Take the 2-minute tour ×

On executing commands on localhost I get Access Denied error as follows

PS C:\Windows\System32> winrs -r:localhost dir

Winrs error:Access is denied. PS C:\Windows\System32>

Followig is my configuration

PS C:\Windows\System32> winrm enumerate winrm/config/listener
    Address = *
    Transport = HTTP
    Port = 80
    Enabled = true
    URLPrefix = wsman
    ListeningOn =,, ::1, 2001:0:4137:9e50:20d3:3b94:3f57:fefc, fe80::5efe:, fe80::20
d3:3b94:3f57:fefc%12, fe80::adea:d512:c3d3:8b08%10

PS C:\Windows\System32> winrm get winrm/config
    MaxEnvelopeSizekb = 150
    MaxTimeoutms = 60000
    MaxBatchItems = 20
    MaxProviderRequests = 25
        NetworkDelayms = 5000
        URLPrefix = wsman
        AllowUnencrypted = false
            Basic = true
            Digest = true
            Kerberos = true
            Negotiate = true
            Certificate = true
            HTTP = 80
            HTTPS = 443
        TrustedHosts = *
        RootSDDL = O:NSG:BAD:P(A;;GA;;;BA)(A;;GR;;;ER)S:P(AU;FA;GA;;;WD)(AU;SA;GWGX;;;WD)
        MaxConcurrentOperations = 100
        EnumerationTimeoutms = 60000
        MaxConnections = 25
        AllowUnencrypted = false
            Basic = true
            Kerberos = true
            Negotiate = true
            Certificate = false
            HTTP = 80
            HTTPS = 443
        IPv4Filter = *
        IPv6Filter = *
        AllowRemoteShellAccess = true
        IdleTimeout = 900000
        MaxConcurrentUsers = 5
        MaxShellRunTime = 2147483647
        MaxProcessesPerShell = 5
        MaxMemoryPerShellMB = 80
        MaxShellsPerUser = 2

What should I do to make it work?

I have Windows Vist Starter Edition I'm using PowerShell CTP 3

share|improve this question
add comment

2 Answers

Since you are running Vista Starter Edition your system cannot be part of a domain. This has implications for WinRM (and PowerShell Remoting) - the following is from Powershell's internal help:

ps> get-help about_remote_faq | more

Down towards the end this has the following to say:


Yes. Windows PowerShell remoting is available even when the local
computer is not in a domain. You can use the remoting features to
connect to sessions and to create sessions on the same computer. The
features work the same as they do when you connect to a remote computer.

To run remote commands on a computer in a workgroup, change the
following Windows settings on the computer.

-- Windows Vista:

 Create the following registry entry, and then set its value to 1:
 LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy in

 You can use the following Windows PowerShell command to add this entry:

 new-itemproperty `

` -name LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy -propertyType DWord -value 1

share|improve this answer
Though a step in right direction but that didn't help. Yeah i'm not on domain. –  Hasan Khan Oct 25 '09 at 13:55
Are you able to get to localhost/wsman from a browser? –  Helvick Oct 25 '09 at 14:30
Vista Starter Edition has some significant limitations - it does not accept in bound network connections for example - this may be part of the problem even though you are using the localhost loopback. –  Helvick Oct 30 '09 at 20:25
add comment

What OS? What version of WinRM? I see the default ports are 80 and 443, so that means you're likely using WinRM 1.1 or WinRM 2.0 CTP1 or CTP2.

If you're using XP and have IIS enabled, there was a problem with WinRM. I'm not sure if that's been fixed yet. The workaround was to simply stop the IIS service and see that WinRM then started working. A more permanent fix was to change the WinRM server port from 80 to something else.

Edit: OK right, it was in the RC that the ports changed from 80 and 443 perhaps. CTP3 still used those common ports.

share|improve this answer
@Hasan... I think you missed the point of what Helvick is saying... You must do this for a non-domain machine. –  Marco Shaw Oct 26 '09 at 1:21
add comment

Your Answer


