Microsoft KB Archive/197689

= PRB: MSDN Causes Error After Installation on External Drives =

Article ID: 197689

Article Last Modified on 2/10/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * MSDN 2003 Universal Edition

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This article was previously published under Q197689



SYMPTOMS
Launching the MSDN Library and selecting the Index tab throws the following error:

IPF in MODULE ITSS.DLL

Or a message box appears with the title:

Preparing Index For First Use ...

Beneath it you will see a animation displaying a book being written using a pen continuously. This goes on for a long time without terminating.



CAUSE
This error occurs because MSDN fails to create Msdn*.chw file in the %WINDIR%\Help directory. By default, this is Windows\Help for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) systems, and WINNT\Help for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. This error occurs only when installing MSDN to an external drive and thus the path information above is valid only for MSDN files installed on an external drive.

NOTE: The exact name of the CHW file will change with each release of the MSDN Library. For example the Visual Studio 6.0 edition, the file is named Msdnvs98.chw. But with the April 1999 MSDN Library, the file is named Msdn910.chw.



RESOLUTION

 * 1) Exit the MSDN Library.
 * 2) Copy the Msdn*.chw file from the MSDN directory on the first CD.
 * 3) Place the file in the %WinDir%\Help directory (see the CAUSE section in this article for more details). This error occurs only when installing MSDN to an external drive and thus the path information above is only valid for MSDN files installed on an external drive.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.

Keywords: kbprb KB197689

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