Computer Management Tools

When you need to perform standard Windows computer management tasks, you can do it without leaving the RAS Console. The tasks include Remote Desktop Connection, Computer Management, Service Management, Event Viewer, PowerShell, Reboot, and others. To access the Tools menu, select a server in the RAS Console and then click Tasks (or right-click) > Tools.

The Tools menu is available in the following views in the RAS Console:

• Site info
• RD Sessions hosts
• Virtual Desktop hosts
• Remote PCs
• Gateways
• Publishing Agents

Requirements for using computer management tools

Some of the tools require an appropriate target host configuration before you can use them in the RAS Console. Please read the following requirements and make sure they are met.

To use Remote Desktop, remote connections must be enabled on a target host. You can verify that by using the standard Windows Remote Desktop Connection application and see if you can connect to a remote server.

PowerShell related tools require PowerShell remoting enabled on a target server. To enable PowerShell remoting, run the Enable-PSRemoting cmdlet on a target computer in PowerShell window with administrator privileges. Please note the following:

• The cmdlet configures a computer to receive PowerShell remote commands.
• The cmdlet starts the WinRM (Windows Remote Management) service, among other tasks. To see if the WinRM service is running, use the Test-WSMan cmdlet.
• When you execute the cmdlet, it will ask you to confirm every task that it wants to perform. To execute the command silently, use the -Force option.
• If you receive an error saying that "WinRM firewall exception will not work since one of the network connection types on this machine is set to Public", you can try to execute the cmdlet with the -SkipNetworkProfileCheck option, or you can change the network connection type on this host to Domain or Private.

To use PowerShell to manage a remote host, you also need to add the host to the TrustedHosts list on the computer where you have the RAS Console installed. To view the current TrustedHosts list, execute the following command in PowerShell window:

Get-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts

To add a host to the TrustedHosts list, use one of the options described below. Please note that all examples below, except the last one, always overwrite an existing TrustedHosts list. To add a specific computer to an existing list, use the last example (the one with the -Concatenate parameter).

Add all computers to the list:

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts *

Add all domain computers:

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts *.domain-name.dom

Add specific computers:

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts <computer-name>,[<computer-name>]

Add a computer to an existing list (this is the only example that will NOT overwrite an existing TrustedHosts list):

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Concatenate <ComputerName>

Available tools

The table below describes the tools available in the Tasks > Tools menu and their execution strings.