Device manager

Recently, when I try and run Device Manager, I get the following error;
"MMC cannot initialize the snap-in".
An error pop-up window appears twice, clicking ok then opens an empty device
manager window.
This was not always the case so at some point something has changed.
Any solutions welcome.
O.S. = Windows Vista home premium.

The file used to open device manager -- devmgmt.msc -- is located in
c:\windows\system32

When I've seen this before, the easy way to fix it was to simply replace it

It is actually just an xml file--nothing fancy.

you can copy it from another machine and put it in your c:\windows\system32
directory--in fact, you can even use an XP devmgmt.msc file (I just checked)





"Captainswoosh" <Captainswoosh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F39A5DCA-08FE-42E2-85E1-BD24FABEAD44@microsoft.com...
> Recently, when I try and run Device Manager, I get the following error;
> "MMC cannot initialize the snap-in".
> An error pop-up window appears twice, clicking ok then opens an empty
> device
> manager window.
> This was not always the case so at some point something has changed.
> Any solutions welcome.
> O.S. = Windows Vista home premium.
>

Further information;

I copied Devmgmt.msc from the System32 folder to desktop.

If I run this, device manager works.

Could there be a security / access issue when I try to run device manager
from control panel?

Also, if I run MMC.exe, I can add devmgmt.msc snap-in and device manager
displays correctly this way.