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How to check the MMC snap-in version on Windows 2000

The_Exchange_Team's avatar
The_Exchange_Team
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Feb 13, 2004

Now - this is one of those things that should be easy and obvious. How do you figure out what version (or build) a specific MMC snap-in is? For example - how do you find out if the ADC management MMC snap-in or ESM MMC snap-in have been updated to SP3 or some other build?

Why would you ever want to know anyway? Well, there were some issues that have been fixed in Exchange MMC snap-ins too. For example - you do not want to use Exchange 2000 ESM straight off the CD to change recipient policies, as there was a problem with that scenario that was fixed in Exchange 2000 Service Pack 1. You might need to install a specific version of MMC when troubleshooting or using tools like PFADMIN, for example. As an organization gets bigger, ESM and other MMC snap-ins are loaded on workstations for Administration purposes and - it is easy to forget...

On Windows 2003 - we made it easy. If you go to Help menu, there will be two options there - one for the MMC itself and one for the MMC snap-in itself. For example - it may say: "About Exchange System…" or "About Active Directory Connector…" If you click on that, it will tell you what build your MMC snap-in is at. By "snap-in" I mean not the MMC itself (which comes with Windows and will usually be of the build your system is at) but the component that is, in this case, installed by Exchange or ADC Setup.

On Windows 2000, the way to find out is a bit harder:

  1. Go to Start > Run and then type MMC and press ENTER
  2. When blank MMC window opens up, go to Console > Add/Remove Snap-in
  3. On the "Standalone" tab, press the ADD button
  4. On the "Add Standalone Snap-in" window, scroll to the snap-in that you want to examine for version, select it and press ADD. You might get prompted for the server that this snap-in should connect to.
  5. Once you are back to the "Standalone" tab, select the snap-in that is now added to the list and press the ABOUT button.

That is basically it - on this window, you will see the actual build of component that is installed on the machine. Now you can use the following article to cross-reference that to the common versions and figure out which service pack this belongs to:
158530 XGEN: Build Numbers and Release Dates for Exchange Server
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=158530

Nino Bilic

Published Feb 13, 2004
Version 1.0
  • Baibhab1605's avatar
    Baibhab1605
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 05, 2023

    To check the MMC (Microsoft Management Console) snap-in version on Windows 2000, you can follow these steps:

    1. Click on the "Start" button in the bottom left corner of your desktop.

    2. Go to "Run" and type "mmc" without quotes and press Enter. This will open the Microsoft Management Console.

    3. In the MMC, click on "File" in the menu bar and then select "Add/Remove Snap-in..."

    4. In the "Add/Remove Snap-in" window, you will see a list of available snap-ins. Select the snap-in whose version you want to check and click the "Add" button.

    5. Once you've added the snap-in, it will appear in the "Selected snap-ins" list. Highlight the snap-in and click the "Properties" button.

    6. In the snap-ins properties window, you should see information about the snap-in, including its version number.

    7. Take note of the version number to determine the MMC snap-in version.

    Please note that Windows 2000 is an outdated operating system, and support for it ended a long time ago. It is highly recommended to upgrade to a more modern and secure operating system if possible. My Blog