Scripting MMC with vbscript - vbscript

Question

I would like to add a snap in via vbscript and I have been having a problem getting the snap in to add to the console. It will be run in a Windows 7 environment. If someone could have a look see and direct me in the right direction I would be most grateful. Thanks.
<code>
'Elevated privileges start
'Start of UAC workaround code
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If WScript.Arguments.length =0 Then
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
objShell.ShellExecute "wscript.exe", Chr(34) & _
WScript.ScriptFullName & Chr(34) & " uac", "", "runas", 1
Else
consoleName = "C:\Burnett.msc"
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If fso.FileExists(consoleName) Then
Wscript.Echo "console already exists"
Else
On Error Resume Next
Set objMMC = CreateObject("MMC20.Application")
If err.Number <> 0 Then
Wscript.Echo "an error occurred. unable to create mmc console"
Wscript.Quit(0)
End If
objMMC.Show
Set objDoc = objMMC.Document
objDoc.snapins.add("Local Computer\Non-Administrators")
if err then
'Trap the error just after the statement where an error/exception can occur and handle it elegantly
msgbox("Snap-in Not found")
err.clear
end if
objDoc.ActiveView.StatusBarText = "Pane 1|Pane 2|Pane 3"
objMMC.UserControl = 1
objDoc.Name = consoleName
objDoc.Save()
End If
Set fso = Nothing
End If
</code>

Answer 1

"Local Computer\Non-Administrators" is just a system-supplied description for the particular configuration of a snap-in. In this case, the actual snap-in name is "Group Policy Object Editor". Thus to eliminate the error in the code change
objDoc.snapins.add("Local Computer\Non-Administrators")
to
objDoc.snapins.add("Group Policy Object Editor")
Unfortunately, this will only get you as far as MMC putting up a "Select Group Policy Object" dialog. You will then have to manually select the configuration you need using that dialog. As far as I can tell there is no way to supply Snapins.Add with the parameters to select the local non-admin users.
The code below will fully automate the process of setting up the snap-in. However, its reliance on SendKeys makes it extremely brittle. It worked on my system, but there's a good chance you'll need to modify the sequence of key strokes and/or the timing delays to make it work on your system. And once you get it working, there's no guarantee it will continue to do so as local conditions are mutable and can greatly effect the timing.
option explicit
if WScript.Arguments.Named.Exists("elevated") = false then
'Launch the script again with UAC permissions
CreateObject("Shell.Application").ShellExecute "wscript.exe", """" & WScript.ScriptFullName & """ /elevated", "", "runas", 1
WScript.Quit
end if
Dim mmc : set mmc = WScript.CreateObject("MMC20.Application")
mmc.Show
mmc.UserControl = 1 'to keep MMC open
Dim oShell : set oShell = WScript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
oShell.AppActivate "Console1"
WScript.Sleep 200
oShell.SendKeys "%f"
WScript.Sleep 200
oShell.SendKeys "m"
WScript.Sleep 400
oShell.SendKeys "group{TAB}{ENTER}"
WScript.Sleep 1000
oShell.SendKeys "{TAB}{ENTER}"
WScript.Sleep 1000
oShell.SendKeys "{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{RIGHT}{TAB}Non{ENTER}"
WScript.Sleep 1000
oShell.SendKeys "{TAB}{TAB}{ENTER}"
WScript.Sleep 1000
oShell.SendKeys "{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{TAB}{ENTER}"