:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/authenticate-azureps?view=azps-5.7.0

And the user needs the permission to start the VM.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23668154/allow-users-to-start-stop-particular-azure-vms/49925159

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(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards
Andreas Baumgarten

Answer 2

Hello, and welcome to Azure!

Specific to your scenario where you have a group of users who use an app only a few days a month, you may want to look into Azure DevTest Labs. It's designed to allow a group of people the ability to self service a configured VM (or set of VMs). With DevTest Labs you can:

• Set auto startup schedules
• Set auto shutdown schedules
• Automatically disconnect when a machine is idle for X minutes
• Shut down X minutes after a user disconnects
• Shut down X minutes if a user does not connect

More information about Azure DevTest Labs:

• Overview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devtest-labs/devtest-lab-overview
• Auto startup: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devtest-labs/devtest-lab-auto-startup-vm
• Auto shutdown: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devtest-labs/devtest-lab-auto-shutdown
• Shutdown after X minutes: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/lab-services/how-to-enable-shutdown-disconnect

It's possible to do much of this with a standard VM as well however outside of Auto-shutdown (which is an easy feature to both toggle and set), setup can be more involved. The Start/Stop VMs during off-hours documentation walks you through that process:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-solution-vm-management

As far as Windows Virtual Desktop is concerned, Start VM on connect is currently in preview (I haven't seen anything in the current documentation about this, just blogs and preview announcements):

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/video-hub/ops110-windows-virtual-desktop-wvd-roadmap-deep-dive/m-p/2177436

Answer 3

thank you for info...

I've gone through the links, but looks like there is no option to start VM automaticaly when users tries to connect (except that WVD feature that is in preview). It is just scheduled start. Shutting down a VM seems to be quite easy though...

maybe... is there any powershell script that could be placed on a user's destkop that he would run to start the VM when required? And for shutting the VM down, using Auto-shutdown should be fine for me.