When I try to select help from 'Start' in get the following error:

cannot open the file: mk:@msitstore:C:\winnt\help\windows.chm

I cannot use help for windows, microsoft office, autocad, etc.

Can anyone tell me why?

Click Start > Run > copy&paste this command regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx > and click OK

You should get a message that it was registered succesfully.

Then try again.
If it doesn't work let us know which version of Windows you are running and what the latest SP is you installed for it.

Regards,

Sorry, no, that did not work. I am using windows 2000 professional. I believe I have the latest service packs installed. I am uncertain though. How can I check to see if this is true?

Rightclick "My Computer"
On the general tab it should say:

MicroSoft Windows 2000
5.00.2195
Service Pack 4

The normal cause for this problem was solved by this update from last year.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...n/MS04-018.mspx

Regards,

That is exactly what it says. Does that mean that my problem lies somewhere else?

It could be you are protected against it, because of the online vulnerabilities.

Download and unzip BugOff Run it by doubleclicking BugOff.exe and see if the ms-its protocol is Disabled
If so, enable it.

Keep us posted,

Ok. You were right that is disabled. When I click on enable however, it does not enable it. It changes the word enable on the button from bold to normal font. It does not change the status though. Is there something else I need to do? I don't see any other buttons.

I tried a few of the other enable/disable buttons and they worked fine. I have set them back to what they were though.

You are logged in with an Administrator account, right?

Copy the part in bold below and save it as msits.reg
Set Fileteype to "All files"

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Handler\ms-its]
@="ms-its: Asychronous Pluggable Protocol Handler"
"CLSID"="{9D148291-B9C8-11D0-A4CC-0000F80149F6}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9D148291-B9C8-11D0-A4CC-0000F80149F6}]
@="Microsoft InfoTech Protocols for IE 4.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9D148291-B9C8-11D0-A4CC-0000F80149F6}\InprocServer32]
@="C:\\WINNT\\system32\\itss.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Both"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9D148291-B9C8-11D0-A4CC-0000F80149F6}\NotInsertable]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9D148291-B9C8-11D0-A4CC-0000F80149F6}\ProgID]
@="MSITFS1.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9D148291-B9C8-11D0-A4CC-0000F80149F6}\VersionIndependentProgID]
@="MSITFS"


Doubleclick that file and confirm you want to merge it with the registry.

Also see if this file exists on your computer C:\WINNT\system32\itss.dll

Regards,

That worked. It merged anyway. I do have that file. I found it using search. When I tried to navigate to it I could not find a system32 file. I typed it in as you specified to the search field and found it exactly where you had it listed.

I still cannot open help.

I ran the bug off program again. There are three programs that have the ms or itss in them. All of them say that disableing them can cause problems with the help. After adding that file to the registry now two of the three are enabled. The one file that is not yet enabled is titled:

ms-itss

Hmm. We practically rebuilt it from the ground.
At least where the regsitry is concerned.

What happens exactly when you copy & paste this in Start > Run and hit OK

C:\winnt\help\windows.chm

P.S. are you using IE6 SP1 ?

Regards,

by cutting and pasting that into run I get exactly the same message as the title of this thread.

I think you question is referring to which version of internet explorer I am using?

The exact version is:
6.00.2800.1106

I am not sure if this tells you the service pack. I did not see a service pack on the properties for this program.

I really appreciate your patience and help with this issue.

No problem. All we need to do is figure out which file is missing.

This is now my number one candidate:
C:\winnt\help\windows.chm

I found here that the version of hhctrl.ocx might be important as well:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312456

Another thing worth trying is to click Start > Run > copy&paste sfc /scannow > OK

Windows will start looking if all system files are present.
You will be prompted for the CD if anything is found missing or corrupted.

Regards,

I am going to run through the steps from the website you gave me in the last thread. I tried that scan and I am obviously missing some things. Will I have to reformat or something? This is my work computer and I am on a network.