MMC cannot open the file.................

[Allen Drake]

MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\devmgmt.msc

I try to open device manager from properties of Computer and get this
report. Search got me here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914231

When I do as suggested I find that Regsvr32 Msxml.dll and Regsvr32
Msxml2.dll report "The module failed to load. Make sure the binary is
stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with
the binary or dependant DLL. file. The specified module could not be
found.

Msxml3.dll seemed fine.

I can get to Device Manager at Computer Management ok.

However this help page is of no use to me as I get the same results
on another system but device manager is accessed normally.

Anyone know what could be the problem?

Thanks.

Al Drake

 

[Paul]

MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\devmgmt.msc

I try to open device manager from properties of Computer and get this
report. Search got me here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914231

When I do as suggested I find that Regsvr32 Msxml.dll and Regsvr32
Msxml2.dll report "The module failed to load. Make sure the binary is
stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with
the binary or dependant DLL. file. The specified module could not be
found.

Msxml3.dll seemed fine.

I can get to Device Manager at Computer Management ok.

However this help page is of no use to me as I get the same results
on another system but device manager is accessed normally.

Anyone know what could be the problem?

Thanks.

Al Drake

On my WinXP system, the devmgmt.msc file is actually a text file.
So first of all, the system would need a file mapping from the ".msc"
extension, to some program which opens such files.

Inside the XML file, it mentions only one .dll and the other references
to executables would be by things like CLSID values. You can try
taking a CLSID and search in regedit, to see what it might
correspond to.

(WinXP)
%systemroot%\system32\devmgr.dll
Snapin CLSID="{74246BFC-4C96-11D0-ABEF-0020AF6B0B7A}"
Snapin CLSID="{C96401CC-0E17-11D3-885B-00C04F72C717}"

The first snapin is devmgr.dll, the second is mmcndmgr.dll . I looked
up those strings in regedit, and that's what they correspond to.

So what the article you're reading right now is telling you,
is the set of msxml parser modules aren't working. The
sequence might go something like this.

1) You try to use devmgmt.msc . Perhaps double clicking somewhere,
causes this file to attempt to be opened.
2) The OS looks up to see what handles files with extension .msc .
You'd check your file extensions, and how they're mapped, to
figure out what that might be. Mine seems to be mmc.exe , but
the OS isn't very explicit in naming it (I had to Google to
figure it out).
3) OK, now something runs, which makes reference to the msxml DLL
files, because those would be needed to actually parse the XML
file that is devmgmt.msc . They could have called it devmgmt.xml
for example, but then the stupid thing would open in Internet
Explorer. Whereas, to get the MMC console stuff to handle it,
they use a different extension.
4) When the XML parser reads it, it finds references to things like
the CLSIDs. Those map to executables. In my case, the two that
I spotted are devmgr.dll and mmcndmgr.dll . It looks like there
might be reference to icons in there as well (which at this point
aren't too important).

What was the error message ? Was it the one in KB914231 ?

"MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\devmgmt.msc"

Because, that implies something called MMC is trying to open a
file of extension .msc. Either it's the real handler, or something
has taken its place. I doubt the msxml DLLs just "run by themselves",
and there must be something else that loads them.

I found this article.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742441.aspx

"To create a new console

1.On the Start menu, click Run, and type mmc /a to open a new console."

and I can see there is an mmc.exe on my computer. The mmc.exe might
be the thing that loads msxml DLLs to parse the XML file contents.

You could try a command like that ("mmc /a"), and see if mmc.exe is working
or not. And also verify that there is a file mapping between .msc
and the use of mmc.exe . When I check my mapping in WinXP, it
says "Microsoft Management Console" and not mmc.exe in particular.

I checked the above on my WinXP machine, and you'll have to work
through the details on Windows 7 and see if they're the same or not.

Paul

 

[Dave-UK]

MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\devmgmt.msc

I try to open device manager from properties of Computer and get this
report. Search got me here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914231

When I do as suggested I find that Regsvr32 Msxml.dll and Regsvr32
Msxml2.dll report "The module failed to load. Make sure the binary is
stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with
the binary or dependant DLL. file. The specified module could not be
found.

Msxml3.dll seemed fine.

I can get to Device Manager at Computer Management ok.

However this help page is of no use to me as I get the same results
on another system but device manager is accessed normally.

