Hyper-V Remote Management / Windows 10 client / Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

Question

I've been struggling for a few days now with some crazy issues connecting to my 2012 R2 server via Hyper-V manager from Windows 10.

Setup:

• Client is a Windows 10 Pro machine running v1903
• Host is a Hyper-V 2012 R2 machine running v9600

Symptoms:

• Hyper-V Manager is able to connect to the remote server successfully, however an "RPC" error is displayed when attempting to load the virtual machine list; All other functionality works including creating a new virtual machine
• Additionally, all functionality of Server Manager works including Windows PowerShell for the remote host

Screenshot of Hyper-V Manager

Here's what I've done so far:

• Installed Hyper-V management tools via Windows features on the Wins 10 client machine
• Installed RSAT for Win 10 from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45520 (tried all three versions)
• Followed the steps outlined in this article: https://timothygruber.com/hyper-v-2/remotely-managing-hyper-v-server-in-a-workgroup-or-non-domain/
• Attempted firewall update to allow WMI located here: https://www.c-amie.co.uk/technical/rpc-server-unavailable-unable-to-establish-communication-between-and-when-connecting-to-hyper-v-2008-2008-r2-2012-2012-r2-from-hyper-v-manager-version-1709-2/
• As the previous fix did not work, we disabled the Windows firewall on both the client and host; We found there was a strange issue where our router was blocking WmiObject/RFC calls so I resolved this by connecting to my cell phone hot spot; Now Get-WmiObject calls are successful
• Ran WireShark to validate traffic is following to and from the host; It does not appear that traffic is being blocked as we are seeing DCERPC and TCP packets flowing over 49152+ and 135 respectively
• Enabled "Remote Access" per this article: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/1b42bf4d-ce08-413d-8225-8117c92c67a5/enable-anonymous-logon-remote-access-in-component-services-using-command-prompt?forum=win10itpronetworking
• Ran "hvremote.swf /override /show /target:[FQDN OF HOST]"; All tests pass except final test: Async notification query to root\virtualization\v2 WMI namespace; I been unable to resolve this issue
• I've added the user that I'm connecting with to the "Hyper-V Administrators" group on the host and added the login to the credential manager on the Win 10 client

Something important to note: I currently have another server running Windows 2016, v1607 with Hyper-V manager installed. Everything works completely fine from this server so I've also tried to mirror the settings of this machine on my Windows 10 client. This leads me to believe that everything is configured properly on the host as my Win 2016 client is able to connect and manage the host without any issues. I feel like there is something I am missing in my Windows 10 config, but at the same time, I feel like I've tried almost everything. I'm hoping there is an expert here that can shed some light.

Please let me know if there is any additional information that I can provide to help troubleshoot this problem.

Thanks in advance, Malik

Answer 1

The solution has been found! I had to look deeper into RPC connectivity. The issue was quite simple and somewhat idiotic once I was able to identify the problem. I feel quite silly having spent over 20 hours on this issue, but you live and you learn. :-)

One word (or acronym), NAT. My wireless router has a feature, "Port Scan and DoS Protection", which apparently inadvertently blocks valid RPC calls over port 135 despite Windows Firewall being disabled on both ends. After disabling this feature, all tests passed using "HVRemote" including the error that I mentioned earlier: Async notification query to root\virtualization\v2 WMI namespace. This explains why my off site Win Server 2016 could connect without issues but my local Win 8.1 and Win 10 clients could not.

Screenshot of Router Config

I hope my findings can help others who have struggled with this issue and save them hours (or days) of frustration.

A quick update: There are some key items that need to be enabled for this to work.

• You must enable enable "Remote Access" per this article: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/1b42bf4d-ce08-413d-8225-8117c92c67a5/enable-anonymous-logon-remote-access-in-component-services-using-command-prompt?forum=win10itpronetworking

• The host must be able to reach the client; If you are not running your own DNS, this can be achieved by creating an entry in the HOSTS file on your Hyper-V server

If you are still having trouble, it may help to assign your client a static IP on your local network and enable DMZ for that IP address.