Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is a component of Windows 2000 and its successors that provides system administrators and advanced users an interface for configuring and monitoring the system.
The management console can host Component Object Model components called snap-ins. Most of Microsoft’s administration tools are implemented as MMC snap-ins. Third parties can also implement their own snap-ins using the MMC’s application programming interfaces published on the Microsoft Developer Network’s web site.
Snap-ins are registered in the [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT]\{CLSID} and [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MMC\Snapins] registry keys. A snap-in combined with MMC is called a management saved console, which is a file with .msc extension and can be launched using this syntax: mmc path \ filename.msc [/a] [/64] [/32].
The most prolific MMC component, Computer Management, appears in the “Administrative Tools” folder in the Control Panel, under “System and Security” in Category View. Computer Management actually consists of a collection of MMC snap-ins, including the Device Manager, Disk Defragmenter, Internet Information Services (if installed), Disk Management, Event Viewer, Local Users and Groups (except in the home editions of Windows), Shared Folders, and other tools. Computer Management can also be pointed at another Windows machine altogether, allowing for monitoring and configuration of other computers on the local network that the user has access to.
Other MMC snap-ins in common use include:
- Microsoft Exchange Server
- Active Directory Users and Computers, Domains and Trusts, and Sites and Services
- Group Policy Management, including the Local Security Policy snap-in included on all Windows 2000 and later systems (Home editions of Microsoft Windows disable this snap-in)
- Services snap-in, for managing Windows services
- Performance snap-in, for monitoring system performance and metrics
- Event Viewer, for monitoring system and application events