Windows – Microsoft Management Console stops working when I add snap-in to it

mmcwindows 7

I have Windows 7 Ultimate OS.

I'm opening mmc.exe as administrator and trying add Certificates or any other snap-in, then while loading that snap-in MMC breaks and displays following message and after that it closes automatically once I click on close button on that message. What could be the problem?

I did following to fix the problem but couldn't succeed any of these:

  1. I tried to repair the OS
  2. I repaired files using this method
  3. Even repaired the installation using this link

Edit:

I've even tried to rename or delete the MMC.exe file and couldn't succeed because it says I need authorization from TrustedInstaller to do those operations. In order to avoid this I've even followed instructions in this article but still it doesn't allow me to delete and now it says you need to have authorization from the user who is owner of the file, but interesting thing is that owner is logged in user only but still it asks for authorization from same user.

Update:
@oldskool: Here is the debug process output: Sorry its a long output text.

'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.vc80.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_none_cbf21254470d8752\mfc80u.dll',

Cannot find or open the PDB file
'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4927_none_d08a205e442db5b5\msvcp80.dll',
Cannot find or open the PDB file
'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.vc80.atl_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_none_d1c738ec43578ea1\ATL80.dll',
Cannot find or open the PDB file
'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7600.16661_none_ebfb56996c72aefc\comctl32.dll',
Cannot find or open the PDB file
'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.vc80.mfcloc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_none_03ca5532205cb096\mfc80ENU.dll',
Binary was not built with debug
information. 'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\100\Tools\Binn\Resources\1033\SqlManager.rll',
Binary was not built with debug
information. 'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Windows\System32\msxml6.dll',
Cannot find or open the PDB file
'mmc.exe': Loaded 'C:\Program
Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\90\Tools\Binn\SqlManager.dll',
Cannot find or open the PDB file
'mmc.exe': Loaded
'C:\Windows\System32\wbem\wbemcntl.dll',
Cannot find or open the PDB file The
thread 'Win32 Thread' (0xf74) has
exited with code 0 (0x0). Unhandled
exception at 0x774d35e3 in mmc.exe:
0xC0000374: A heap has been corrupted.

enter image description here

Best Answer

Questions first :

  • Can you find anything special in the Event Log?
  • Is computer Management working?
  • Is it possible that some software installation has added a defective MMC add-on ?

A couple of ideas for this really weird problem:

  1. If you have a system restore point dating from before the problem occurred, you might restore back to it.
  2. Install or reinstall the latest Microsoft .Net Framework 4.

EDIT

A method for fixing the problem was suggested in mmc crash when adding snap in :

On the assumption that the part of your registry that deals with MMC snap-ins is corrupted, this method copies that registry part from a working computer (should have a similar setup to the problematic computer).

  1. The registry key where the MMC snap-ins are situated is :
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns
  2. In the working computer, use regedit to export SnapIns with all its sub-keys as a .reg file. (If you don't have access to a working computer, create a virtual machine.)
  3. In the problematic computer, use regedit to backup SnapIns, then delete it
  4. Import the exported .reg file to your problematic computer's registry (double-click on it is usually enough, otherwise use File / Import in regedit).

I would also suggest as a precaution to create a system restore point before trying this method.