I have used RoboHelp for years and we have just purchased new laptops with Windows 7, we are finding that it appears that RoboHelp 8 will not run on Windows 7.
The software appears unstable as even the simplest action crashes RoboHelp, the Event Log shows:
Can anyone help with how to resolve this issue?
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5,004 posts Hi Duncan and welcome to the RH community.
You don't say whether you are on the 32 bit or 64 bit version of Windows 7. Only the 32 bit version is officially supported although others are running RH8 and the 64 bit version of Windows 7 successfully. Check that you have all the RH8 updates installed. These can be found here. Also do not ahve your RH projects on a network drive.
5,004 posts Are you experiencing issues with completely new projects as well as legacy ones? If not, try renaming the legacy project's .CPD file before opening it. If the problem is with all projects, check that the laptops anti-virus software isn't interfering in any way. There have been occasional posts here where this is the case and with new laptops this maybe the case.
5,004 posts Let us know what occurs. If you use RoboSourceControl you could try seeing if that is the issue as well. Perhaps seeing if a completely stand alone project managed by one author and not in source control has the same issues. I'm assuming that there is no rhyme or reason to the crashes (i.e. it isn't something that occurs every time you add a table or create a topic.
I suspect the reason Adobe haven't found a solution is they are not looking for one as RoboHelp 8 is working fine on Windows 7 32 bit. I'm reply from such a machine, incidentally a Dell laptop.
RoboHelp 8 on 32 bit is supported so if you cannot resolve this by uninstalling and reinstalling, I can only suggest you take it up with Adobe. It is working for most people.
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Colum suggested deleting the CPD earlier in the thread.
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Given that this is not typical, the cause seems more likely to be your environment or the project, either of which might also impact another tool.
Are you able to try on a Windows 7 machine off site?
You say the problem is with new and legacy projects. Have you also tried the supplied samples?
You will find the samples at
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHTML\Samples\en_US
or
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHTML\Samples\en_US
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I'm sorry but I really do think the problem is with your machine or the environment. That is the only time I normally see anyone report problems with the sample projects.
It seems unlikely that Dell would replace hardware just because one piece of software is failing. Is there some other information not shared so far?
I cannot see that you have tried a simple uninstall and reinstall, has that been tried? Was RH installed by someone with local admin rights? That is essential.
Have you tried right clicking the RH shortcut and selecting Run As Administrator?
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You may have covered this but I haven't looked back through the thread and it's late here so I'm skipping that. Have you tried working whilst disconnected from the network?
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Yes I know you work on the files locally. My point was to try working whilst disconnected from the network. Not the same thing.
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Hi Duncan
Peter is well aware that you are working on the files locally. What he is asking if you have tried disconnecting your computer from the network and trying to work. See if you are able to sever the connection (usually by disconnecting the LAN cable from the network card) and see if that makes a difference in the behavior of RoboHelp. Does it still crash if you do this? Does it even start up? What is the behavior?
The thing is, we are finding ourselves in somewhat uncharted waters with your particular setup. Personally, I'm using Windows 7 64 bit and RoboHelp 8 works just fine most of the time. It's crashed on me once or twice, but that doesn't surprise me much as I always am running gobs of applications and very seldom reboot the computer.
Cheers... Rick 
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Errrr...I believe Peter is suggesting that working locally but connected to the network might be causing a buildup of network sewer gases to impact your situation. 
I would agree with his earlier statement about your environment, and would suggest you look to what your IT peeps are doing. Have they set up My Documents as a "virtual" folder actually on the network, or some other ghastly command and control functionality? Have they set up anti-virus chaos? You might ask them to either turn the A/V off as a test, or filter the RH folders out of contention. One of our least tech-savvy writers got a new Windows 7 box (not a laptop) the other day, and is experiencing no problems of this type, with either RH or IE.
Good luck,
Leon
Thanks Rick and Leon, that is exactly what I was suggesting - yanking the network cable out to see if the files can still be accessed or if some other gremlin suddenly cannot wreak havoc.
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So all your apps are crashing and you report RH is unstable! Sounds like it is something else that is unstable or am I missing your point?
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I am still not clear. You say that nothing else is unstable and then go on to say that if you perform the simplest task your other apps close. That seems to be a complete contradiction. Do you perhaps mean that if you do something with RoboHelp, it closes other applications?
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Maggie
Thanks, a lot clearer now even though it is very odd.
Everyone
Duncan has alerted Adobe and I will report the matter separately but cannot promise any action or a solution. Sorry but the best I can do.
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Maggi
You may have seen that the use of source control was raised earlier in the thread but the reason was not given because Duncan does not use source control. The reason is that it is known there may be issues with the audit trail.
It would be useful if you could post back in 24/48 hours to update us.
Duncan
I know you don't use source control but was it installed. I wonder if Maggi's find would help you?
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I knew I could rely on you to!
Please let us know when you hear from Adobe Support. I have reported it this.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
