HH.exe and .chm files are not cooperating

[XxLicherxX]

Hello everyone,

I am having a problem with getting .chm help files to display properly.
Everytime I try opening them up using HH.exe, I get an Internet
Explorer page on the right saying this page cannot be displayed. I have
tried replacing my HH.exe with a known good copy off of another
machine, but no luck.

The weird thing is, I opened Frontpage, selected open (all files *.*)
and opened the .chm file. Frontpage executed HH.exe and the .chm file
opened just fine.

I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 2 with the latest updates (up
through Tuesday June 14).

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

To repair all system files, go to Start/Run, and type: SFC /SCANNOW

 

[XxLicherxX]

Hi Mark,

I gave that a shot, but no luck. I am still having the same problem.
Any other ideas?

Your Antispyware FAQ was interesting

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I would try repairing all.

To repair all system files, go to Start/Run, and type: SFC /SCANNOW

Next, if no help, an Upgrade or Repair setup.

If you run an XP "Upgrade"setup, from the original, or "Gold" version of the setup CD, and you have SP2 installed, it might go into
a setup loop, and you could lose your install. Uninstall SP2, BEFORE you Upgrade setup from CD (that lacks sp2 on it.)
875350 - How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=875350 How to
Perform a Windows XP Repair Install: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[PD.Lees]

XxLicherxX,

I am having a problem with getting .chm help files to display properly.
Everytime I try opening them up using HH.exe, I get an Internet
Explorer page on the right saying this page cannot be displayed.
...
I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 2 with the latest updates (up
through Tuesday June 14).

Did you have any problems viewing the contents of HTML Help files
before you installed the latest security updates (specifically
MS05-026, as described in article
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896358)? If not, it's likely that
Windows is now blocking access to certain help files as a security
measure. The contents of help files that you downloaded to your hard
drive from the Internet, or that are stored on a shared network drive
in an intranet, are now blocked unless you use the workarounds
described in article 896358 and in these articles:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896054
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=902225

However, if the latest security updates aren't the cause of the
problem, you could try the following:

1) Use MJ's Help Diagnostics to check that all the help viewer
components are properly installed and registered.

http://helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#MJs

The only section of the MJ's Help Report that is relevant to your
problem is the one headed "HTML Help Run-time Components".

2) Delete or rename the file hh.dat, which you should find in this
hidden subdirectory:

\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML Help

The hh.dat file stores user-specific information on all the HTML Help
files on your system (favourite topics, changes that you've made to the
size and position of a help window, etc.), and can cause the files to
misbehave if it has somehow been corrupted. Windows will create a new
version of hh.dat when you next open any .chm file.

3) Empty your Temporary Internet Files directory (in Internet Explorer,
Tools > Internet Options > General tab > Delete Files). A full TIF
directory can cause the help files to misbehave.

4) See this page for further guidance on how to resolve XP-specific
help problems:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm (scroll down to "Help" topics)

 

[XxLicherxX]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for your response, You are correct that the problem is a result
of the 896358. I copied the help file over to the local drive and it
worked great. I even downloaded the update to another system and got
the same behavior. I have looked at the knowledge base articles and the
workarounds, but these don't solve the problem. How do I uninstall this
update?

 

[PD.Lees]

XxLicherxX,

Thanks for your response, You are correct that the problem is a result
of the 896358. I copied the help file over to the local drive and it
worked great. I even downloaded the update to another system and got
the same behavior. I have looked at the knowledge base articles and the
workarounds, but these don't solve the problem. How do I uninstall this
update?

You can do so via Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. You'll need to
select the Show Updates checkbox at the top of the Add or Remove
Programs dialog box to see the update.

Before you do this, I'd be inclined to give the registry fix one last
try. If you save the following text to a file called MaxAllowedZone.reg
and then run this on one of the affected machines, can you then access
HTML Help files stored on the network from that machine?

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001

 

[XxLicherxX]

Hi Pete,

I gave that registry file a try, but still no luck. Please let me know
if there is another work around available.

Dave

 

[TPro]

Hi Pete,

I gave that registry file a try, but still no luck. Please let me know
if there is another work around available.

Dave

Dave

I was experiencing the same exact issue with CHM files (Indexe
appeared but the content errored out with "Action Canceled" ) on 4 ou
of 5 machines. The only PC that was behaving correctly, Hosts th
external drive where I maintain documentation (chm, pdf, txt, etc..)
After reading your posts I pulled the chm files to each machines *loca
C drive* and everything was fine. **note accessing files remotely fro
my networked documention drive continued to error out.

However, before stumbling on this site I did find a post a
http://tinyurl.com/bgcol which linked to a Developers documentatio
tool that can either replace or coexist and append hh.exe. I DID NO
INSTALL THIS as the fix above resolved the issue without comprimisin
my systems. The app description and download be found here
http://www.keyworks.net/
As a developer I may give some of the tools a shot, but I just lov
giving those red ribbon packages .

Anyway I hope this first post works for you. Some other notes o
tracing this issue...
Some one pointed to Microsoft as a culprit. Sadly this looks like th
truth as all 5 machines have the same date and time stamp 5/26 fo
hh.exe, read MS Update services.

TPr