I have my Windows 11 VM setup so that I can hibernate it on UNRAID 6.11.5. Is there a way to use a helper script (or something else) that will start a VM and then give you a notification when the VM is at the login screen with an IP and is ready for RDP? Just a little time saver instead of guessing when it is ready for RDP.

If pinging an IP is enough, I use a script to determine when my firewall has completed booting and runs other actions. You could modify this to send notification when an IP starts responding.

 

#!/bin/bash
printf "%s" "waiting for pfSense ..."
# Change IP to match an address controlled by pfSense.
# I recommend pfSense internal gateway or some address guaranteed to be up when pfSense is finished loading.
# I don't use external IP's because I want my internal network and appliances to be fully available
# whether the internet is actually connected or not.
while ! ping -c 1 -n -w 1 192.168.1.1 &> /dev/null
do
    printf "%c" "."
done
printf "\n%s\n"  "pfSense is back online"
virsh start VMName1
# Insert optional delay to stagger VM starts
#sleep 30
virsh start VMName2