The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)

Question

Hi,

I'm facing this issue of being unable to shutdown a server remotely, the error is RPC servier is unavailable. After some digging I found out some of the things to look for, one of them being the inbuilt firewall.

I disabled the firewall completely and the script works fine, and the server shuts down. I have 2 servers with same configurations, and settings, however, only 1 shuts down and the other doesn't.

I exported all the firewall rules implemented on both, the server that shutdowns remotely has more rules compared to the one that does not shutdown. The question is which is the rule to look for, I searches all RPC related rules and they are similar in both firewalls.

Stop-Computer -ComputerName 10.10.20.7 -Force -Confirm:$false
Stop-Computer : The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At line:1 char:1

• Stop-Computer -ComputerName 10.10.20.7 -Force -Confirm:$false
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (10.10.20.7:String) [Stop-Computer], COMException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : StopComputerException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StopComputerCommand

Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem -ComputerName 10.10.20.7
Get-WmiObject : The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At line:1 char:1

• Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem –ComputerName 10.10.20.7
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Get-WmiObject], COMException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : GetWMICOMException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetWmiObjectCommand

Answer 1

Hi All,

Seem to have found the 3 rules (listed in the end) that are missing in the server that does not shutdown remotely. I opened one of them and it said these are pre-defined rules, so I just right-click copied from the server which works, and pasted in the firewall of the server which doesn't, and now I have result from the server with firewall enabled, no RPC related error.

Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem -ComputerName 10.10.20.7
Domain             : vlab.lab
Manufacturer       : VMware, Inc.
Model             : VMware7,1
Name               : D-SRV-VEMB
PrimaryOwnerName   : Windows User
TotalPhysicalMemory : 6441435136

Name : FileServer-ServerManager-Winmgmt-TCP-In
DisplayName : File Server Remote Management (WMI-In)
Description : Inbound rule to allow WMI traffic to manage the File Services role.
DisplayGroup : File Server Remote Management
$_ | Get-NetFirewallPortFilter
Protocol : TCP
LocalPort : RPC
RemotePort : Any
IcmpType : Any
DynamicTarget : Any

Name : FileServer-ServerManager-DCOM-TCP-In
DisplayName : File Server Remote Management (DCOM-In)
Description : Inbound rule to allow DCOM traffic to manage the File Services role.
DisplayGroup : File Server Remote Management
$_ | Get-NetFirewallPortFilter
Protocol : TCP
LocalPort : 135
RemotePort : Any
IcmpType : Any
DynamicTarget : Any

Name : FileServer-ServerManager-SMB-TCP-In
DisplayName : File Server Remote Management (SMB-In)
Description : Inbound rule to allow SMB traffic to manage the File Services role.
DisplayGroup : File Server Remote Management
$_ | Get-NetFirewallPortFilter
Protocol : TCP
LocalPort : 445
RemotePort : Any
IcmpType : Any
DynamicTarget : Any