Symptom

When you right-click the My Computer icon in the Desktop and choose Manage, Computer Management console does not launch and the following error message may appear:

Access is denied

Resolution

See if you're able to invoke the Computer Management console by typing the following in Start, Run:

%windir%\system32\mmc.exe /s %windir%\system32\compmgmt.msc

Case 1: If the above command line works

The Manage sub-menu invokes the above command line. This means that the concerned registry value must be of type REG_EXPAND_SZ, and not REG_SZ or any other type. To fix the problem, apply the file manage.reg available at the bottom of this page. To apply the file, save the file to Desktop. Right-click the file and choose Merge.

Case 2: If the above command line does not work

If you receive the following error when you run the above command, then the problem occurs if the windir environment variable is missing. As a result %windir% variable cannot be resolved by your system.

Windows cannot find '%windir%\system32\mmc.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.

To fix the problem, use these steps:

  • Login as Administrator or to an equivalent user account.
  • Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  • Click the Advanced tab. Click Environment variables.
  • Under System variables, click New to add a new variable.
  • Type windir as the Variable name.
  • Type C:\Windows as the variable value. (see note below)
  • Click OK, OK to close the dialog.

Note: The above assumes that Windows is installed in C:\Windows directory. If Windows is installed to a different drive/directory, you will need to adjust the above path accordingly.

Page was last modified on Nov 15, 2006