Hyper-V,  SBS,  Windows Backup

MMC cannot open the file

MMC cannot open the file

Today I had a problem with a server running Windows 2008 R2 and HyperV. We were unable to get into the HyperV manager and had  an error “MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\virtmgmt.msc”.

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

In order to resolve this, I simply renamed the file virtmgmt to virtmgmt.old in the folder :

C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MMC

The Renamed virtmgmt file
The Renamed virtmgmt file

The file has probably got corrupted at some stage and by renaming the file, the next time you access the Management tool it gets recreated.

You may need to reregister the MSXML3.dll as well by going to start, run and typing in the following and click OK:

regsvr32 C:\Windows\system32\msxml3.dll

You should see the following message to say it has succeeded:

Dll registered successfully
Dll registered successfully

Hopefully this quick fix will work for other MMC files in the MMC folder such as wbadmin for windows backup, or eventvwr for the Event viewer.

Let me know if you’ve had success with any of the following :

“MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\eventvwr.msc”

“MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\wbadmin.msc”

“MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\ServerManager.msc”

“MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\SQLServerManager10.msc”

I hope this helps someone and if it does please leave a comment below. (It’s nice to receive feedback !)

Thanks for reading,

Ian

7 Comments

    • Ian

      Hi Bishnu,

      Did you rename the relevant file in C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MMC folder first?

      Thanks

      Ian

  • Ravi

    Hi Tried the above step and when I try to open the Hyper-v as an administrator, getting the same below error. Please help us to fix the issue.

    “MMC can not open the file Windire/system32/virtmgmt.msc

    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 be because you do not have sufficient access rights to the file.”

    Regards,
    Ravi

  • Alexey

    Thanks!
    Windows 10, after installation RSAT – error “MMC cannot open the file C:\Windows\system32\virtmgmt.msc”.

    This advice helped

  • Sybiou

    Hello.

    Sorry for my english, please.

    Your post working for me with a windows server 2012 std R2, but with a small difference :
    the extension file .msc was simply absent for my eventvwr file
    I restore it, reregister the dll and it work it.
    Thanks a lot for your help !

    Sybiou

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