"Snap-in failed to initialize" error message when you click "Services and Applications" in Computer Management on a computer that is running Live Communications Server 2005 (889443)

Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

When you click Services and Applications in Computer Management, you receive the following error message:

Snap-in failed to initialize.
Name: Live Communications Server
CLSID: GUID

In this message, GUID is one of the following GUIDs:

{7E552F62-F09C-4E6E-B48B-304C33533185}
{79B7C389-B490-45E7-8579-BEAACB91804D}

Note To start Computer Management, click Start, click Run, type compmgmt.msc, and then click OK.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the following conditions are true:

You install the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 Administration Tools.
You install the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 Administration Tools.
You remove both versions of the Administration Tools from your computer.

This problem occurs because a component from the Live Communications Server 2003 Administration Tools is assigned the same GUID as a component from the Live Communications Server 2005 Administration Tools. Therefore, this component becomes a shared component. This shared component manages a registry entry that is different for each version of the Live Communications Server Administration Tools.

When you remove either version of the Live Communications Server Administration Tools, this shared component is not removed. Therefore, when you remove the remaining version of the Administration Tools, the registry value that corresponds to those Administration Tools is removed, but the registry value for the first Administration Tools installation is not removed from the registry.

Note This problem does not affect the functionality of Live Communications Server 2003 or of Live Communications Server 2005.

WORKAROUND

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To work around this problem, remove all instances of the GUID that appears in the error message from the Windows registry. To do this, follow these steps:

Note the GUID that appears in the error message that you receive when you click Services and Applications in the Computer Management.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
In the left pane, click My Computer, and then click Find on the Edit menu.
In the Find what box, type the GUID that appears in the error message.

For example, type {7E552F62-F09C-4E6E-B48B-304C33533185}.
Click Find Next.
Right-click the item that is found, and then click Delete.
When you receive the following message, click Yes:Are you sure you want to delete this key and all of its subkeys?
Press F3 to search for the next instance of this GUID.
Follow steps 6 through 8 to remove all instances of this GUID from the registry.
Quit Registry Editor.

"Snap-in failed to initialize" error message when you click "Services and Applications" in Computer Management on a computer that is running Live Communications Server 2005 (889443)

SYMPTOMS

CAUSE

WORKAROUND

STATUS

MORE INFORMATION