Help and Support Center Index is blank with a red X mark
And, "Related Topics" link does not work
|
This
document does not apply to Windows XP Service Pack 2. If you're using Windows XP
SP2 and this problem is seen, then it's possible that you have set Kill-bit to
the following control:
hhctrl.ocx
CLSID {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}, as per the
suggestion in the MS Knowledgebase article:
How
to help protect against the Internet Explorer Click and Scroll
security issue
Disabling
Hhctrl.ocx prevents Internet Explorer from instantiating the
control. This configuration causes program compatibility issues.
Some examples of such issues are:
-
In
Help and Support Center, the Index feature no longer works.
-
In
HTML Help, features such as Related Topics and Shortcuts no
longer work.
-
Features that are provided by the HTML Help control in
Enterprise intranet programs no longer work
If the
above does not apply in your case, try registering the hhctrl.ocx file. |
When you click Index button at
the top of Help and Support Center, the Index page opens but it is completely
empty. You may see a placeholder icon in the top left corner of the Index column.
Additionally, when you click the
Related Topics
link in a Help and Support Center article, the pop-up may not be displayed.
Each time when you click the Related Topics link,
the "Notes" icon may multiply as seen in Fig 2.
 |
This happens after installing
MS03-015:
April, 2003, Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer (which is a correct
step actually)
This patch includes a fix for
Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to correct the method that Internet
Explorer uses to show Help information in the Local Computer zone. It sets the
Kill-Bit for this ActiveX control:
Microsoft HTML
Help control |
Hhctrl.ocx |
{ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11} |
|
|
Because Help and Support Index
uses this control and the control is Kill-Bit, the Index column is
empty.
RESOLUTION
First, try
registering hhctrl.ocx. Type regsvr32
hhctrl.ocx in Start, Run. If that does not
help, read below for other possibility: |
 |
Install this patch, which provides you an updated version of HHctrl.ocx and which eliminates the actual vulnerability:
811630
HTML Help Update to Limit Functionality When It Is Invoked with the
window.showHelp( ) Method
-or-
Visit the direct
Microsoft downloads page:
Windows
XP Patch: Enabling Applications to Access HTML Help in a New, Restricted
Mode
This installs an updated
hhctrl.ocx - Alternate CLSID {41B23C28-488E-4E5C-ACE2-BB0BBABE99E8}
and the Help and Support Index is shown correctly.
Related Topics