I'm trying to connect the WMI console to a remote computer, but it fails with an "RPC server is unavailable" error (I'd actually like to create a DCOM connection between my own client and server, but to make it clear the problem is not in my code, I've reproduced it using WMI, which also uses DCOM). The details: Client - Windows 7 64 bit, Server - Windows XP SP3. Both machines are on the same network. Same domain user logged into both machines, and is a local administrator on both. From each machine I can get into the other's C$. I can connect WMI from the server (XP) to the client (Win7). Both have the firewall turned off. From a Win7 XP Mode VM, I can successfully connect to the XP server (note: the XP Mode VM runs on the Win7). Using a sniffer shows a connection on port 135 is indeed created between the two machines. However, no additional DCOM communication is done. This is really annoying, as I use the Win7 to develop a client, and the XP to develop a server, and I just can't figure out why the client won't connect to the server. The "RPC server is unavailable" usually implies communication problems, but that doesn't seem to be the problem. Any idea what might cause this issue?