Using Psexec with Windows Server 2003

psexecwindows-server-2003

I'm trying to run a psexec command to a remote Windows Server 2003 machine. I run the following command:

psexec \machinename perfmon.msc -u machineadmin -p adminpassword -i -s

The -i and -s flags will allow me to run the GUI for perfmon.msc on the remote machine's desktop interactively.

I get the following error when I try to run the above command:

Couldn't Access machinename
Access denied

I'm using psexec version 1.94 and I'm certain that the machinename, user, and password are correct. Does anyone know if there are known issues with psexec on Windows Server 2003 and whether or not there is a fix?

Best Solution

[This question would be better fit for ServerFault.com, but nevertheless...]

A few suggestions:

Use two slashes before the machinename e.g. \\machinename (maybe that's what you meant the StackOverflow escaped the backslash)
*.MSC files are not usually directly executable remotely--you'll want to give the path to "c:\WINDOWS\system32\mmc.exe" and then the parameters
All parameters for psexec should go before the remote program and its parameters.
Is there really a reason to run the process as the System account ('-s') instead of just Administrator?

All together, it should look something like this:

psexec \\machinename -i -u machineadmin -p adminpassword "c:\WINDOWS\system32\mmc.exe" "perfmon.msc"

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Use the /accepteula command-line switch to accept the licence agreement.

Or set

HKCU\Software\Sysinternals\PsExec\EulaAccepted

to 1

Caution: if the reg key above is set to 0 (EULA was declined once) then the /accepteula will not work, you have to set the key to 1 manually (or delete it altogether).

PsExec: Win7-to-Win7 Access Denied (psexesvc remains)

Bit late, I know, but I've just been trying to solve this too. Turns out it has to do with security levels / user access levels.

I was trying to run psexec from a command prompt on a local PC and had started the command prompt by right clicking and choosing "Run as administrator". Then I'd run the psexec command targetting a remote server and specify a domain admin account for the -u parameter.

However, my local account only had administrative privileges on the local machine, not the remote one and choosing "run as administrator" doesn't actually mean "run as domain administrator"! (Obviously, duh!).

So, in effect, what was happening was that it was trying to run my main command as a domain admin on the remote but the psexec part was being run as my (non-admin) domain user account - which didn't have the appropriate permissions on the server.

Solution: Instead of starting a command prompt as above use the runas command.

eg: Start -> Run -> runas /user:domain\administrator cmd
then run your psexec command and you won't need the -u flag

or, from inside a normal command prompt you could do this instead:

runas /user:domain\administrator "psexec \\remote cmd"

Best Solution

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