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Error message description

When you tried to open Device Manager or the Computer Management window, you received an error message that resembles the following:

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

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

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you'd rather fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.




NoteThis wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

NoteIf you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or a CD so that you can run it on the computer that has the problem.


Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Let me fix it myself


This issue may occur when one or more of the .dll files that are used by the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) are missing or corrupted. These files include the following:

  • Msxml.dll

  • Msxml2.dll

  • Msxml3.dll

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

  2. At the command prompt, type cd %windir%\system32, and then press ENTER.

    Note The %Windir% folder is the folder where you installed Microsoft Windows.

  3. Type the following commands. Press ENTER after each command.

    Regsvr32 Msxml.dll

    Regsvr32 Msxml2.dll

    Regsvr32 Msxml3.dll

  4. Type exit, and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.

  5. Restart the computer.

Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support.

More information

An .msc file for the MMC is closely related to Microsoft Internet Explorer. The .msc file uses the same .dll files as Internet Explorer. Additionally, the .msc file contains a list of all the .dll files that are used by Internet Explorer and the MMC.

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