Knowledge Base

FIX: Visual Studio .NET Help is not available

Article ID: 316641

Article Last Modified on 1/20/2006

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 Professional Edition, when used with:
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

This article was previously published under Q316641

SYMPTOMS

If you install Visual Studio .NET, and you click Help and then Contents or Index, no information is displayed in the Help window.

If you click Help, click Search, and then type a value to be searched, you receive the following error message:

The operation could not be completed.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the following conditions are all true:

You are a non-administrative user.
You applied the Post-Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Security Rollup Package (for more information, see the "References" section of this article).
Your operating system is Windows NT 4.x.

Microsoft Help 2.0 writes content registration data to the following folder:

"root dir\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data"

The Post-Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Security Rollup Package (SRP) installs an Shfolder.dll file that requests write access when it is determining the path to the following folder:

"root dir\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data"

Because non-administrative users do not have write access to this folder location, the following events occur:

The application programming interface (API) returns "access denied".
The Help content registration data cannot be read.
Non-administrative users cannot view Help or Visual Studio .NET documentation.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This bug was corrected in Visual Studio .NET (2003).

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Install Windows NT 4.0 SP6a. (SP6a is required to install Visual Studio .NET.)
Install Visual Studio .NET.
Apply the July 26, 2001, security package that is available from the following Knowledge Base article:

299444 Post-Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Security Rollup Package (SRP)
Log on as a non-administrative user, open Visual Studio .NET, and then click Help.

Result: Non-administrative users cannot see any Help topics. The behavior only affects non-administrators.

The bug is not isolated to Visual Studio .NET but can occur in other products that use Microsoft Help 2.0 (for example, MSDN Quarterlies and Microsoft .NET Framework SDK) and are used by non-administrative users.

REFERENCES

For additional information about the security rollup package, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

299444 Post-Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Security Rollup Package (SRP)

Additional query words: missing unavailable absent no help

Keywords: kberrmsg kbtshoot kbbug kbfix kbvs2002sp1sweep kbvs2005swept kbvs2005doesnotapply KB316641