Manage Azure Virtual Machines

Start and Stop Virtual Machines

You can start, stop, deallocate, or restart a virtual machine using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell. Stopping (deallocating) a VM releases the compute resources and stops billing for compute.

Azure Portal

Navigate to Virtual machines in the Azure portal.
Select the VM you want to manage.
Use the Start, Stop, Restart or Deallocate buttons at the top.

Azure CLI

Run the following commands in your terminal. az login first if you haven't authenticated.

# Start a VM
az vm start --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM

# Stop (deallocate) a VM
az vm deallocate --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM

# Restart a VM
az vm restart --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM

Azure PowerShell

# Start a VM
Start-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" -Name "MyVM"

# Stop (deallocate) a VM
Stop-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" -Name "MyVM" -Force

# Restart a VM
Restart-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" -Name "MyVM"

Resize a Virtual Machine

Resize the VM to change its CPU, memory, or pricing tier.

CLI Example

# List available sizes
az vm list-sizes --location eastus

# Resize VM
az vm resize --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM --size Standard_DS3_v2

Best Practices

Scenario	Recommendation
Development/Test	Stop and deallocate when not in use to reduce costs.
Production	Use scheduled start/stop automation for off‑hours.
Scaling	Resize based on performance metrics from Azure Monitor.