Help And support does not open

  • Thread starter Thread starter Darrell Shuman
  • Start date Start date
D

Darrell Shuman

When I select Help and Support in the start menu, nothing happens. The
hourglass appears for a millisecond then nothing. How can I
repair this short of reinstalling XP (Pro). I have tried running Doug
Knox's fixwinxphelp, I have tried running C:\Windows\inf\pchealth.inf but I
can't find the file on my Dell OS reinstallation CD. I have tried the
Microsoft site and can't find anything specific.My computer is new (Dell
8300)
Thanks for your help
 
Hi Darrell,

Known issue with Dell systems. Try to launch helpctr.exe manually. If that works, and the problem is seen only with the Start Menu > Help and Support link, try the steps below:

Click Start, Run and type:

REGSVR32 /i SHELL32

Then, open Registry Editor and navigate to:

[HKEY CLASSES ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
Delete the value named "Param1"

To know why this happened, read this note from Kelly:

<quote>
On a Dell system it will look like this: Start/Run/Regedit

[HKEY CLASSES ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\
InitPropertyBag]

"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Command"="Dell Solution Center"
"Param1"="c:\\Program Files\\Dell\\SolutionCenter\\DellSC.exe"

To return to XP Default, delete the Param1 line and modify the rest to match:

[HKEY CLASSES ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f1-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]

"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="Help"
"command"="@shell32.dll,-12709"

Once done hit refresh, then Help and Support.
</quote>


--
Ramesh - Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Shell/User
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k

AumHa VSOP: http://www.aumha.org

When I select Help and Support in the start menu, nothing happens. The
hourglass appears for a millisecond then nothing. How can I
repair this short of reinstalling XP (Pro). I have tried running Doug
Knox's fixwinxphelp, I have tried running C:\Windows\inf\pchealth.inf but I
can't find the file on my Dell OS reinstallation CD. I have tried the
Microsoft site and can't find anything specific.My computer is new (Dell
8300)
Thanks for your help
 
Hi Darrell,

On a Dell system it will look like this: Start/Run/Regedit

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]

"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Command"="Dell Solution Center"
"Param1"="c:\\Program Files\\Dell\\SolutionCenter\\DellSC.exe"

To return to XP Default, delete the Param1 line and modify the rest to
match:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f1-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]

"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="Help"
"command"="@shell32.dll,-12709"

Once done hit refresh, then Help and Support. If you are needing to remove
the link under Run and modify Online Support via IE as well, post back.
 
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