HTML Help Shortcuts and Win 2000 Datacenter SP4

[Joseph Morales]

We have some Windows 2000 Datacenter systems that were recently upgraded
from SP3 to SP4. Afterwards, all the Shortcut controls in an HTML Help .chm
file became nonfunctional; even the graphic for the Shortcut buttons is no
longer displayed.

I've been through the issues described in the Microsoft article
"Troubleshooting HTML Help Shortcut Issues" at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhelp/html/vstbsTroubleshootingHTMLHelpShortcutIssues.asp,
but none of the suggestions helped.

We don't see this problem on a non-Datacenter, Windows 2000 Server system
when it is upgraded to SP4.

Can anyone suggest any other issues that might be involved in this problem?

Thanks, Joseph
[ If you want to reply to me directly, remove the anti-spam phrase
"deletethispart." from my E-mail return address. ]

[Pete Lees [MVP]]

Joseph,

> We have some Windows 2000 Datacenter systems that were recently upgraded
> from SP3 to SP4. Afterwards, all the Shortcut controls in an HTML Help
> .chm file became nonfunctional; even the graphic for the Shortcut buttons
> is no longer displayed.

The following is some correspondence from Microsoft on why installing SP4
may break the links in the help files. Perhaps one or more of the
suggestions here will help.

As with any activity that involves modifying the registry, you may want to
back it up before you proceed.

==============

With SP4, IE killed our old CLSID with the following registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11}]
"AlternateCLSID"="{41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}"
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

The Compatibility Flag is what is preventing the links from appearing. The
AlternateCLSID points to the new working CLSID. If either the AlternateCLSID
is not defined in this registry hive, or the CLSID itself is not registered
under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}, then I
would expect links to be broken.

If the issue is that the CLSID is not registered, then have the customer try
re-registering HHCTRL.OCX using regsvr32.exe:

Regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\hhctrl.ocx

[Some additional notes on this:

1) One user reported that the compatibility flag was "set to 1024 for me. I
changed the value to 0, and now the links are back."

2) Another user reported that "Unregistering and then registering
hhtctrl.ocx did the trick". The command to unregister the control is
"regsvr32 /u hhctrl.ocx".]

==============

Please also confirm the version of hhctrl.ocx that is on the machine [this
should be 5.2.3735.1] and find out if there are multiple versions of the
control on the machine. If there are, then the wrong one might be
registered.

==============

Pete

[Thomas Adams]

"Pete Lees [MVP]" <PD....@btinternet.com> wrote:

> The following is some correspondence from Microsoft on why installing SP4
> may break the links in the help files. Perhaps one or more of the
> suggestions here will help.

What does correspondence mean? The workarounds are not published on
their web site or what?
--
np : Spax feat. LL Cool J - Blink blink

[Pete Lees [MVP]]

Thomas,

> What does correspondence mean? The workarounds are not published on
> their web site or what?

This information comes from emails that Microsoft's Help program managers
recently sent to the Help MVPs, when the SP4 problems first came to light. I
don't know whether there are any plans to publish something formally in the
Knowledge Base or elsewhere (doesn't seem to be anything there at present).

Pete

[Joseph Morales]

"Pete Lees [MVP]" <PD....@btinternet.com> wrote...

> 1) One user reported that the compatibility flag was "set to 1024 for me.
I
> changed the value to 0, and now the links are back."
>
> 2) Another user reported that "Unregistering and then registering
> hhtctrl.ocx did the trick". The command to unregister the control is
> "regsvr32 /u hhctrl.ocx".]

Thanks, Pete!
I tested these solutions separately, and either one of them fixes the
problem we were seeing. We were really going crazy trying to figure this
out, so this is quite a relief!

Joseph Morales