Windows "HELP" fails after SP4 install

[Michael Foley]

I have a Sony Vaio laptop computer running an OEM version
of Windows 2000 Professional that has been running fine
with Microsoft's SP2 service pack upgrade. Yesterday I
installed the SP4 service pack update. After installing
SP4, my Windows "HELP" section no longer acts properly.
When I click on link in "HELP" such as "Device Manager"
or "Disk Manager" or "More Information" I receive an error
message.

I need the SP4 upgrade because I want to install a new
program that requires SP4, but I also need my "help"
section to work properly. Any advice on how to resolve
this issue?

 

[Pete Lees]

Michael,

I have a Sony Vaio laptop computer running an OEM version
of Windows 2000 Professional that has been running fine
with Microsoft's SP2 service pack upgrade. Yesterday I
installed the SP4 service pack update. After installing
SP4, my Windows "HELP" section no longer acts properly.

There is something in SP4 that breaks the registry entries for the
HTML Help ActiveX control, which is the component that provides the
navigation facilities in the help files. (Probably a security patch
for Internet Explorer is to blame.)

Most people find that they can fix this problem by unregistering the
ActiveX control and then re-registering it. To do this, run the
following two commands from a command prompt:

regsvr32 /u <drive>:\winnt\system32\hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 <drive>:\winnt\system32\hhctrl.ocx