Q. How can I enable the RAS Dial-in tab on Windows XP computers that run Administration Tools?

A. To enable the RAS Dial-in tab in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in on an XP machine running the Administration Tools distribution package (Adminpak.msi), perform the following steps:

1. Create a registry file called dialin.reg. To do this, open a new file in a text editor such as Notepad, copy and paste the following text in the file, and name it dialin.reg:

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 
   
   [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RasDialin.UserAdminExt]
   @="" 
   
   [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RasDialin.UserAdminExt\CLSID]
   @="{B52C1E50-1DD2-11D1-BC43-00C04FC31FD3}" 
   
   [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RasDialin.UserAdminExt.1]
   @="" 
   
   [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RasDialin.UserAdminExt.1\CLSID]
   @="{B52C1E50-1DD2-11D1-BC43-00C04FC31FD3}"
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\NodeTypes{19195a5b-6da0-11d0-afd3-00c04fd930c9}\Extensions\NameSpace]
   "{B52C1E50-1DD2-11D1-BC43-00C04FC31FD3}"="RAS Dialin - User Node Extension"

2. Merge dialin.reg with your XP registry, or run the following command from the command prompt:

   regedit /s dialin.reg

3. Open a command prompt in XP and type the following commands, where ServerName is a Windows Server 2003 domain controller (DC) that has the Adminpak.msi installed:

   cd /d %SystemRoot%\System32
   copy \\ServerName\Admin$\System32\mprsnap.dll *.*
   copy \\ServerName\Admin$\System32\rasuser.dll *.*
   copy \\ServerName\Admin$\System32\rtrfiltr.dll *.*
   regsvr32 rasuser.dll

4. Click OK to acknowledge the registration of the rasuser library. Your remote XP system should now have the RAS Dial-in tab.

Thanks to reader Bob Kroeger for providing this tip in response to the FAQ, "I use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in from a remote computer. I've noticed that certain Property tabs are missing. Can I restore the tabs?", at http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 42256.