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use-command-line-start-stop-virtual-machines.md

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title Use commands to start and stop lab VMs
description Use Azure PowerShell or Azure CLI command lines and scripts to start and stop Azure DevTest Labs virtual machines (VMs).
ms.topic how-to
ms.author rosemalcolm
author RoseHJM
ms.date 03/27/2025
ms.custom devx-track-azurepowershell, devx-track-azurecli, UpdateFrequency2
ms.devlang azurecli

Use commands to start and stop DevTest Labs VMs

This article shows how you can use PowerShell or Azure CLI commands to script or automate start or stop for Azure DevTest Labs VMs. For example, you can use start or stop commands to:

  • Test a three-tier application where the tiers need to start in a sequence.
  • Turn off your VMs to save costs when they meet custom criteria.
  • Start and stop a VM when a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflow begins and finishes.

Note

You can also start, stop, or restart DevTest Labs VMs by using the Azure portal. Lab admins can use the portal to configure automatic startup and automatic shutdown schedules and policies for lab VMs.

Prerequisites

Azure PowerShell

Azure CLI

Start or stop a VM

Azure PowerShell

The following PowerShell script starts or stops a VM in a lab by using the Invoke-AzResourceAction PowerShell cmdlet. The ResourceId parameter is the fully qualified ID for the lab VM you want to start or stop. The Action parameter determines whether to start or stop the VM, depending on which action you need.

  1. If you use Cloud Shell, make sure the PowerShell environment is selected.

  2. Use the PowerShell Connect-AzAccount cmdlet to sign in to your Azure account. If you have multiple Azure subscriptions, uncomment Set-AzContext and provide the <SubscriptionId> you want to use.

    $sub = Get-AzSubscription -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if(-not($sub))
{
    Connect-AzAccount
}

# Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId "<Subscription ID>"

  3. Set variables by providing your own values for <lab name>, <VM name>, and whether to Start or Stop the VM.

    $devTestLabName = "<lab name>"
$vMToStart = "<VM name>"
$vmAction = "<Start or Stop>"

  4. Start or stop the VM, based on the value you passed to $vmAction.

    # Get the lab information
$devTestLab = Get-AzResource -ResourceType 'Microsoft.DevTestLab/labs' -ResourceName $devTestLabName

# Start or stop the VM and return a succeeded or failed status
$returnStatus = Invoke-AzResourceAction `
                    -ResourceId "$($devTestLab.ResourceId)/virtualmachines/$vMToStart" `
                    -Action $vmAction `
                    -Force

if ($returnStatus.Status -eq 'Succeeded') {
    Write-Output "##[section] Successfully updated DTL machine: $vMToStart, Action: $vmAction"
}
else {
    Write-Error "##[error] Failed to update DTL machine: $vMToStart, Action: $vmAction"
}

Azure CLI

The following script uses the Azure CLI az lab vm start or az lab vm stop command to start or stop a lab VM.

To run the script locally, use the appropriate syntax depending on whether you have a Bash or Windows environment. In Cloud Shell, use the Bash environment and syntax.

  1. Sign in to your Azure account. If you have multiple Azure subscriptions, uncomment the az account set line and provide a subscription ID to use.

    az login

REM az account set --subscription <SubscriptionId>

  2. If you don't know the name of the Azure resource group that contains your lab, find it by providing your <lab name> in the following query.

    az resource list --resource-type "Microsoft.DevTestLab/labs" --name "<lab name>" --query "[0].resourceGroup"

  3. Set variables by providing values for <SubscriptionId>, <resourceGroup>, <lab name>, <VM name>, and whether to Start or Stop the VM.

    Bash

    SUBSCRIPTIONID=<SubscriptionId>
RESOURCEGROUP=<resourceGroup>
DEVTESTLABNAME=<lab name>
VMNAME=<VM name>
ACTION=<Start or Stop>

    Windows

    set SUBSCRIPTIONID=<SubscriptionId>
set RESOURCEGROUP=<resourceGroup>
set DEVTESTLABNAME=<lab name>
set VMNAME=<VM name>
set ACTION=<Start or Stop>

  4. Run the following Azure CLI command to start or stop the VM, based on the value passed to ACTION.

    Bash

    az lab vm $ACTION --lab-name $DEVTESTLABNAME --name $VMNAME --resource-group $RESOURCEGROUP

    Windows

    az lab vm %ACTION% --lab-name %DEVTESTLABNAME% --name %VMNAME% --resource-group %RESOURCEGROUP%

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