Azure – Auto login Azure VM

automationazure

I've some processes I want to automate using an Azure VM. I want to automatically start it up, run something, then shut it down and deprovision it until the next scheduled startup.

I can start something on boot by using Task Scheduler and setting something to run on startup, before login. This works fine with a console app I've written which just does stuff and writes to a database without trying to open a window. It doesn't work with a batch file, which is how I originally wanted to go- use a batch file to run a PowerShell script which runs my app and then uses the return code to decide whether to shut down and deprovision. The obvious difference is the console window, so I suspect there's no UI at this point and cmd is choking waiting for it.

This poses a problem with the next task- periodically use screen scraping software to do operations on a remote website, pull records down and store them in the local DB. There's no API for the remote service. Without a UI, I can't launch Firefox in marionette mode and do the record updates.

I've tried adding registry entries as described in here and setting a task to start after login, but the task never gets run and although I can't be sure it looks like the UI comes up after the remote desktop session connects.

I've seen a solution that uses Powershell on a local laptop to script the startup of the VM and the establishment of a remote desktop connection, but if I was going to commit to leaving the laptop on to do this, the laptop may as well be doing everything, which I don't want- that's the whole point of trying to put it in Azure.

So, has anyone done something similar and knows how to get an Azure VM to come fully up into a logged in desktop without any interaction from outside?

Best Answer

If you are using ARM template deployment you can use the following OSProfile for a windows machine to configure AutoLogon:

"osProfile": {
        "computerName": "[parameters('vmName')]",
        "adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]",
        "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]",
        "WindowsConfiguration": {
            "additionalUnattendContent": [
              {
                "passName": "oobesystem",
                "componentName": "Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup",
                "settingName": "AutoLogon",
                "content": "[concat('<AutoLogon><Password><Value>', parameters('adminPassword'), '</Value><PlainText>true</PlainText></Password><Enabled>true</Enabled><Username>', parameters('adminUsername'), '</Username></AutoLogon>')]"
              }
            ]
        }
      }

Related Solutions

Ssh – How to automate SSH login with password

Don't use a password. Generate a passphrase-less SSH key and push it to your VM.

If you already have an SSH key, you can skip this step… Just hit Enter for the key and both passphrases:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

Copy your keys to the target server:

$ ssh-copy-id id@server
id@server's password:

Now try logging into the machine, with ssh 'id@server', and check-in:

.ssh/authorized_keys

Note: If you don't have .ssh dir and authorized_keys file, you need to create it first

to make sure we haven’t added extra keys that you weren’t expecting.

Finally, check to log in…

$ ssh id@server

id@server:~$

You may also want to look into using ssh-agent if you want to try keeping your keys protected with a passphrase.

Powershell – Import-Module Azure fails

The Windows Azure SDK binaries and pertaining PowerShell cmdlets are all 32-bit, which is why the "Windows Azure Powershell" shortcut always launches a 32-bit shell.

You can import the Azure module to an existing PowerShell session by referencing the filesystem path to the module manifest:

Import-Module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\Azure\Azure.psd1"

[Update] In latest Azure, use

Import-Module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\PowerShell\ServiceManagement\Azure\Azure.psd1"

To access the module by name alone, you'll need to include its location in the PSModulePath environment variable (here in excruciating detail, for developers):

$oldPSModulePath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PSModulePath")

$azureModulePath = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\"

$newPSModulePath = $oldPSModulePath,$azureModulePath -join ";" 
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PSModulePath",$newPSModulePath)

And a shorthand expression for your powershell

$env:PSModulePath += ";C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\"
Import-Module Azure # <-- Now you can do this!

You could include the above in your PowerShell profile

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ssh – How to automate SSH login with password

Powershell – Import-Module Azure fails

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