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Registering a Snap-in for an Optional Service

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A service is considered optional if it may or may not be installed on a target machine. A design goal of the Computer Management snap-in is to list an optional service under the Services and Applications node only if the service is installed. In other words, the snap-in for an optional service should appear under the Services and Applications node in the Computer Management snap-in only if the service (not just the service's snap-in) is installed. To satisfy the intended Computer Management user experience, the snap-in for an optional service must extend the Services and Applications node. Be aware that only dynamic extensions should extend the Services and Applications node type, and only in the manner described here. When using a snap-in to manage an optional service, follow these Steps:

  1. During installation of your service, register your snap-in CLSID as a value under the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Server Applications

    The name of the value is {snapinCLSID}, where snapinCLSID is the class identifier for your extension. The value type should be REG_SZ, and the value data should be a description of your snap-in.

    Be aware that you should add the registry value only when the service (not the service's snap-in) is installed.

  2. During installation of the service's snap-in, register the service's snap-in as an extension. For more information about registering your service's snap-in as an extension, see Registration Requirements for Extension Snap-ins.

    Also, register your service's snap-in as a dynamic extension for the Services and Applications node type, by adding your snap-in CLSID as a value under the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MMC\NodeTypes\{476E6449-AAFF-11D0-B944-00C04FD8D5B0}\Dynamic Extensions

    The name of the value is {snapinCLSID}, where snapinCLSID is the class identifier of your extension (the same value used in Step 1 above). The value type should be REG_SZ, and the value data should be a description of your snap-in.

Note

When your extension is uninstalled, remove registry values added for the extension during installation.

To have your snap-in automatically installed, you can register your snap-in with the Class Store for every domain. The Class Store will download your snap-in to a target machine where it is not already installed. For more information, see Publishing COM+ Services.