MMC Could Not Create The Snap-in

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is an inbuilt feature in Windows operating system that lets you to manage snap-in on the go (you can run mmc.exe command to access it) and provides a graphical user interface (GUI). The snap-ins are nothing but a basic component of a console. In the language of set theory, we can say that if a console is a set, then snap-in is its sub-set.

The various snap-ins available in Windows 8 or later editions are Event Viewer, Services, Group Policy Editor, Task Scheduler, Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP), Print Management, Windows Firewall with advance security, Performance Monitor, Device Manager, Disk Management etc. It uses a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) in an environment similar to Microsoft’s Windows Explorer.

Sometimes, there may be a possibility of scenario in which some snap-ins may not work properly. Especially, if the registry configuration of a snap-in is broken (note that Registry Editor is not a snap-in), the snap-in initialization would fail. In this case, you’re likely to get following error message (an specific message in case of Event Viewer):

MMC could not create the snap-in. The snap-in might not have been installed correctly.
 Name: Event Viewer
 CLSID: FX:{b05566ad-fe9c-4363-be05-7a4cbb7cb510}

MMC cannot initialize the snap-in.

Fix MMC Could Not Create The Snap-in error

Fix Error Solution #1: Rename mmc.exe.config

You may navigate to the location of the file in C:\Windows\System32 and try to rename mmc.exe.config to mmc.exe.config.old. Thereafter, check if the issue persists.

Fix Error Solution #2: Initiate the Microsoft .net Framework

This solution might Fix MMC Could Not Create The Snap-in error but if it doesn’t then follow the next solution #3

1. Right click on the windows button and select control panel. Then click on programs.
2. Now select “Turn Windows features on or off” under Programs and Features.
3. Now select “Microsoft .net Framework 3.5“. You have to expand each component and check the ones you want to turn on.
4. Click “OK” and then restart the computer and check if the issue is fixed if not then go to the next step.
5. To finish this steps you may run the Oficial System File Checker Tool. It might fix the issue.

Fix Error Solution #3: Registry Editor

NOTE: The further steps will involve registry manipulation. Making mistakes while manipulating registry could affect your system adversely. So be careful while editing registry entries and create a System Restore point first.

1. Press Windows Key + R and type “regedit” in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor. Click OK.
2. In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\ and search for the error number specified in CLSID. In this case: FX:{b05566ad-fe9c-4363-be05-7a4cbb7cb510}
3. In the above shown, right click on the FX:{b05566ad-fe9c-4363-be05-7a4cbb7cb510} and select Export. This will let you to backup the registry key into .reg file. Next, right click on same key and this time select Delete.
4. Finally, in the confirmation box, select Yes to delete the registry key finally. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your system.

After restarting the machine, Windows would automatically generate the required registry configuration for the Event Manager and this solves the problem.  You can solve the similar error messages for different CLSID‘s for different snap-ins.