How can I remotely run commands on a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 box?

A. Vista and Server 2008 support the WS-Management and Windows Remote Shell. To enable connectivity to a machine, run the Winrm Quickconfig command. For example,

C:\>winrm quickconfig

WinRM is not set up to allow remote access to this machine for management.

The following changes must be made:


Create a WinRM listener on HTTP://* to accept WS-Man requests to any IP on this
machine.

Enable the WinRM firewall exception.


Make these changes \[y/n\]?

When you choose “y,” the following will occur:

WinRM has been updated for remote management.


Created a WinRM listener on HTTP://* to accept WS-Man requests to any IP on this machine.

WinRM firewall exception enabled.

On the client, use the Winrs command with the -r switch to identify the remote system, then the remote command you want to run. For example,

winrs -r:savdaldc01 hostname 

savdaldc01


hostname

savdalwks10

Notice that my local hostname is savdalwk10, but when I run the same command to the remote savdaldc01, the hostname response is the correct remote name.