WinRM Access Denied (Azure File Copy Task in Build Definition for Visual Studio Team Services)

Question

I have an 'Azure File Copy' task in my Build Definition for Team Services (was Visual Studio Online). Whenever I run this I get an 'Access Denied' error. I've been trying to troubleshoot this for hours with no luck.

Copy started for machine: 'MACHINE NAME'
Copy status for machine 'MACHINE NAME' : 'Failed'
Connecting to remote server [IP ADDRESS] failed with the following error message : Access is denied. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.To fix WinRM connection related issues, select the 'Enable Copy Prerequisites' option in the task. If set already, and the target Virtual Machines are backed by a Load balancer, ensure Inbound NAT rules are configured for target port (5986). Applicable only for ARM VMs. For more info please refer to http://aka.ms/azurefilecopyreadme
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Finishing task: AzureFileCopy
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Task AzureFileCopy failed. This caused the job to fail. Look at the logs for the task for more details.
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Finishing Build
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I've tried the following:

'Enable Copy Prerequisites' checkbox on build task
Assigning the user account directly to Microsoft.Powershell with 'Full Control' permissions using PSSession -ShowSecurityDescriptorUI
Added Computer to the TrustedHosts List
Made sure the necessary ports are unblocked (inbound and outbound)

Considering that this is a Microsoft SaaS product, connecting to a standard Azure VM using nothing but Microsoft Azure architecture, I'm surprised this is so difficult. I must be missing something simple!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

What username and password you enter in "Azure File Copy"? The error message can be also caused by an incorrect username/password. — Eddie Chen - MSFT
Just using the main admin account for the VM. I've tried with and without the PC name as a prefix. I've entered the password as plain text (not using a variable). Good point though - because I tried intentionally using incorrect credentials and received exactly the same message. — tpag26
If you have any tips on how I could troubleshoot this as the possible cause, would be most appreciated! Thank you — tpag26

tolup tolup · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-21T12:42:34

I made the mistake of using builtin\administrator as the username but after a couple of hours debugging the same error you're getting I found out that is a UPN and not allowed. I changed it to .\administrator and that worked!

Also check out this site for troubleshooting, it really goes into details with some of the things: http://www.hurryupandwait.io/blog/understanding-and-troubleshooting-winrm-connection-and-authentication-a-thrill-seekers-guide-to-adventure

WinRM Access Denied (Azure File Copy Task in Build Definition for Visual Studio Team Services)

1 Answers