Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is a component of Microsoft Windows that provides system administrators and advanced users an interface for configuring and monitoring the system. It was first introduced in 1998 with the Option Pack for Windows NT 4.0 and later came pre-bundled with Windows 2000 and its successors.
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,[1] which is a file with .msc extension and can be launched using this syntax: mmc path \ filename.msc [/a] [/64] [/32].
Common snap-ins
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, Services snap-in, for managing Windows services, Certificates 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.
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 versions of Windows 2000 and later (Home editions of Microsoft Windows disable this snap-in)
Performance snap-in, for monitoring system performance and metrics
MMC 3.0, shipped with Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows XP SP3[4] and every subsequent versions of Windows up to Windows 11. Also downloadable for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1. New features:[5]
A new "Actions pane", displayed on the right-hand side of the MMC user interface that displays available actions for currently-selected node