Using the ESXi 5.x esxcli command to power off a virtual machine

The esxcli command can be used locally or remotely to power off a virtual machine running on ESXi 5.x. For more information, see the esxcli vm Commands section of the vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.

1. Open a console session where the esxcli tool is available, either in the ESXi Shell, the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA), or the location where the vSphere Command-Line Interface (vCLI) is installed.
   
2. Get a list of running virtual machines, identified by World ID, UUID, Display Name, and path to the .vmx configuration file, using this command:
   
   esxcli vm process list
   
3. Power off one of the virtual machines from the list using this command:
   
   esxcli vm process kill --type=[soft,hard,force] --world-id=WorldNumber
   
   Notes:
   Three power-off methods are available. Soft is the most graceful, hard performs an immediate shutdown, and force should be used as a last resort.
   Alternate power off command syntax is: esxcli vm process kill -t [soft,hard,force] -w WorldNumber
   
4. Repeat Step 2 and validate that the virtual machine is no longer running.

For ESXi 4.1:

1. Get a list of running virtual machines, identified by World ID, UUID, Display Name, and path to the .vmx configuration file, using this command:
   
   esxcli vms vm list
   
2. Power off one of the virtual machines from the list using this command:
   
   esxcli vms vm kill --type=[soft,hard,force] --world-id=WorldNumber