Problem Opening CHM Files

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sid Knee
  • Start date Start date
S

Sid Knee

I'm having trouble opening CHM help files:

- If I double-click on the file, the IE window opens and the left pane
contains the expected (and correct) chapter structure etc. However, the
right-pane contains the message

" Action Cancelled. Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page
you requested. The page might be temporarily unavailable."


- If I right-click on the file and select "Open With > IE" nothing
happens at all - the file simple doesn't open.

- Oddly .... if I put the chm file into a zip or rar compressed file,
then open that and double click on the chm, it opens in IE just fine.

Any ideas?
 
Hi Sid,

If you have Windows XP SP2 installed, then right-click the .CHM file, choose
Properties. Click the Unblock button if available.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I'm having trouble opening CHM help files:

- If I double-click on the file, the IE window opens and the left pane
contains the expected (and correct) chapter structure etc. However, the
right-pane contains the message

" Action Cancelled. Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page
you requested. The page might be temporarily unavailable."


- If I right-click on the file and select "Open With > IE" nothing
happens at all - the file simple doesn't open.

- Oddly .... if I put the chm file into a zip or rar compressed file,
then open that and double click on the chm, it opens in IE just fine.

Any ideas?
 
Ramesh said:
Hi Sid,

If you have Windows XP SP2 installed, then right-click the .CHM file, choose
Properties. Click the Unblock button if available.
Click to expand...

Sorry Ramesh, I should (of course) have stated the OS. I'm using Win2K Pro.
 
Ramesh said:
Hi Sid,

Try Pete's advice here:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/2ff8b2f2e0a948b5
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ramesh. Although it didn't seem directly applicable, it was very
useful in what it suggested and I've now got to the bottom of my problem.

I have a desktop shortcut to a folder on a local partition where the
offending chm files are stored. For some reason, the folder path in this
shortcut is given in UNC format (don't know how it got that way).
Opening the chm from there gave the error.

If I navigate to the folder normally through My Computer or Explorer the
chm opens correctly.

Thanks for the help!
 
For some reason, the folder path in this shortcut is given in UNC format
Interesting one, Sid! And what was the full path?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh said:
Hi Sid,

Try Pete's advice here:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/2ff8b2f2e0a948b5
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ramesh. Although it didn't seem directly applicable, it was very
useful in what it suggested and I've now got to the bottom of my problem.

I have a desktop shortcut to a folder on a local partition where the
offending chm files are stored. For some reason, the folder path in this
shortcut is given in UNC format (don't know how it got that way).
Opening the chm from there gave the error.

If I navigate to the folder normally through My Computer or Explorer the
chm opens correctly.

Thanks for the help!
 
Ramesh said:
Interesting one, Sid! And what was the full path?
Click to expand...


It was: \\Sid-P4\Sid-G\Downloads.

I recreated the shortcut from scratch and its path came up as the
expected G:\Downloads

The reference you gave suggested there were problems opening chm files
over UNC paths and then I noticed the path on the shortcut.
 
Thanks for the feedback, Sid.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Ramesh said:
Interesting one, Sid! And what was the full path?
Click to expand...


It was: \\Sid-P4\Sid-G\Downloads.

I recreated the shortcut from scratch and its path came up as the
expected G:\Downloads

The reference you gave suggested there were problems opening chm files
over UNC paths and then I noticed the path on the shortcut.
 
Okay, I've come up with the exact same problem Sid Knee posted at the
beginning here, but I can't find a solution. I'm using Windows XP Pro SP2.
If I right click and select Properties, like Ramesh suggests, there's no
"unblock" option anywhere. This page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892675/

suggests the problem is because of a security update. Maybe Sid's issue was
because that update prevents html access from outside the local machine, and
the system thought that's what was happening since his files were on another
partition?

But my files are and have always been on my main drive. But I created the
registry updates exactly as that page stipulates (maybe I shouldn't have
copied them word for word, but I'm not very experiences with the registry) in
Examples 1 and 2 and saved them to WINDOWS\Help. No luck.

The research I've done online shows that most people with this problem fix
it with the registry entries. (Again, I'm not sure if I should have copied
those regedit's word for word, or if I saved them in the right place) Can
anybody help?
 
Thanks for the update, Nosbor.
Glad you got this issue resolved.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Well, I figured it out. It's simple but weird.
Ramesh wrote
Try Pete's advice here:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/2ff8b2f2e0a948b5
Click to expand...

I followed a few links till I found:
http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_diags.htm.
Somewhere there it suggests deleting your temporary internet files. Bingo!
I've been struggling with this all night -- diagnostics, registry edits,
etc.. -- just to find out THAT was the problem!!
 
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