Null reference exception when trying to open the BTS admin console

BizTalk Administration Console applications node throws the error 'object reference not set to an instance of an object' and refuses to open

I have been having issues with WMI on my dev VM. It literally feels like the VM is a living thing! I come in in the morning and it presents me with a brand new issue to resolve each day. Being on a time-starined project and therefore not having the time to rebuild the entire VM, I keep 'patching' the VM just to cross the finish line. It must be noted that none of the issues affect the actual code I am developing, just the environment in which I have to unit test things before handing over to test.

So the latest one this grey monday morning was this: I started up the VM, opened BizTalk server admin console and presto! I get an error when trying to expand the applications node. The error is basically that dreaded 'object reference not set to an instance of an object' error that every developer using Microsoft / .Net products dreads. The schpiel is a litany of the sort 'microsoft.biztalk.exceptionmessagebox.btsexceptionmessagebox' blah blah blah... but I had no doubt whatsoever (and still have none) that it wouldn't lead me any closer to the real problem.

As it turns out, it is due to the BizTalk WMI namespace being corrupted. I was not surprised to find that out since WMI had been trying to be my nemesis on this project for a few days now, and I have (even surprising myself) somehow managed to limit the time damages and soldier on with the deliveries nonetheless, fixing each new problem it threw at me on a daily basis.

The fix is simple.

Open a command prompt window and browse to the WMI folder (C:\windows\system32\wbem).
Type in the following command (I am using BizTalk 2013, but this problem could happen with any versiobn of BTS, so use the correct folder path)... mofcomp "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013\Bins32\BTSWMISchema.mof"

That should rebuild your namespaces nicely.

Now try to re-open the BTS admin console and you should be able to see the applications.