Anyone know what could be the problem?

Thanks.

Al Drake

Is there a devmgmt.msc file in the System32 folder ?

 

[Allen Drake]

On my WinXP system, the devmgmt.msc file is actually a text file.
So first of all, the system would need a file mapping from the ".msc"
extension, to some program which opens such files.

Inside the XML file, it mentions only one .dll and the other references
to executables would be by things like CLSID values. You can try
taking a CLSID and search in regedit, to see what it might
correspond to.

(WinXP)
%systemroot%\system32\devmgr.dll
Snapin CLSID="{74246BFC-4C96-11D0-ABEF-0020AF6B0B7A}"
Snapin CLSID="{C96401CC-0E17-11D3-885B-00C04F72C717}"

The first snapin is devmgr.dll, the second is mmcndmgr.dll . I looked
up those strings in regedit, and that's what they correspond to.

So what the article you're reading right now is telling you,
is the set of msxml parser modules aren't working. The
sequence might go something like this.

1) You try to use devmgmt.msc . Perhaps double clicking somewhere,
causes this file to attempt to be opened.
2) The OS looks up to see what handles files with extension .msc .
You'd check your file extensions, and how they're mapped, to
figure out what that might be. Mine seems to be mmc.exe , but
the OS isn't very explicit in naming it (I had to Google to
figure it out).
3) OK, now something runs, which makes reference to the msxml DLL
files, because those would be needed to actually parse the XML
file that is devmgmt.msc . They could have called it devmgmt.xml
for example, but then the stupid thing would open in Internet
Explorer. Whereas, to get the MMC console stuff to handle it,
they use a different extension.
4) When the XML parser reads it, it finds references to things like
the CLSIDs. Those map to executables. In my case, the two that
I spotted are devmgr.dll and mmcndmgr.dll . It looks like there
might be reference to icons in there as well (which at this point
aren't too important).

What was the error message ? Was it the one in KB914231 ?

"MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\devmgmt.msc"

Because, that implies something called MMC is trying to open a
file of extension .msc. Either it's the real handler, or something
has taken its place. I doubt the msxml DLLs just "run by themselves",
and there must be something else that loads them.

I found this article.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742441.aspx

"To create a new console

1.On the Start menu, click Run, and type mmc /a to open a new console."

and I can see there is an mmc.exe on my computer. The mmc.exe might
be the thing that loads msxml DLLs to parse the XML file contents.

You could try a command like that ("mmc /a"), and see if mmc.exe is working
or not. And also verify that there is a file mapping between .msc
and the use of mmc.exe . When I check my mapping in WinXP, it
says "Microsoft Management Console" and not mmc.exe in particular.

I checked the above on my WinXP machine, and you'll have to work
through the details on Windows 7 and see if they're the same or not.

Paul

Working back from what you posted I entered mmc /a and was about to
open a new console so that test worked but when I try to open
devmgmt.msc from within the system32 folder it shows the usual
report:

MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.mmc

This may be because the file does not exist, is not an MMC console.
or was created by a later version of MMC. This may also be because you
do not have sufficient rights to the file.

I have no idea how to check mapping of a file.

I will have to go over what you posted in detail before I will be
able to understand more.

Thanks.

Al.

 

[Allen Drake]

Is there a devmgmt.msc file in the System32 folder ?

Yes but as I posted to Paul it is behaving strangely.

 

[Paul]

Working back from what you posted I entered mmc /a and was about to
open a new console so that test worked but when I try to open
devmgmt.msc from within the system32 folder it shows the usual
report:

MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.mmc

This may be because the file does not exist, is not an MMC console.
or was created by a later version of MMC. This may also be because you
do not have sufficient rights to the file.

I have no idea how to check mapping of a file.

I will have to go over what you posted in detail before I will be
able to understand more.

Thanks.

Al.

Then it might still be getting stuck parsing the XML content.

Is it possible to launch mmc.exe from the command line, and feed
it the path to devmgmt.msc ? If there is an "mmc /a", there
might also be a command where you can pass the path to the
file in question.

The extension is .msc, rather than mmc. mmc is the name of the
executable that processes it.

Check and make sure C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc actually exists.
You can't open a file, that isn't there. Or a file that you
don't have permission to access.

