{ 46 Intelligent Comments }

Windows Error: MMC Cannot Open The File

Written on January 7th 2010 at 08:40. Last modified: January 21, 2011

MMC Cannot Open FileMicrosoft Management Console causing problems with some snap ins

  • When you try to launch a Microsoft Management Console Snap-in file (.msc file) you receive the error “MMC cannot open the file c:\pathfilename.msc“

Explanation:

This is being caused by the remote access server console disconnecting abnormally and causing corruption in the user profiles MMC snap in’s reference file.

Luckily there is a relatively simple solution.

MMC Cannot Open The File...

Solution:

  1. Click Start > Run
  2. Type the following:

    3. regsvr32 C:\Windows\system32\msxml3.dll

  3. Click OK and WAIT until Windows confirms that the dll has been registered successfully.
  4. Now open Windows Explorer and browse to the following folder:

    5. C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\MMC

    Note

    Replace the word username above with your own Windows username

  5. Look through the files in this folder and locate the file with the same name as the msc file that appears in the error message.
  6. Rename the file to filename_old
  7. Now try to launch your console again and the error should be resolved.

Discussion


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  1. Diko says:
    April 26, 2010 at 10:27

    Thanks, that resolve my problem and now defrag is working :)

    Reply
    1. jen says:
      May 10, 2011 at 19:53

      Thanks, my problem is also resolved.

      Reply
      1. jen says:
        May 10, 2011 at 19:54

        Such a big help, a million thanks!

        Reply
    2. shanshen says:
      December 15, 2011 at 22:24

      ” MMC cannot open that file C:\Windows\sapmmc.msc”

      When I start sap management console the above problem is coming. I am trying a lot. But till now the same problem. Please suggest, how can solve this problem.

      Reply
    3. Selbee says:
      October 3, 2012 at 05:31

      Thank You BIGTIME!!!

      Reply
  2. Don says:
    June 24, 2010 at 07:10

    Thanks For Your Wonderful Solving Idea.This Help Me To Solve This Problem And It Can Release My Headache Right Now…

    Reply
  3. Don says:
    June 24, 2010 at 07:22

    Dear Ross Whitney,

    Your Technic Before Got Help Me To Solve My Defragment Problem…
    I Need Your Advise To Solve My Internet Explorer…
    When I Open The Internet Explorer, It Will Appear Something Like This;

    Error loading C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetcpl.cpl

    The operating system cannot run %1.

    I Already Instal The Upgrade For IE 7, But It Still Have The Same Problem..

    Can You Help Me,

    Thanks,
    Don

    Reply
  4. Imran says:
    October 31, 2010 at 07:29

    Thanks Alot, it really works!!

    Reply
  5. wiz4rd says:
    December 14, 2010 at 07:58

    thx bro…u save my ass

    Reply
  6. Explorenet says:
    January 5, 2011 at 15:51

    Thanks a lot, your guide works for me, you really save my server.

    Reply
  7. anoop says:
    January 11, 2011 at 10:01

    mmc cannot open file and inesart mmc

    Reply
  8. major says:
    January 17, 2011 at 11:50

    This solution is super and straight fwd!! stay blessed

    Reply
  9. siva says:
    January 22, 2011 at 02:05

    my mmc card not able to format its coming window was unable to complete the format & its not opening in my pc what to do? how to format that card ? pls help me friends

    Reply
  10. Rosco says:
    January 22, 2011 at 07:39

    Hi Siva…The MMC you refer to is not related to the MMC in this article.

    The MMC you refer to is a MultiMedia Card. See Wikipedia for more info on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiMediaCard

    The MMC in this article is a Microsoft Management Console.

    Rosco

    Reply
  11. MohdSaleh says:
    February 5, 2011 at 03:21

    Realy …….. Thnk you very very very moutch

    Reply
  12. vijay says:
    February 20, 2011 at 01:59

    thanks a lot

    Reply
  13. Larry says:
    March 3, 2011 at 20:42

    Had the same problem with the Defragmenter also and this worked like a charm.
    Thanks so much as I’ve been searching for a solution around the clock since last week.

    Reply
  14. umair says:
    April 1, 2011 at 22:41

    thanx bro

    Reply
  15. Ravindra Patel says:
    May 25, 2011 at 02:59

    Thanks brother
    We were facing the same problem & because of ur solution we are able to access MMC of Windows XP

    Thanks
    Ravindra

    Reply
  16. laray says:
    June 8, 2011 at 15:13

    There is no file in my MMS folder to change. It is empty?

