Port 5986: WinRM HTTPS
Port 5986 is WinRM over HTTPS, the encrypted channel for remote PowerShell sessions and Windows management tooling such as Ansible's WinRM connector. It is the port to use instead of plain WinRM on port 5985.
| Port number | 5986 |
|---|---|
| Service | Windows Remote Management (HTTPS) |
| Protocol | TCP |
| Category | Remote access |
| Default encryption | Yes (TLS/SSH) |
How do I check whether port 5986 is open?
Port 5986 carries TCP, so a connection either completes its handshake or it does not, which makes the check definitive.
| Question | Command | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Is it open on a remote host? | nc -vz example.com 5986 | A TCP handshake either completes or it does not, so netcat gives a definitive answer in one line. |
| Same check on Windows | Test-NetConnection example.com -Port 5986 | Built into PowerShell. TcpTestSucceeded in the output is the answer; telnet is not installed by default on modern Windows. |
| What is listening locally? | ss -tlnp | grep ':5986 ' | Lists the process bound to port 5986 on Linux. On macOS use lsof -nP -iTCP:5986 -sTCP:LISTEN, on Windows netstat -ano | findstr :5986 |
Replace example.com with the host you are testing. A blocked port and a port with nothing listening on it look identical from the outside, so if a service should be running, check locally before blaming the firewall.
Frequently asked questions
What is port 5986 used for?
Port 5986 is WinRM over HTTPS, the encrypted channel for remote PowerShell sessions and Windows management tooling such as Ansible's WinRM connector. It is the port to use instead of plain WinRM on port 5985.
Is port 5986 TCP or UDP?
Port 5986 (WinRM HTTPS) uses TCP.
Is port 5986 secure?
Yes. Port 5986 carries encrypted traffic by default, so data in transit is protected.
Should I open port 5986 on my firewall?
Only if you specifically need WinRM HTTPS. Expose it to the smallest set of trusted sources, and never open database or Windows-service ports to the whole internet.