How to Change the Virtual Machine State in Essentials
Applies To: System Center Essentials 2010
In System Center Essentials 2010, if you have multiple virtual machines running on a designated host server and you want to be able to start, shut down, pause, or turn off these virtual machines from the Essentials console, use the following procedure to change the virtual machine state.
To change the virtual machine state
In the Essentials console, click Computers, click Computer Groups, and then click All Windows Servers.
Select a virtual machine from the list of computers. In the Tasks pane, click one of the tasks described below. The available states are based on the current virtual machine state.
Start—Starts a stopped or paused virtual machine.
Shut down— Shuts down the operating system on the virtual machine. This action has the same effect on the virtual machines as does performing a proper shutdown on a physical computer.
Pause—Saves the current state of the virtual machine and stops the virtual machine from running without discarding memory. When the virtual machine is restored from the saved state, it returns to the condition that it was in when its state was saved.
Turn off—Stops a virtual machine and does not save any state information. This action has the same effect on the virtual machine as pulling the plug on a physical computer.
A dialog box might appear and ask you to confirm a selection. After this has been done, the state will be changed, and you will be returned to the All Windows Servers list. The new state for the virtual machine will be displayed in the VM Status column.