We have an existing 2003R2 server running Exchange 2007. I have just installed a new 2012 R2 server with Exchange 2010 SP3 RU8v2. Opening the EMC on this new server yields the following error:

Connecting to remote server XXXXX.DOMAIN.LOCAL failed with the following error message; The client cannot connect to the destination specified in the request. Verify that the service on the destination is running and is accepting requests. Consult the logs and documentation for the WS-Management service running on the destination, most commonly IIS or WinRM. If the destination is the WinRM service, run the following command on the destination to analyze and configure the WinRM service: "winrm quickconfig". For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting help topic. It was running the command 'Discover-ExchangeServer -UseWIA $true -SuppressError $true -CurrentVersion 'Version 14.3 (Build 123.4)". 

If I open EMS it attempts to connect three times, times out, prompts "Failed to connect to an Exchange server in the current site. Enter the server FQDN where you want to connect.:" I then type my servername.domainname.local and am prompted with the following error:

Connecting to remote server failed with the following error message: The WinRM client received an HTTP status code of 403 from the remote WS-Management service. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help Topic. FullyQualifiedErrorID: PSSessionOpenFailed

^^^My understand of this error is the connection is being established on 443 instead of 80. I have unchecked SSL from powershell and was able to telnet to the old server (2007 exch box) via 80, so I know the port and traffic is open. 

I think this is an issue with IIS on the older 2007 server. Obviously I can't use WinRM Quickconfig on that server (2003 R2) and I noticed that there is no "powershell" module in default site in IIS on this box. 

On the server 2007 box if I run 'get-exchangeserver' from powershell it shows both the old and the new server. However the old server is not able to connect to the console at all and I can't verify that it's actively able to manage my exchange forest. 

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

• Edited by NewEnglandSysadmin 16 hours 8 minutes ago

Hi ,

Thank you for your question.

This error could be caused by many reasons, for example: IIS authentication, Win RM and so on.We could refer to the following link to troubleshoot:

1. Make sure we have enough permission to open EMC;

2. We could run WinRM QuickConfig to make sure IIS WinRM extension is installed:

3. Open IIS go to Powershell virtual directory and check that SSL in disabled and authentification is set only to Anonymous;

4. If the issue persist, we could use Exchange Management Console Troubleshooter  tool to analysis the error and send error information to ibsexc@microsoft.com for our troubleshooting.

Permissions required: In order to run the troubleshooter, the user will have to have the rights to log on locally to the Exchange server (due to local nature of the troubleshooter at this time) and will need permissions to run Windows PowerShell.

Installing the troubleshooter: First, we download the troubleshooter ZIP file, which we can find here. Installing the EMTshooter is pretty easy. Just drop the 4 files from the ZIP file into 1 folder, rename them to .ps1 and run EMTshooter.ps1 from a normal (and local) PowerShell window. I personally just created a shortcut for it on my desktop with the following properties: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noexit -command ". 'C:\EMTshooter\EMTshooter.ps1'"

However, as most users probably won't run this more than a few times we might not need or want an icon. Just remember that EMTshooter.ps1 is the main script to run.

Resolving WinRM errors and Exchange 2010 Management tools startup failures:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/12/07/resolving-winrm-errors-and-exchange-2010-management-tools-startup-failures.aspx            

5. Check the proxy setting by the following link:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731131(WS.10).aspx

6. Make sure two files have been in the following path:

web.config file (under Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\ClientAccess\PowerShell)

"applicationHost.config" file (located at: \Windows\System32\inetsrv\config)

If there are any questions regarding this issue, please be free to let me know. 

Best Regard,

Jim