PRB: MSDN Causes Error After Installation on External Drives

ID: Q197689

The information in this article applies to:

MSDN Library
Microsoft HTML Help

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 95/98 systems and WINNT\Help for Windows NT 4.0. 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

Exit the MSDN Library.

Copy the Msdn*.chw file from the MSDN directory on the first CD.

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.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbHTMLHelp kbGrpDSTools kbHTMLHelp121
Version : WINDOWS:1.21; winnt:6.0
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbprb