Unable to open Exchange Management Shell on Exchange 2016

Question

Unable to open Exchange Management Shell on Exchange 2016

Grace Yin 116

Hi,

I have Exchange 2016. I failed to open Exchange Management Shell. The issue happened after I patched CU23. The error message is below.

New-PSSession : [Exchange.mycompany.com] Connecting to remote server Exchange.mycompany.com failed with

the following error message : The WinRM client cannot process the request. It cannot determine the content type of the

HTTP response from the destination computer. The content type is absent or invalid. For more information, see the

about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.

At line:1 char:1

New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha ...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin

gTransportException

FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108297,PSSessionOpenFailed

Please help!

Thanks,

kamal uddin 0 Reputation points

2025-04-15T05:46:03.46+00:00

https://www.sikich.com/insight/how-to-fix-the-microsoft-exchange-management-shell-connect-problem/

3 answers

Your answer

kamal uddin 0 Reputation points

2025-04-15T05:46:03.46+00:00

https://www.sikich.com/insight/how-to-fix-the-microsoft-exchange-management-shell-connect-problem/

Answer 1

Joy Zhang-MSFT 1,051

Hi @Grace Yin ,

According to error messages, here are some troubleshooting steps for your reference and hope these help you:

Since freshly installed Exchange servers may not be configured to accept incoming PowerShell connections. To fix this and let your server configure all the necessary services, execute the following command in PowerShell: Enable-PSRemoting

Above solution is mentioned in the blog you could refer to it: How to fix problems related to remote PowerShell connections

Checking if SSL certificate was no longer bound to the Exchange Back End website on that Exchange 2016 server. To fix this, in IIS Manager right-click the Exchange Back End website and click Bindings, Highlight https and click Edit, choose the certificate you want to bind to the site. Then run iisreset in cmd, retry EMS.

Detailed information: The WinRM Shell Client Cannot Process the Request

Make sure the DNS is working perfectly. Then open iis in exchange 2016, select default Website -->Power Shell. Change the physical path from: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\PowerShell to: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\ClientAccess\PowerShell. At last, restart IIS.

A similar thread for your reference as well: Exch 2016 Management Shell Broken - TheWinRM client cannot process the request

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Grace Yin 116 Reputation points

2022-12-01T19:53:21.277+00:00
Hi @Joy Zhang-MSFT ,

Thank you very much for your reply. I followed your instructions. I ran Enable-PSRemoting on the Exchange server. I verified the SSL cert which is installed and valid. I changed the physical path and restarted IIS.

Now I got the error below when I launched EMS.

New-PSSession : [Exchange.mycompany.com] Processing data from remote server Exchange.mycompany.com failed
with the following error message: The EndpointConfiguration with the
http://schemas.microsoft.com/powershell/Microsoft.Exchange identifier is not in a valid initial session state on the
remote computer. Contact your Windows PowerShell administrator, or the owner or creator of the endpoint configuration.
For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1

New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin
gTransportException

FullyQualifiedErrorId : IncorrectProtocolVersion,PSSessionOpenFailed

Please advise!

Thank you!
Joy Zhang-MSFT 1,051 Reputation points

2022-12-02T08:34:12.297+00:00
Hi @Joy Zhang-MSFT ,

I have done research on the error message, here's a solution mentioned in the blog to fix the error. Hope it help your issue.

Open the Microsoft Management Console and add the Group Policy Management Editor snap-in. Then, click Browse and select Domain Controllers from the Domains, OUs and linked Group Policy Objects list. Click OK twice and then click Finish. Click OK to close the Add or Remove Snap-ins window.

In the console tree, expand Local Computer Policy, Windows Settings, Security Settings and Local Policies. Under Local Policies, click User Rights Assignments.

In the results pane, double-click Manage auditing and security log. Verify that the "Exchange Servers" group is listed.

Make sure that the Exchange server is still a member of the Exchange Domain Servers group.

Make sure that the group permissions are inherited by the Microsoft Exchange computer account.

Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.
Grace Yin 116 Reputation points

2022-12-02T20:34:00.253+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I have verified all above and confirmed all are configured correctly.

By the way, I have another Exchange server which is configured as failover with this Exchange server. I am able to launch EMS on that one with the same login account.

It seems CU23 broke something on this server, but I failed to run CU23 setup.exe to repair it.

Any idea?

Please help!
Joy Zhang-MSFT 1,051 Reputation points

2022-12-06T06:25:39.67+00:00

Hi @Joy Zhang-MSFT ,

Could you please check if there is any error message in the exchange setup logs?

Comparing the web.config files between these 2 exchange servers and see if there is any difference, especially path.

If all of above still cannot help you to resolve the issue, you maybe need recover a Failed Exchange 2016 CU Installation.

Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.
Grace Yin 116 Reputation points

2022-12-06T18:30:43.907+00:00

Hi @Joy Zhang-MSFT ,

Thank you very much for your reply. The issue has been resolved by following the link below.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/troubleshoot/administration/requestor-changed-server-component

I am able to launch EMS now, however I still can't open ECP. The error is below

Parser Error Message: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Strings, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
Source Error:
Line 61: the compiler. All assemblies in the GAC and owa\bin are referenced automatically.
Line 62: -->
Line 63: <add assembly="Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Strings, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, publicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
Line 64: <add assembly="Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
Line 65: <add assembly="Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Common, Version=15.0.0.0,Culture=neutral, publicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
Source File: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\FrontEnd\HttpProxy\ecp\web.config Line: 63
Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Strings, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' could not be loaded.
Grace Yin 116 Reputation points

2022-12-07T22:04:32.687+00:00

I checked the exchange setup logs and there are a few errors, not sure if it is related.

[ERROR-REFERENCE] Id=AllRolesPreFileCopyComponent___2f7e3804a2b340c69e930798211fb8fd Component=EXCHANGE14:\Current\Release\Shared\Datacenter\Setup

[ERROR] The term 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\ManageScheduledTask.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

[ERROR] The following error was generated when "$error.Clear();
& $RoleBinPath\ServiceControl.ps1 -Operation:DisableServices -Roles:($RoleRoles.Replace('Role','').Split(',')) -SetupScriptsDirectory:$RoleBinPath;
& $RoleBinPath\ServiceControl.ps1 -Operation:Stop -Roles:($RoleRoles.Replace('Role','').Split(',')) -IsDatacenter:([bool]$RoleIsDatacenter)
Michal Švehla 0 Reputation points

2024-02-14T13:43:54.52+00:00

Thank you. New binding of Certificate for Exchange Back End works great.
Scott Cummins 1 Reputation point

2024-08-22T19:24:04.0033333+00:00

Good day

I just wanted to thank you for this thread, we rebooted our core switches and it caused a bunch of errors on our primary Exchange server, thankfully we have a DAG and the secondary server was performing customer request. My first issue was I could not open the ECP or get PowerShell to connect on the primary. I checked the Binding on our HTTPS port and it was no longer bound to our certificate. I remedied that and it came up and Exchange PS connected. I still have a "BAD COPY COUNT" on my primary but at least now I can utilize PS. Thank you again for all the help.

Answer 2

kamal uddin 0

New-PSSession : [mail2.Domain.com Connecting to remote server mail2.Domain.com failed with the following error message : For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic. At line:1 char:1 + New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Micr ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin gTransportException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108477,PSSessionOpenFailed

kamal uddin 0 Reputation points

2025-04-15T05:45:17.87+00:00

https://www.sikich.com/insight/how-to-fix-the-microsoft-exchange-management-shell-connect-problem/

Answer 3

It appears your Exchange Management Shell (EMS) is failing after applying Cumulative Update 23 to Exchange Server 2016. Let's systematically address this issue.

Initial Observations

The error suggests WinRM communication problems
Your failover Exchange server works fine with the same credentials
Repair attempts with CU23 setup.exe have failed

Recommended Troubleshooting Steps

1. Basic WinRM Checks


Test-WSMan -ComputerName localhost

If this fails, WinRM might be corrupted.

2. Re-register WinRM


winrm quickconfig

winrm invoke Restore winrm/Config

3. Check Exchange Backend Services

Ensure these services are running:

Microsoft Exchange Service Host
Microsoft Exchange Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
World Wide Web Publishing Service
Windows Remote Management (WS-Management)

4. Rebuild Exchange PowerShell Virtual Directory


Remove-PowerShellVirtualDirectory -Identity "Exchange.mycompany.com\PowerShell (Default Web Site)"

New-PowerShellVirtualDirectory -InternalURL "https://Exchange.mycompany.com/PowerShell" -ExternalURL "https://Exchange.mycompany.com/PowerShell"

Restart-WebAppPool MSExchangePowerShellAppPool

iisreset

5. Repair Installation

Since CU23 setup fails, try:

Uninstall CU23 via Control Panel > Programs and Features
Reinstall CU23 with administrative privileges
Use /m:RecoverServer switch if needed

6. Check Event Logs

Examine these logs for detailed errors:

Application and Services Logs > Microsoft > Exchange > Management
Windows Logs > Application
Windows Logs > System

7. Alternative Access Methods

Try connecting to EMS using:


$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri http://Exchange.mycompany.com/PowerShell/ -Authentication Kerberos

Import-PSSession $Session

8. Last Resort Options

If all else fails:

Consider restoring from backup
Prepare for a server rebuild using /m:RecoverServer

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Unable to open Exchange Management Shell on Exchange 2016

3 answers

Initial Observations

Recommended Troubleshooting Steps

1. Basic WinRM Checks

2. Re-register WinRM

3. Check Exchange Backend Services

4. Rebuild Exchange PowerShell Virtual Directory

5. Repair Installation

6. Check Event Logs

7. Alternative Access Methods

8. Last Resort Options

Your answer