PowerShell remoting may fail with the “WinRM cannot complete the operation” error when connecting to a remote Windows computer using Enter-PSSession, Invoke-Command, or other PowerShell remoting commands. The error indicates that the remote computer cannot be reached through Windows Remote Management (WinRM), often because the WinRM service is stopped or the required firewall configuration is not available.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to troubleshoot the WinRM cannot complete the operation error and start the WinRM service on the remote computer using PowerShell or the SC command.
Issue
You may get the error below when trying to connect with PowerShell remotely.
Enter-PSSession : Connecting to remote server failed with the following error message : WinRM cannot complete the operation. verify that the specified computer name is valid, that the computer is accessible over the network, and that a firewall exception for the WinRM service is enabled and allows access from this computer.
You already have a firewall exception is in place for WinRM, and the service startup type is also set to Automatic.
Cause
This issue may happen if the WinRM service is stopped on the remote computer. If this is happening on a high number of client computers, then re-validate if firewall exceptions are in place and the Windows service type for WinRM is also set to Automatic.
Solution
Check the status of the WinRM service
Get-Service -ComputerName ComputerName -ServiceName WinRm
Start WinRM service on Remote computer using PowerShell
Get-Service -ComputerName ComputerName -ServiceName Winrm | Start-Service
Start WinRM service on remote computer using SC command
You can also use SC (Service Control) command to manage services on the local and remote computers.
Open the command prompt on your computer and run the command below.
SC \\ComputerName START WINRM
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