After updating to PRTG 13.3.6.x my Powershell Sensor stopped working. It now shows the error message

Connecting to remote server failed with the following
error message : The client cannot connect to the
destination specified in the request. Verify that the
service on the destination is running and is accepting
requests. Consult the logs and documentation for the
WS-Management service running on the destination,
most commonly IIS or WinRM. If the destination is the
WinRM service, run the following command on the
destination to analyze and configure the WinRM
service: "winrm quickconfig". For more information, see
the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.

I tried to add the sensor again, but everytime I try to add a new powershell based sensor the same error message shows up.

Article Comments

We changed the port from 80 which is only available if the IIS is installed on the target system to port 5985. This is the default port for Windows Remote Management. Sometimes the WinRM does not provide the default port. We're still working on a solution for that. In the meantime, we recommend to use the command

winrm e winrm/config/listener

on the targetsystem to determine which ports it listens to.

You can find an article that describes how to change the port here.


Sep, 2013 - Permalink

If you are running an earlier version of PRTG and encounter this issue please note that we originally used the port 80. Updateing PRTG to the latest stable version supposedly solves your problem.


Sep, 2013 - Permalink

I have just installed PRTG and we get this error for one of our domain controllers. The winrm command to find out which port the server is listening for does not yield anything.

Is there another fix for the current release of PRTG for this issue?


Jun, 2017 - Permalink

Dear egarneau

Which PRTG version are you currently using?


Jun, 2017 - Permalink

Strange behavior i have at my PRTG, i install "Windows Update Status" sensor at many servers (100) with minimal interval for the sensor (1 hour). First request get information correct, but next request get an error like topic starter, what can goes wrong?


Aug, 2018 - Permalink

Dear Vasiliy,

the first thing to try would be to increase the scanning interval. Do you then still get the error message? If yes, which PRTG version are you using?


Aug, 2018 - Permalink

I increase scanning interval for this sensors to 12 hour, but result are the same, i use PRTG ver. 18.3.42.1748+


Aug, 2018 - Permalink

Dear Vasiliy,

thank you. In this case please open the sensor settings and enable "Write sensor results to disk". After the next scan, the files are available in "C:\ProgramData\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\Logs (Sensors)"

Please contact us at support@paessler.com, describe the issue and attach those logs as file attachment. We can than continue from there.


Aug, 2018 - Permalink