How to enable remote device manager?

Question

I have a hyper-v-server-2012-r2 Core server thats not joined to any domain.

What configuration must i do on the server and client to connect with MMC \ Device Manager?

I have managed to connect with the Computer Management to the server and i can access every thing in there but the device manager (and a few more that im not interested in)...

When i click the Device manager i get the following error:

I have checked and both services are running..

If possible i would like a step by step guide what to do on a freshly installed Hyper-v Core server to get every thing in Computer Management remotely accessible including Device Manager.

Solution 1

In my case running the following powershell command, on the target, solved the problem. winrm quickconfig and then winrm set winrm/config/client '@{TrustedHosts="YourComputerName"}'.

Solution 2

I actually managed to access the device manager of a remote machine.

Make sure both the PnP service and the remote registry service are running on the remote machine.

Then there is actually a group policy setting that handles whether or not you are able to remotely access a machine's plug and play service (which is what device manager actually connects to) its under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Device Installation and it's called "Allow remote access to the Plug and Play interface".

You can use gpedit.msc to manage the local group policy configuration since the machine is not in the domain.

Simply create a new mmc and add the device manager snap-in and you can specify the computer to connect to.

Solution 3

It seems using "Device Manager" on a remote machine does not really work, this TechNet thread discusses this.

They suggest using PowerShell Device Management Cmdlets. Personally I use devcon.exe which is a command line version of device manager. So far everything I needed to do was possible with it, and it is nice, because you can use it in your setup-script.

Solution 4

This isn't supported in Server 2012.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2781106

Cause This problem occurs because Remote access to the Plug and Play (PNP) RPC interface has been removed in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

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Comments

[Peter]

Thanks a lot for your answer it explains a lot, but why do they allow me to connect remotely with Device Manager if it doesn't work?

[Peter Hahndorf]

@Petoj - I assume you are using Server Manager, right click a server and select 'Computer Management'. Now you get the standard computer management mmc. This is the exact same mmc, you would get locally, so it has all the nodes available locally. I agree they should disable device manager just like they do with local users.

[Peter]

yes i am actually trying to use Server Manager but the only part i have been able to get to work is the Computer Management, if i just try to manage it with the Server Manager i get some cryptic Kerberos resolution error.

[Peter]

Cool, but one question the "Allow remote access to the Plug and Play interface" did you change that on the server or the client. (The server is a Core installation so im unsure if i can access MMC)