Troubleshooting Windows Admin Center

Applies to: Windows Admin Center, Windows Admin Center Preview, Azure Stack HCI, version v20H2

This guide will help you diagnose and resolve issues that are preventing you from using Windows Admin Center. If you are having an issue with a specific tool, please check to see if you are experiencing a known issue.

Installer fails with message: The Module ‘Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts’ could not be loaded.

This can happen if your default PowerShell module path has been modified or removed. To resolve the issue, make sure that %SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules is the first item in your PSModulePath environment variable. You can achieve this with the following line of PowerShell:

I get a This site/page can’t be reached error in my web browser

If you’ve installed Windows Admin Center as an App on Windows 10

• Check to make sure Windows Admin Center is running. Look for the Windows Admin Center icon in the System tray or Windows Admin Center Desktop / SmeDesktop.exe in Task Manager. If not, launch Windows Admin Center from the Start Menu.

After rebooting, you must launch Windows Admin Center from the Start Menu.

Make sure you are using either Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome as your web browser.

Did you select the correct certificate on first launch?

• Try opening your browser in a private session — if that works, you’ll need to clear your cache.

Did you recently upgrade Windows 10 to a new build or version?

If you’ve installed Windows Admin Center as a Gateway on Windows Server

Make sure you are using either Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome as your web browser.

On the server, open Task Manager > Services and make sure ServerManagementGateway / Windows Admin Center is running.

Test the network connection to the Gateway (replace with the information from your deployment)

If you have installed Windows Admin Center in an Azure Windows Server VM

• Check the Windows version
• Did you add an inbound port rule for HTTPS?
• Learn more about installing Windows Admin Center in an Azure VM

Check the Windows version

Open the run dialog (Windows Key + R) and launch winver .

If you are using Windows 10 version 1703 or below, Windows Admin Center is not supported on your version of Microsoft Edge. Either upgrade to a recent version of Windows 10 or use Chrome.

If you are using an insider preview version of Windows 10 or Server with a build version between 17134 and 17637, Windows had a bug which caused Windows Admin Center to fail. Please use a current supported version of Windows.

Make sure the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service is running on both the gateway machine and managed node

• Open the run dialog with WindowsKey + R
• Type services.msc and press enter
• In the window that opens, look for Windows Remote Management (WinRM), make sure it is running and set to automatically start

If you’re getting WinRM error messages while managing servers in Windows Admin Center

WinRM doesn’t allow credential delegation by default. To allow delegation, the computer needs to have Credential Security Support Provider (CredSSP) enabled temporarily.

If you’re receiving WinRM error messages, try using the verification steps in the Manual troubleshooting section of Troubleshoot CredSSP to resolve them.

Did you upgrade your server from 2016 to 2019?

• This may have cleared your trusted hosts settings. Follow these instructions to update your trusted hosts settings.

I get the message: «Cant connect securely to this page. This might be because the site uses outdated or unsafe TLS security settings.

Your machine is restricted to HTTP/2 connections. Windows Admin Center uses integrated Windows authentication, which is not supported in HTTP/2. Add the following two registry values under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Http\Parameters key on the machine running the browser to remove the HTTP/2 restriction:

I’m having trouble with the Remote Desktop, Events, and PowerShell tools.

These three tools require the websocket protocol, which is commonly blocked by proxy servers and firewalls. If you are using Google Chrome, there is a known issue with websockets and NTLM authentication.

I can connect to some servers, but not others

Log on to the gateway machine locally and try to Enter-PSSession in PowerShell, replacing with the name of the Machine you are trying to manage in Windows Admin Center.

If your environment uses a workgroup instead of a domain, see using Windows Admin Center in a workgroup.

Using local administrator accounts: If you are using a local user account that is not the built-in administrator account, you will need to enable the policy on the target machine by running the following command in PowerShell or at a Command Prompt as Administrator on the target machine:

Using Windows Admin Center in a workgroup

What account are you using?

Make sure the credentials you are using are a member of the target server’s local administrators group. In some cases, WinRM also requires membership in the Remote Management Users group. If you are using a local user account that is not the built-in administrator account, you will need to enable the policy on the target machine by running the following command in PowerShell or at a Command Prompt as Administrator on the target machine:

Are you connecting to a workgroup machine on a different subnet?

To connect to a workgroup machine that is not on the same subnet as the gateway, make sure the firewall port for WinRM (TCP 5985) allows inbound traffic on the target machine. You can run the following command in PowerShell or at a Command Prompt as Administrator on the target machine to create this firewall rule:

Windows Server

Windows 10

Configure TrustedHosts

When installing Windows Admin Center, you are given the option to let Windows Admin Center manage the gateway’s TrustedHosts setting. This is required in a workgroup environment, or when using local administrator credentials in a domain. If you choose to forego this setting, you must configure TrustedHosts manually.

To modify TrustedHosts using PowerShell commands:

Open an Administrator PowerShell session.

View your current TrustedHosts setting:

If the current setting of your TrustedHosts is not empty, the commands below will overwrite your setting. We recommend that you save the current setting to a text file with the following command so you can restore it if needed:

Get-Item WSMan:localhost\Client\TrustedHosts | Out-File C:\OldTrustedHosts.txt

Set TrustedHosts to the NetBIOS, IP, or FQDN of the machines you intend to manage:

For an easy way to set all TrustedHosts at once, you can use a wildcard.

When you are done testing, you can issue the following command from an elevated PowerShell session to clear your TrustedHosts setting:

If you had previously exported your settings, open the file, copy the values, and use this command:

I previously had Windows Admin Center installed, and now nothing else can use the same TCP/IP port

Manually run these two commands in an elevated command prompt:

Azure features don’t work properly in Edge

Edge has known issues related to security zones that affect Azure login in Windows Admin Center. If you are having trouble using Azure features when using Edge, try adding https://login.microsoftonline.com, https://login.live.com and the URL of your gateway as trusted sites and to allowed sites for Edge pop-up blocker settings on your client side browser.

1. Search for Internet Options in the Windows Start Menu
2. Go to the Security tab
3. Under the Trusted Sites option, click on the sites button and add the URLs in the dialog box that opens. You’ll need to add your gateway URL as well as https://login.microsoftonline.com and https://login.live.com.
4. Go to the Privacy tab
5. Under the Pop-up Blocker section, click on the Settings button and add the URLs in the dialog box that opens. You’ll need to add your gateway URL as well as https://login.microsoftonline.com and https://login.live.com.

Having an issue with an Azure-related feature?

Please send us an email at wacFeedbackAzure@microsoft.com with the following information:

• General issue information from the questions listed below.
• Describe your issue and the steps you took to reproduce the issue.
• Did you previously register your gateway to Azure using the New-AadApp.ps1 downloadable script and then upgrade to version 1807? Or did you register your gateway to Azure using the UI from gateway Settings > Azure?
• Is your Azure account associated with multiple directories/tenants?
  • If yes: When registering the Azure AD application to Windows Admin Center, was the directory you used your default directory in Azure?
• Does your Azure account have access to multiple subscriptions?
• Does the subscription you were using have billing attached?
• Were you logged in to multiple Azure accounts when you encountered the issue?
• Does your Azure account require multi-factor authentication?
• Is the machine you are trying to manage an Azure VM?
• Is Windows Admin Center installed on an Azure VM?

Providing feedback on issues

Go to Event Viewer > Application and Services > Microsoft-ServerManagementExperience and look for any errors or warnings.

File a bug on our UserVoice that describes your issue.

