You configured a personal host pool with Start VM on Connect enabled. A user shut down their assigned VM from inside Windows, and the VM now shows a power state of Stopped (allocated) in Azure. What happens when the user attempts to connect?

Start VM on Connect is designed to power on virtual machines that are in a "Stopped (deallocated)" state, which means the VM is not consuming compute resources and is not incurring compute costs. When a user shuts down a VM from within the operating system, the VM enters a "Stopped (allocated)" state. In this state, the VM still consumes compute resources (e.g., reserved IP addresses, disks) and incurs compute costs, even though it's not running. Start VM on Connect does not trigger a power-on for VMs in a "Stopped (allocated)" state. To enable Start VM on Connect to function, the VM must be deallocated, either by deallocating it through the Azure portal/CLI/PowerShell or by performing a shutdown from within the guest OS that specifically triggers a deallocation (which is not the default behavior for a standard shutdown). The other options are incorrect because Start VM on Connect specifically targets deallocated VMs, is independent of scaling plans for personal host pools, and does not depend on Azure AD Join status for its core functionality.