PowerShell remote sessions: Problems with ESET Nod32 AntiVirus

Question

I am making my first attempts at using PowerShell remoting features. I've set up the "destination" server using the instructions in the help docs. But when I attempt to start a remote session (by executing an "Enter-PSSession servername1" command), it sits there for a long time, and eventually gives this error:

Enter-PSSession : Connecting to remote server failed with the following error message : The WinRM client cannot complete the operation within the time specified. Check if the machine name is valid and is reachable over the network and firewall exception for Windows Remote Management service is enabled. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.

I also noticed that while it was sitting there, my computer's performance had degraded. Looking at Task Manager, I see that ekrn.exe, which is the kernel process for Nod32 Antivirus, was using a lot of CPU (~50%, sometimes edging higher). It seems to never stop using the CPU until I kill the process, and I did some testing, and it clearly begins to use all that CPU as soon as I execute that Enter-PSSession command.

I then tried disabling the Nod32 anti-virus, executed the same command, and voilà, it worked, and the remote session started properly.

But obviously disabling my anti-virus isn't a solution. Can anyone suggest a better one?

Answer 1

Well, if you want to stay with the AV solution, I would see your only option is to contact that vendor to report an issue/bug. Maybe consider trying another AV if they aren't providing good support?

Answer 2

It turns out I wasn't running the latest version of Nod32. I was running version 3, the I was able to upgrade to version 4, and the problem went away.