I did a complete barebones install with all the prereq's on a Server 2012 and everything went fine until I actually tried to log into the Exchange Admin Website OR the PowerShell to manage Exchange.    Here is the error I get with Exchange Powershell:

VERBOSE: Connecting to exssrv.cas.local.
New-PSSession : [exssrv.cas.local] Processing data from remote server exssrv.cas.local failed with the following error
message: The WinRM Shell client cannot process the request. The shell handle passed to the WSMan Shell function is not
valid. The shell handle is valid only when WSManCreateShell function completes successfully. Change the request
including a valid shell handle and try again. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin
   gTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108212,PSSessionOpenFailed 

Failed to connect to an Exchange server in the current site.
Enter the server FQDN where you want to connect.:

All the services come up fine and I AM able to get into OWA.    However ADMIN functions are beyond my reach.  When I try to log into the ECP as Administrator It takes me to OWA!   Event viewer has something weird in MS Exchange Management Log too: 

System 
   [ Name]  MSExchange CmdletLogs 
  - EventID 6
   [ Qualifiers]  49152 
   Level 2 
   Task 1 
   Keywords 0x80000000000000 
- EventData 
   Get-UserPhoto 
   {Identity=Administrator@cas.local} 
   cas.local/Users/Administrator 
   S-1-5-21-3701730246-2317407816-1571125241-500 
   S-1-5-21-3701730246-2317407816-1571125241-500 
   Exchange Control Panel-ECP 
   10144 
   22 
   00:00:05.8040837 
   View Entire Forest: 'True', Configuration Domain Controller: 'exssrv.cas.local', Preferred Global Catalog: 'exssrv.cas.local', Preferred Domain Controllers: '{ exssrv.cas.local }' 
   Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.UserPhotoNotFoundException: UserPhoto does not exist in the Mailbox. at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.ThrowError(Exception exception, ErrorCategory errorCategory, Object target, String helpUrl) at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.WriteError(Exception exception, ErrorCategory category, Object target, Boolean reThrow) at Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.GetUserPhoto.ConvertDataObjectToPresentationObject(IConfigurable dataObject) at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.GetRecipientObjectTask`2.WriteResult(IConfigurable dataObject) at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.GetTaskBase`1.WriteResult[T](IEnumerable`1 dataObjects) at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.GetObjectWithIdentityTaskBase`2.InternalProcessRecord() at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.GetRecipientObjectTask`2.InternalProcessRecord() at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.ProcessRecord() 
   Client 
   False 
   0 

Now I have tried everything I think i could find.. I doublechecked the Administrator permissions in the Group policy and redirect stuff in IIS and even created a self signed Cert.   It gives me a login prompt when I try to go to the local ecp:  http://exssrv.cas.local:81/ecp/  HOWEVER it then just takes me to OWA.    Has anyone ever seen this?   I am willing to try anything and would really appreciate any suggestions from the Exchange Gurus. 

Thanks a million!

Hi,

During the setup process a self-signed certificate called Microsoft Exchange is bound to the Exchange Backend Website on port 444. This is for communication between CAS and Mailbox. Please try the following steps to check this issue.

1. Start IIS Manager on the Mailbox Server.
2. Expand Site, highlight Exchange Back End, and select Bindings from the Actions pane in the right side column.
3. Select Typehttps on Port 444.
4. Click Edit and select the Microsoft Exchange certificate.
5. From an administrator command prompt, run IISReset.

Let me know the result.

Best Regards.

Hi,

During the setup process a self-signed certificate called Microsoft Exchange is bound to the Exchange Backend Website on port 444. This is for communication between CAS and Mailbox. Please try the following steps to check this issue.

1. Start IIS Manager on the Mailbox Server.
2. Expand Site, highlight Exchange Back End, and select Bindings from the Actions pane in the right side column.
3. Select Typehttps on Port 444.
4. Click Edit and select the Microsoft Exchange certificate.
5. From an administrator command prompt, run IISReset.

Let me know the result.

Best Regards.

• Marked as answer by HamzaMCSE 18 hours 10 minutes ago

It actually turned out to be fixed by installing SP1.  Duh!     

I appreciate your help though!  

• Marked as answer by HamzaMCSE 18 hours 10 minutes ago