Hey guys, differing from usual this is a quick post on setting up powershell remote sessions. I know you can remotely connect to powershell sessions using the Server Manager that comes with Windows Remote Administration Tools but it’s a bit of a clicky process and I like to eliminate using the mouse as much as possible.
Disclaimer! I’m not a scripter, there are probably much better ways of doing this but I’ll show you the way I set it up and how to fix any errors you may come across.
So here goes, first thing to do is check that the Windows Remote Management service (WinRM) is running, so open a powershell session (as an admin) and run:-
Get-Service WinRM
If it’s not running, start the service:-
Start-Service WinRM
And now enable powershell remoting:-
Enable-PSRemoting -force
Next thing to do is check your trusted hosts lists, so run:-
cd wsman::localhost cd Client dir
N.B. – I’m going to the Client via two cd commands as going straight to wsman::localhost\Client sometimes generates an error (not sure why TBH). If you get errors, try each command separately.
If the host you want to remote to isn’t in the list, run the following (changing the RemoteComputer1,RemoteComputer2 to your servers): –
winrm s winrm/config/client '@{TrustedHosts="RemoteComputer1,RemoteComputer2..."}'
Btw, if you see this error:-
Restart the WinRM service: –
Stop-Service WinRm Start-Service WinRm
Cool, so now we can connect to a remote powershell session on the servers entered into the list. Save this simple script somewhere: –
Param (
[string]$Server,
[string]$Credential
)
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName $Server -Credential $Credential
Which can be called by a .BAT file, passing in the parameters:-
powershell -NoExit -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "PATH TO THE PS1 File" -Server YOURSERVER -Credential YOURLOGIN
N.B. – Use the -Credential parameter if your server is in a different domain (like a Staging or QA environment).
This .BAT file can be called via a cool program like Launchy and voila, a remote powershell session!
