CHM Compatibility with Windows Server 2003

[SydneySchaffer]

I have just finished creating the first draft of a CHM help file with RoboHelp HTML, and it works well on the machine I have been using to write it, as well as several others. When I tried viewing it on our production machine, which runs Windows Server 2003, I received the correct Table of Contents and Index, but all pages displayed the standard "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error. Right-clicking on the page and selecting Properties told me that it was displaying res://ieframe.dll/dnserrordiagoff_webOC.htm.

I have checked the RoboHelp specifications, and indeed the standard version of RoboHelp is not compatible with Windows Server 2003. I had assumed, however, that this meant I could not run the program on a Windows Server 2003 machine, not that I could not run the output.

Is this error caused by a compatibility problem? Would it help to upgrade to the Server Edition, or resign myself to using separate HTML files? Or is it another issue?

[Pete_Lees · Accepted solution]

Hi, Sydney, and welcome to the forum,

The problem that you've described typically happens when you view the contents of a .chm file remotely, over a network, and is caused by security restrictions that Microsoft introduced in 2005. See this article for more information and workarounds:

http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/chm_mspatch/896358.htm

So, the solution is either to move the .chm file to a local drive or implement the registry changes that are described in the article (on your local machine rather than on the Windows 2003 server). The easiest way to make these registry changes is to use the free HHReg utility, which is available from here:

http://www.ec-software.com/products_hhreg.html

To answer your question, though, I don't believe there's any difference between Windows Server 2003 and other versions of Windows as far as .chm files are concerned.

Pete

[SydneySchaffer]

Ah, that makes sense. All the file areas on our production server are networked; I didn't even think of it.

I'll get permission to put the file on the hard drive (it'll be there when we use it, so hopefully no need to change the registry) and then come back to you with whether it works.

[Guest]

Or you could create a WebHelp project instead ...

[LisaWriter]

I downloaded the file and ran it. It worked on my XP PC but not on my vista PC. I can run chm files locally but from the network I can see the toc fine but topics do not show and the error message says "The address is invalid retype the address". What else can I do to make it work from a network drive?

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community, Lisa

You need to carefully re-read the thread you posted in. All known solutions are listed here.

Cheers... Rick

[Peter Grainge]

Lisa

There are two issues here.

For running from a network drive, see the link to my site provided above by Pete Lees. That explains why the file will not run on a network.

The problem running locally is different. I think you right click the file and select Properties when there will be a fairly obvious option.