CHM files and Windows Server 2008

[Tech_Writer_KC]

RH 7, HTML

Support person has a customer trying to view .chm files in Windows Server 2008. They went ahead and tried the "normal" registry fix to view chm files over a network, but that didn't not fix the issue.

My understanding is that chm files can't be viewed in Windows Server at all, but thought I'd verify - is there any way to view chm files in Windows Server 2008?

Thanks,

-Jeff

[Pete_Lees · Accepted solution]

Jeff,

I don't think that anything has changed in Windows 2008, and .chm files are certainly viewable in this version of Windows. However, it may be that the customer needs to tinker with the security settings in Internet Explorer to make remote .chm files viewable. See this article for details:

http://weblog.helpware.net/?p=50

To ensure that the correct registry changes are being made, the customer could try making them with the free HHReg utility. It's available from here:

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

Pete

[Tech_Writer_KC]

Pete,

The HHReg seems to have worked.

However, talking with the support person, interesting situation came up. He was able to directly open the .chm files through the network, but not through Help link in our software.

After using the hhreg, everything works as expected. But we're wondering what might have blocked access to the help via our software.

Is there a standard Windows behavior that might account for this? We haven't encountered any previous issues with our software, so I don't suspect the problem lies there, but thought I'd ask in case there's some other Windows security feature at work.

Anyways, thanks for the help!

[Pete_Lees]

Hi,

That's certainly odd, and I don't think I can explain it. The same registry changes that enable you to view the contents of a remote .chm file that you've opened directly ought to enable you to view its contents when the .chm file is opened programmatically.

Do you have any idea what the MaxAllowedZone and UrlAllowList registry values were before and after running HHReg?

Pete