.chm bug "Page cannot be displayed"

[Philipp Roos]

Hi,

--- Problem
I had the problem that some of my .chm help files didn't work and the viewer
displayed a error like "This program cannot display the webpage"
(german:"Dieses Programm kann die Webseite nicht anzeigen.")

Strangely enough some other files worked fine.

--- Trying
I tried some solutions I found, but they all did not work. Anyway here is
what i did:
1. delete C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\HTML Help\hh.dat

2. clearing %tmp%

3. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902225/

4. Registry
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\HHRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001
"EnableFrameNavigationInSafeMode"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000003

I also adapted the path for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\2.0\
which seems to be the new folder.

5. set user rights to full file access

--- Solution
Finally I found out the it is depending on the path the .chm file is placed.
It did not work if the path to the file includes a # char anywhere in the
string.
If you have the chm file open and right click on the help file in the task
bar there is a menu item "Jump to URL..." (German: "Zur URL springen...")
which displays the current URL. Here you can see what went wrong:

mkMSITStore:C:\Program%20Files\/#System\#Virtual\xVM%20VirtualBox\sdk\doc\VirtualBoxAPI.chm::/index.html

Some function placed a / in the path, i guess to escape the first #

To avoid the problem you can copy the help file to another directory and it
works just fine:

mkMSITStore:C:\Downloads\NSIS.chm::/Contents.html

I guess the problem is that the # char is allowed in directory paths but not
in URls.

--- Used Versions
HTML Help Control Version 6.0
IE 7.0.6001.18000
Vista SP1 (32bit)

Have a nice day.

Greetings Philipp

 

[Pete Lees]

Hi, Philipp,

I had the problem that some of my .chm help files didn't work and the viewer
displayed a error like "This program cannot display the webpage"
(german:"Dieses Programm kann die Webseite nicht anzeigen.")

Finally I found out the it is depending on the path the .chm file is placed.
It did not work if the path to the file includes a # char anywhere in the
string.

Yes, that's right. There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article on this issue:

"BUG: No Text or Access Violation Error When Reading a Help File"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319247

Pete