Windows 2012 Domain Controller: Failed to open the runspace pool. The Server Manager WinRM plug-in might be corrupted or missing

Question

Hi all,
We have been battling a problem for the last couple of days when we try to add the first windows server 2012 DC to an already existing Domain.
The Server installation goes smoothly and we can add the computer to the domain and its all green.
After we promote the server to a domain controller the WinRM service starts acting up (not responding anymore).
The server manager console shows Remote Management as disabled, and when we try to enable it via the console or Powershell it freezes up.
The AD DS part of the console is saying that there are post-promotion tasks that need to be completed but once we click on the task it takes us to the promotion wizard again, that basically complains that: Failed to open the runspace pool. The Server Manager
WinRM plug-in might be corrupted or missing.
In the Remote Management Event log we see the following entry: "The client got a timeout from the network layer (ERROR_WINHTTP_TIMEOUT)" Event ID 138
We are unable to do anything with the server (demote, add roles, remotely manage...). We tryed the following already:
1. Recreate from scratch
2. Checking the GPOs to see if there is anything setup about RM -> came up with nothing
We just ran out of ideas so HELP PLEASE !
BR
Tomaz Praprotnik

Answer 1

Hi Cicely,
Yes the error from the Windows Remote Management event log contains (I took out the User and FQDN of the Computer):
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-WinRM/Operational
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-WinRM
Date:          3/29/2013 1:38:53 PM
Event ID:      138
Task Category: Response handling
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Client
User:         
Computer:     
Description:
The client got a timeout from the network layer (ERROR_WINHTTP_TIMEOUT)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WinRM" Guid="{A7975C8F-AC13-49F1-87DA-5A984A4AB417}" />
    <EventID>138</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>10</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000002</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-03-29T12:38:53.786357100Z" />
    <EventRecordID>6876</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{18FCFBD2-2B38-0003-D261-FD18382BCE01}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="1084" ThreadID="2924" />
    <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-WinRM/Operational</Channel>
    <Computer></Computer>
    <Security UserID="" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
  </EventData>
</Event>
There is also another entry that sometimes comes up:
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-WinRM/Operational
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-WinRM
Date:          3/29/2013 1:36:34 PM
Event ID:      142
Task Category: Response handling
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Client
User:         
Computer:     
Description:
WSMan operation Invoke failed, error code 2150859046
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WinRM" Guid="{A7975C8F-AC13-49F1-87DA-5A984A4AB417}" />
    <EventID>142</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>10</Task>
    <Opcode>2</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x4000000000000002</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-03-29T12:36:34.076973400Z" />
    <EventRecordID>6869</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{18FCFBD2-2B38-0001-F328-FD18382BCE01}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="4888" ThreadID="4392" />
    <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-WinRM/Operational</Channel>
    <Computer></Computer>
    <Security UserID="" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data Name="operationName">Invoke</Data>
    <Data Name="errorCode">2150859046</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>
Best regards
Tomaz Praprotnik