    Reply
  17. Joe A. says:
    June 28, 2011 at 12:22

    Nice job! That did the trick. Amazing how such a simple solution can be so hard to find. Thanks so much!!

    Reply
  18. WOHOOO says:
    July 4, 2011 at 01:08

    Thanks Darling I love you so much it worked. Marry me?

    Reply
  19. Darren Wiebe says:
    August 19, 2011 at 10:40

    Thanks! This worked for me.

    Reply
  20. yogendra naringe says:
    August 22, 2011 at 21:28

    Thanks!
    Its been a great relief.

    Reply
  21. justrosie says:
    September 6, 2011 at 16:35

    It’s been frustrating not to be able to Defrag my hard disk .. and this post has solved the problem very simply and in a way a lay-person can understand. Thank-you!

    Reply
  22. jay says:
    October 3, 2011 at 01:16

    thanks!

    Reply
  23. Seemo says:
    October 12, 2011 at 23:02

    thankx a lot

    Reply
  24. Anonymous says:
    October 25, 2011 at 15:17

    I have the same problem today in my Server 2003.
    After I renamed the folder “MMC” to “MMC_OLD”. Then, created new Folder “MMC” in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\MMC.
    And it worked !!!

    Reply
  25. Alilu Tadesse says:
    November 13, 2011 at 22:40

    Thanks!!

    Reply
  27. Dean says:
    December 9, 2011 at 01:40

    Thanks a lot i nearly formatted the server, this one saved me big time.

    Reply
  28. shanshen says:
    December 15, 2011 at 22:28

    “MMC file cannot open that file C:\windows\sapmmc.msc”

    Please how can solve this problem. As above methoed I tried. But my MMC folder is emplty. (C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\MMC)
    There is no files in that fole. What will I do?
    Please suggest.

    Reply
  29. Mithun says:
    December 26, 2011 at 06:56

    Gtreat man , thanks alot.

    Reply
  30. Adeyeye Oladele says:
    February 13, 2012 at 07:11

    Thank you the problem has been resolved the problem

    Reply
  31. Mike says:
    March 15, 2012 at 10:59

    Thanks! Everywhere else I looked didn’t have step 4-6.
    Server 2008 R2

    Reply
    1. Alan says:
      April 7, 2012 at 19:25

      I have had this same problem and have not been able to
      defrag for several months. This idea worked perfectly.
      Thank you.

      Alan.

      Reply
  32. Alan says:
    April 7, 2012 at 19:28

    I have had this same problem and have not been able to
    defragment my hard disk for several months. This idea worked perfectly.
    Thank you.

    Alan.

    Reply
  33. Arman says:
    May 15, 2012 at 20:24

    Problem solved in less than a minute. Very useful, thanks!

    Reply
  34. William S says:
    July 4, 2012 at 15:04

    Great Article..!..thant´s Funk.!

    Reply
  35. Jonathan Pittman says:
    July 31, 2012 at 09:21

    Thank you so much – kept me from punching myself in the face after a server restore from backup!

    Reply
  36. kristi says:
    August 28, 2012 at 10:39

    I am running ms storage server 2003. One of my hdd crashed. I had an IT guy (a co-worker’s brother) help me get it back in order. Now I can’t go to “my computer” and right click to manage the server. I tried your solution, but this is the error I get:
    LoadLibrary(“C:\Windows\system32\msxml3.dll”) failed – Invalid access to memory location.

    Reply
  37. Ahmad says:
    December 22, 2012 at 23:57

    Thanks Man it resolved my problem …. big thanks :)

    Reply
  38. ravi says:
    January 1, 2013 at 16:31

    in specified path mmc folder is empty … and even i tried to changed the mmc to mmcold and created new mmc same problem repeated… please help me out

    Reply
  39. Ravikiran says:
    January 1, 2013 at 17:25

    Hi
    In specified path mmc folder is empty … and even i tried to changed the mmc to mmcold and created new mmc same problem repeated… please help me out as it is urgent

    Reply
  40. sujeeth says:
    May 13, 2013 at 12:33

    fantastic, i had the similar issue opening biztalk server 2010 admin console, i tried repairing the software few times, nothing worked until i fumbled upon this article n exactly did the way its explained,it worked like a gem.

    Reply
  41. randal says:
    May 20, 2013 at 16:57

    WOW! That was a simple process.But, where does someone find such strange and useful voodoo? Thanks.

    Reply

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