Solving a WMI Remote-connection Problem

I've written some Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts that return the error The Remote Server Machine Does Not Exist or is Unavailable. 'GetObject' when I try to connect to a remote computer from WMI. How can I resolve this problem?

I've noticed this problem cropping up more frequently since the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). If you have Windows Firewall enabled, you have to make some configuration changes on the remote computer you're trying to access. See the Microsoft article "How to troubleshoot WMI-related issues in Windows XP SP2" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=875605#6) for more information about the changes.

If you've upgraded to XP and you operate in a workgroup, your remote-access problem might be related to a different policy setting. For more information about this possibility, see the Microsoft article "How to Set Security in Windows XP Professional That Is Installed in a Workgroup" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=290403).

If neither of these situations is relevant or if the instructions in neither of these documents resolves your access problem, take a look at "Secrets of Windows Management Instrumentation" (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/wmifaq.mspx). Review sections Q7. Why is a WMI operation returning an error? and Q8. WMI is not working. How do I troubleshoot this?.

When I'm troubleshooting WMI connection problems, I set logging to the Verbose (includes extra information for Microsoft troubleshooting) setting on the Logging tab of the Microsoft Management Console's (MMC's) WMI Control snap-in's Properties dialog box, apply the changes, try the failed connection again, then review the wbemprox.log file. The path to this log file—usually %Systemroot%System32WBEMLogs—appears on the Logging tab. Review wbemprox.log and look for ntlmlogin resulted in hr = . For example, a hex value of 0x8004100e means that you're trying to connect to an invalid namespace. The Platform SDK: Windows Management Instrumentation topic "WMI Error Constants" (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wmisdk/wmi/wmi_error_constants.asp) provides a description of the error codes. Also review wmiprov.log to determine whether it contains any information about the failed connection, such as an impersonation failure ­ access denied error description. Several other logs exist, but wbemprox.log and wmiprov.log are the most helpful for resolving WMI remote-connection problems.