Please include any errors or warning you find in the event log, as well as the following information:

• Platform where Windows Admin Center is installed (Windows 10 or Windows Server):
  • If installed on Server, what is the Windows version of the machine running the browser to access Windows Admin Center:
  • Are you using the self-signed certificate created by the installer?
  • If you are using your own certificate, does the subject name match the machine?
  • If you are using your own certificate, does it specify an alternate subject name?
• Did you install with the default port setting?
  • If not, which port did you specify?
• Is the machine where Windows Admin Center is installed joined to a domain?
• Windows version where Windows Admin Center is installed:
• Is the machine that you are trying to manage joined to a domain?
• Windows version of the machine that you are trying to manage:
• What browser are you using?
  • If you are using Google Chrome, what is the version? (Help > About Google Chrome)

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Install Windows Admin Center

Applies to: Windows Admin Center, Windows Admin Center Preview

This topic describes how to install Windows Admin Center on a Windows PC or on a server so that multiple users can access Windows Admin Center using a web browser.

Determine your installation type

Review the installation options which includes the supported operating systems. To install Windows Admin Center on a VM in Azure, see Deploy Windows Admin Center in Azure.

Install on Windows 10

When you install Windows Admin Center on Windows 10, it uses port 6516 by default, but you have the option to specify a different port. You can also create a desktop shortcut and let Windows Admin Center manage your TrustedHosts.

Modifying TrustedHosts is required in a workgroup environment, or when using local administrator credentials in a domain. If you choose to forego this setting, you must configure TrustedHosts manually.

When you start Windows Admin Center from the Start menu, it opens in your default browser.

When you start Windows Admin Center for the first time, you’ll see an icon in the notification area of your desktop. Right-click this icon and choose Open to open the tool in your default browser, or choose Exit to quit the background process.

Install on Windows Server with desktop experience

On Windows Server, Windows Admin Center is installed as a network service. You must specify the port that the service listens on, and it requires a certificate for HTTPS. The installer can create a self-signed certificate for testing, or you can provide the thumbprint of a certificate already installed on the computer. If you use the generated certificate, it will match the DNS name of the server. If you use your own certificate, make sure the name provided in the certificate matches the machine name (wildcard certificates are not supported.) You are also given the choice to let Windows Admin Center manage your TrustedHosts.

Modifying TrustedHosts is required in a workgroup environment, or when using local administrator credentials in a domain. If you choose to forego this setting, you must configure TrustedHosts manually

Once the install is complete, open a browser from a remote computer and navigate to URL presented in the last step of the installer.

Automatically generated certificates expire 60 days after installation.

Install on Server Core

If you have a Server Core installation of Windows Server, you can install Windows Admin Center from the command prompt (running as Administrator). Specify a port and SSL certificate by using the SME_PORT and SSL_CERTIFICATE_OPTION arguments respectively. If you’re going to use an existing certificate, use the SME_THUMBPRINT to specify its thumbprint.

Installing Windows Admin Center will restart the WinRM service, which will sever all remote PowerShells sessions. It is recommended that you install from a local Cmd or PowerShell. If you are installing with an automation solution that would be broken by the WinRM service restarting, you can add the parameter RESTART_WINRM=0 to the install arguments, but WinRM must be restarted for Windows Admin Center to function.

Run the following command to install Windows Admin Center and automatically generate a self-signed certificate:

Run the following command to install Windows Admin Center with an existing certificate:

Don’t invoke msiexec from PowerShell using dot-slash relative path notation (like, .\ .msi ). That notation isn’t supported, the installation will fail. Remove the .\ prefix or specify the full path to the MSI.

Upgrading to a new version of Windows Admin Center

You can update non-preview versions of Windows Admin Center by using Microsoft Update or by manually installing.

Your settings are preserved when upgrading to a new version of Windows Admin Center. We don’t officially support upgrading Insider Preview versions of Windows Admin Center — we think it’s better to do a clean install — but we don’t block it.

Updating the certificate used by Windows Admin Center

When you have Windows Admin Center deployed as a service, you must provide a certificate for HTTPS. To update this certificate at a later time, re-run the installer and choose change .