I am trying to connect via the Configuration Manager Console on a workstation to our SCCM 2007 SP2 server with a user that is not a local admin on the SCCM server itself. I have added the necessary user rights for the classes of things this user needs to see in the SCCM console. The new user was automatically added to the SMS Admins group on the SCCM server. However, when launching the SCCM console as that new user, the console just sits at "Connecting to Site Database..." and never connects. If I add that user to the local Administrators group on the SCCM server, then they can connect to the site Database and it works. What do I need to do to make this work for the new user without adding them to the local Administrators group? Thanks.

You need to add them (or a group they belong to) to the local group "SMS Admins". Note that the name of that group does NOT "necessarily" mean they are an administrator of your entire ConfigMgr; what that group really does is grant them rights to connect remotely to WMI--since the Console works on WMI calls; that's why it is necessary. If that alone doesn't work, "sometimes" you may also need to add them to the local "Distributed com Users" group. PS: note I mentioned "not necessarily" above? That's because that although out of the box that's all the local group "SMS Admins" does--grants rights to launch the console at all, but not rights inside the console, depending upon how security was setup in the +Security area for classes...it may be possible that whomever set that up did a simple "clone" and the local group of "sms admins" is a full admin of your console. Only you would know; by looking. If that's the case, let us know. It's relatively easy to fix that. Standardize. Simplify. Automate.

Adding them to the "Distributed com Users" group did the trick and now it works properly. Thanks!