Paul

 

[Allen Drake]

Then it might still be getting stuck parsing the XML content.

Is it possible to launch mmc.exe from the command line, and feed
it the path to devmgmt.msc ? If there is an "mmc /a", there
might also be a command where you can pass the path to the
file in question.

The extension is .msc, rather than mmc. mmc is the name of the
executable that processes it.

Check and make sure C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc actually exists.
You can't open a file, that isn't there. Or a file that you
don't have permission to access.

Paul

My bad. I looked again and the error report is devmgmt.msc and when I
open it from within the System32 folder it gives the error report.

 

[Paul]

My bad. I looked again and the error report is devmgmt.msc and when I
open it from within the System32 folder it gives the error report.

When I check mmc.exe with DependencyWalker, it doesn't show it using
msxml3.dll. But when I run Process Explorer from SysInternals, I can
see that mmc.exe uses msxml3.dll and msxml3r.dll . The other two you
mentioned of the msxml flavor, don't seem to be in usage on WinXP
or Windows 7 in this case. And Windows 7 has an msxml6 pair of dll
files as well (msxml6.dll, msxml6r.dll).

When I check the permissions on devmgmt.msc, the read&execute bit is
set and so is the read bit. Only TrustedInstaller has permission
to write to the file (and because it's a system file, that makes
sense that it would have restrictions on what could write it).
As far as I can tell (and I don't really understand the Windows
permission model), it looks like anybody can read devmgmt.msc.
So it's not likely to get a "cannot open" error from that
perspective.

There are endless versions of the things you tried to register...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269238

and occasionally, security updates for them...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925673

It's some kind of cottage industry I guess :-(
Like weaving wicker baskets.

Paul

 

[...winston]

"Allen Drake" wrote in message

MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\devmgmt.msc

I try to open device manager from properties of Computer and get this
report. Search got me here:

If you try or create a different profile on Windows does the issue continue to persist ?

 

[Dave-UK]

Yes but as I posted to Paul it is behaving strangely.

I think the problem lies in the registry.
Have you installed any software recently that adds 'features'
to any context menu - like a 'tweaker' or antivirus stuff ?
If it happened recently I would try a system restore.

This poster eventually fixed it:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-7/95243-cant-open-device-manager.html
(Repair install did it - last post.)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/243190/how_to_repair_a_corrupt_windows_7_installation.html

It may be easier to just ignore the problem and just use
another route to access Device Manager.

 

[Allen Drake]

I think the problem lies in the registry.
Have you installed any software recently that adds 'features'
to any context menu - like a 'tweaker' or antivirus stuff ?
If it happened recently I would try a system restore.

This poster eventually fixed it:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-7/95243-cant-open-device-manager.html
(Repair install did it - last post.)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/243190/how_to_repair_a_corrupt_windows_7_installation.html

It may be easier to just ignore the problem and just use
another route to access Device Manager.

The only thing I added was an AVG update version when my subscription
expired. I think I will take your advice and ignore it.

Thanks.

Al.

 

[Allen Drake]

"Allen Drake" wrote in message


If you try or create a different profile on Windows does the issue continue to persist ?

I plan to go over this and some other problems I am having with this
system later this weekend. I might even reinstall the OS or put in a
backup drive.

Regards.

Al.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Dave.

It may be easier to just ignore the problem and just use another route to
access Device Manager.

Right! Just press Start, type "devmgmt.msc" and press Enter.

(I haven't followed this whole thread, so maybe that has already been
suggested, but I seldom see the MMC screen at all. For Disk Management, I
press Start and type diskmgmt.msc. Getting there via MMC leaves me "working
through a keyhole" with all the MMC clutter around what I'm trying to see,
needlessly taking up screen space.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3505.0912) in Win8 (RTM Ent Eval)


"Dave-UK" wrote in message

Yes but as I posted to Paul it is behaving strangely.

I think the problem lies in the registry.
Have you installed any software recently that adds 'features'
to any context menu - like a 'tweaker' or antivirus stuff ?
If it happened recently I would try a system restore.

This poster eventually fixed it:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-7/95243-cant-open-device-manager.html
(Repair install did it - last post.)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/243190/how_to_repair_a_corrupt_windows_7_installation.html

It may be easier to just ignore the problem and just use
another route to access Device Manager.