! Windows XP home help (winhlp32 stub) issue.

[Gareee©]

Hey guys.... Doug Knox helped me with this 2 years ago, and I cannot
duplicte the fix on my sp2 xp home any longer.

Best Buy sold the VPR Matrix systems 2 years ago, with a recover disk.
Windows xp's scannow function to repair system files will not work, because
it does not recognise our recover disks as xp home install disks.

They modified the system32 winhlp32 stub file to have a best buy logo on
it.. but it breaks windows' xp's help system for files that use it.

The filesize of this replaced file is 8kb, and the normal winhlp32 stub file
size is 260kb

Under xp prior to sp2, you could just replace the sytem file, and all was
well, but under the sp2 install, windows file protection replaces the
correct file, with it's broken one when replacement is atttempted.

In addition, I cannot get the hex hack to disable windows file protection to
work, because when I try to copy the changed sfc_os.dll file, I get an error
that it is in use, and cannot be replaced.

So I can't disable the windows file protection system in sp2, and cannot
replace the bad dll file with the good one, because windows just keeps
replacing my change with it's installed bad version.

Best Buy is no help at all.

Is there ANY way to disable the windows file protection system so I can fix
this issue? I have the correct stub file, but just can't get it to "stick"
in my system 32 folder.

I CAN open help files manually, because I associated them with the proper
file in another location, but they cannot be opened from within applications
themselves.

I did fix this on my wife's system prior to updating to sp2, but cannot now
fix it on my own system.

In other words, HELP!

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Cleopatra killed the people who brought her bad news. Hopefully I will fare better<g>

Your system lacks the tools to 'repair' the system, after setup, and depends on you doing a 'backup' of the system state.

SP2 CAN be removed with a System Restore.
875350 - How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=875350

(If I'm wrong about this Best Buy system, and a repair is possible)
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Without Repair, you would need to restore from backup, or do a 'destructive reinstall' (not what you need, of course)

My shot at getting there would be a remove of SP2, then hack in the help like this:
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/Helpfix.txt and then re-update to SP2.

(You probably have the sp2 update files still on the system, run again from ../softwaredistribution/(some GUID)/update/update.exe )

One final caution... removing sp2 puts the system in a slightly unstable state, and you should only do the help fix, then re-update.
Running normally, after an sp2 remove can be unstable.

 

[Gareee©]

Isn't there ANY other way to correct this? I *LITERALLY* had to reinstall xp
home 17 times, with ALL the patches and updates to get my system stable
again.. and it takes *4 HOURS* to start the reinstall process, and then add
all the windows updates.

And then after that, you need to reinstall all your programs again, and I
did that 4 times already this monst.. almost 2 FULL WEEKS of xp
reinstallation hell.

There *really* needs to be a way to turn off the system file protection
system, and why they made the change they did makes no sense at all, for IT
support, or for gerneral windows xp installation repairs.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

The protection is done with what they call a 'hotfix'. These are verified with the Microsoft VeriSign 'certificate'. Not something
you are going to get to use anytime soon<g>.