MMC plugin failure on Windows 7

  • 7003177
  • 06-Apr-2012
  • 26-Apr-2012

Environment

Microsoft Windows 2008 R1 SP1 32 bit
Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64 bit
Novell SecureLogin 7 SP2 HF3 installed in AD mode

Situation

On the Windows 7 workstation install "Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1)" from the URL:  http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=7887

Once installed open control panel, then programs and features, then click on "Turn Windows features on or off".

Now in the Windows features window scroll down and expand "Remote Server Administration Tools", then "Role Administration Tools", then "AD DS and AD LDS Tools", then select "Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell".. Also in the same branch expand "AD DS Tools" and select the options "Active Directory
Administrative Center" and "AD DS Snap-ins and Command-line Tools". Finally click Ok.

After the features have been completed then navigate to Start/Administrative Tools/Active Directory Users and Computers.

Once inside MMC simply click on the menu option Edit/Find. Enter a text string to locate a user within the AD tree. Once located then right click and select properties. There will be no SecureLogin tab. Just navigating to the user
object within MMC and opening the properties will display the tab correctly. 

Performing a find within MMC on the AD server results in the tab being displayed correctly. The problem seems to only occur with the find activity within the remote administration version of MMC running on Windows 7.

Resolution

Follow the below steps to resolve this issue:
1. Login as Administrator to the Windows 7 machine (not the server where AD is installed).
2. Edit the registry and add the following keys.
    2a. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{fe1290f0-cfbd-11cf-a330-00aa00c16e65}\AllObjects\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\{0A8228A8-78F4-475a-BA1A-4E38E619D8DF}]
    2b. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{fe1290f0-cfbd-11cf-a330-00aa00c16e65}\AllObjects\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\{0A8228A8-78F4-475a-BA1A-4E38E619D8DF}]
3. Now go to "Active Directory Users and Computers" snap in and search for a user using "find". Check the properties of the user to see the SecureLogin MMC plugin tab is now present.

Cause

Because the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) application is installed on a non-server based platform the NSL plugin is not correctly associated. By adding these registry keys the Remote Server Administration tool will invoke the NSL plugin correctly.