BETA-BUG: Windows 2000 RC1: MSDN Library Cannot Open Collection

ID: Q240300

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows 2000
  • MSDN Library
This article discusses a Beta release of a Microsoft product. The information in this article is provided as-is and is subject to change without notice.

No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this Beta product. For information about obtaining support for a Beta release, please see the documentation included with the Beta product files, or check the Web location from which you downloaded the release.

SYMPTOMS

When using the MSDN Library on Windows 2000 RC1 Build 2072, the following error may occur :

Cannot open the file: <MSDN Library path>\msdn*.col
NOTE: The collection file (.col) referenced will have a different name depending on what version of the MSDN Library you installed.

Another symptom of the same problem appears when you launch the MSDN Library: The table of contents does not display all of the correct entries, or there are entries in the table of contents that reference other HTML Help collections.

In addition, other HTML Help collections may show similar problems. For example, the Platform SDK documentation may give the following error:
Cannot open the file: <Platform SDK path>\psdk.col


CAUSE

Windows 2000 RC1 shipped with version 4.74.8513 of Hhctrl.ocx. When started, this version of the control moves Hhcolreg.dat from <WinDir>\Help to <AllUsersProfile>\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML Help provided that a file with that name does not already exist in the destination directory. In a default Windows 2000 installation, these directories correspond to C:\WinNT\Help and C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML Help.

When changes are made to an MSDN Library installation or when new libraries are added to the system, Hhcolreg.dat is recreated in the <WinDir>\Help path. Changes made to this Hhcolreg.dat are not necessarily reflected in the duplicate file in the <AllUsersProfile> location. This can lead to the errors described above.


RESOLUTION

There are two potential resolutions to this problem. The first resolution is simple and may quickly fix the problem. If the MSDN Library or other HTML Help collections still do not function properly after you implement the first solution, move on to the second solution, which involves completely removing and properly reinstalling the HTML Help collections. Note that any future installations or uninstallations of the MSDN Library should be done according to the steps described in MORE INFORMATION.

Solution 1

  1. Close all applications.


  2. From the Start menu, click Search, and then click Files or Folders.


  3. From the Tools menu, click Folder Options.


  4. Click the View tab and select the Show hidden files and Folders radio button. Click OK.


  5. Search for Hhcolreg.dat on your local hard drives.


  6. Delete all Hhcolreg.dat files except the one located at <WinDir>\Help.


  7. Perform a new search, for *.col (collection files).


  8. Delete any collection file (*.col) found in the <UserProfile>\Local Settings\Temp directories.


  9. Attempt to start the MSDN Library to see if the problem is resolved.


Solution 2

  1. Remove all HTML Help collections from the system. For additional information on how to do this, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    Q240350 HOWTO: Manually Uninstall the MSDN Library


  2. If you need the Platform SDK documentation, install this first. The Platform SDK documentation automatically uses the Hhcolreg.dat file in <AllUsersProfile>\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML Help.


  3. Follow the steps in the MORE INFORMATION section to properly reinstall all MSDN Libraries on the system.



STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.


MORE INFORMATION

Follow the steps below to avoid the problems described above.

Before installing any MSDN Libraries, making additional changes to an installation of an MSDN Library through custom setup, running the Reinstall option, or uninstalling an MSDN Library, do the following:

  1. If the file exists, move <AllUsersProfile>\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML Help\Hhcolreg.dat to the <WinDir>\Help directory. Do not leave a copy of Hhcolreg.dat in the <AllUsersProfile> location. (Note that Hhcolreg.dat may not exist anywhere on the system if no HTML Help collection has been used.)


  2. Perform any install/uninstall tasks for the MSDN Library.


  3. Immediately launch the MSDN Library when finished. This will move the modified Hhcolreg.dat back to the <AllUsersProfile> location.


Additional query words:

Keywords : kbHTMLHelp kbMSDN kbWinOS2000bug kbDSupport kbGrpDSTools
Version : WINDOWS:; winnt:
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbbug


Last Reviewed: January 17, 2000
© 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.