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MMCSnapInsView lists all Windows MMC Snap Ins

Depending on how you use your computer, you may come in contact with the Microsoft Management Console on a regular basis, once in a while, or not at all.

Home users may come into contact with it when they run tools like the Services Manager (services.msc) or the Performance Monitor (perfmon.msc), but most snap-ins available are used almost exclusively by system administrators.

The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) provides system administrators with an administrative interface to manage the Microsoft Windows operating system. In addition, it provides them with the means to "create special tools to delegate specific administrative tasks to users or groups".

These are called MMC console files (MSC). They can be shared via email or a network, and assigned to users, groups, or computers.

The MMC supports two types of snap-ins: standalone snap-ins that work on their own, and snap-in extensions which are added to other snap-ins or snap-in extensions, but never on their own.

Basically, these snap-ins add functionality to the MMC which the administrator can then make use of.

MMCSnapInsView by Nirsoft has been designed to list all available snap-ins of a Windows operating system in its interface on start.

mmc snap-ins view

The portable program lists the name of each snap-in and its filename, a description if available, and various other information such as its version, file modification and creation time, and whether it is a standalone or an extension.

Please note that MMCSnapInsView does not list snap-in extensions by default. You need to select Options > Show Extension Snap-Ins first before they are added to the list.

The program supports the usual Nirsoft options: you can export the selection or all items to various file formats, create a HTML report, or sort the listing with a click on one of the column headers. You may also run it from the command line to export the list of MMC snap-ins without loading the user interface at all.

One interesting feature is the ability to launch one or multiple snap-ins directly in the Management Console.

To do that, select one or multiple items by holding down Ctrl and selecting individual items with the left mouse button, and a tap on F2 in the end (or right-click and select "Open selected Snap Ins in MMC").

Closing Words

MMCSnapInsView is a specialized product. It can be useful for system administrators as it provides a detailed overview of all available snap-ins and snap-ins extensions on the system, and for home users who are interested in learning more about these tools.

 

 

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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