PRB: MSDN Library Setup Fails on Terminal Server in Execute Mode

ID: Q240302

The information in this article applies to:
  • MSDN Library

SYMPTOMS

When you run the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Library setup on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition or Windows 2000 with Terminal Services installed, the following error may appear at the end of setup:

MSDN Setup Error : CloseCollection g_ccolCollection.Save() dwError = 1
When you try to launch the MSDN Library following the failed installation, the following error appears:
Cannot open the file: %MSDN Library path%\msdn*.col


CAUSE

The MSDN Library was installed in Terminal Server's Execute mode.


RESOLUTION

Manually clean the failed installation off of the computer. See the MORE INFORMAITON section for details on how to manually clean the failed installation off of your computer.

The Terminal Server requires that you install applications in Install mode. This can be done by using the Add/Remove Programs application in the Control Panel. The Add/Remove Programs application can find and start Setup.Exe off of the MSDN Library Disc 1. There are many other considerations when installing the MSDN Library on Terminal Server.

For additional information, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q240301 HOWTO: Use the MSDN Library successfully with Terminal Server


MORE INFORMATION

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

When the MSDN Library is installed on Terminal Server in Execute mode, no information is written to HHCOLREG.DAT. However, files and registry keys have been added to the computer and must be removed before correctly installing the MSDN Library. This section describes how to remove these files without effecting the other HTML Help collections on the computer. A quicker and easier process is to remove all HTML Help collections off of the computer. If you are willing to reinstall all HTML Help collections on the computer, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

For additional information, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q240350 HOWTO: Manually Uninstall the MSDN Library
To only remove the failed installation on Terminal Server, follow these steps.

NOTE: First, remove all of the files that the failed MSDN Library installation placed on system.
  1. If the failed MSDN Library installation was the MSDN Library that shipped with Visual Studio 6.0, locate and delete the following directory (this is the default): 
    
%Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN98


  2. If the failed MSDN Library installation was a quarterly release, locate and delete the installation folder using these steps :
    1. Find the root folder where all MSDN Library quarterly releases are installed to. The default is %Program File%\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN.


    2. In root folder, find the directory of the failed installation and delete it. For example, the July 99 MSDN Library is place in a 99jul directory.




Next, use RegEdit.Exe to remove the registry entry related to this failed installation.

  1. Open the following registry key: 
    
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall


  2. Delete the subkey with the name of the MSDN Library you are removing.


  3. Locate the following key in the registry :
    
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTML Help Collections\Developer Collections


  4. Under this key, there are a series of keys with language IDs that will differ depending on what language version of the MSDN Library is installed. (For Example English is 0x0409). Expand these language ID keys, and navigate through all of their subkeys.


  5. As the subkeys are selected, look in the right-pane at the (Default) value. Find the subkey that contains a (Default) value that names the version of the MSDN Library you are removing. Delete that subkey.




Examine the rest of the registry entries under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTML Help Collections\Developer Collections" registry key. If there are no other versions of the MSDN Library listed there, the cleanup of the failed MSDN Library installation is complete.

If other versions of the MSDN Library are listed under this key, more steps are needed to restore the computer. When the MSDN Library is accessed from other applications, the registry is examined to determine which MSDN Library to display. That MSDN Library is called the preferred collection. The following steps reset the preferred collection to one of the remaining MSDN Libraries on the system:
  1. Locate the following key in the registry :
    
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTML Help Collections\Developer Collections


  2. Expand the same language ID keys, and navigate through all of their subkeys.


  3. In the right-pane, examine the (Default) value that contains the name of the MSDN Library the key refers to. Decide which MSDN Library version you want to select as the preferred collection.


  4. Copy that subkey name. For example, the subkey name for the July 99 MSDN Library is 0x0375ccd80.


  5. Select language ID key above the preferred collection that you chose.


  6. In the right-hand pane, change the Preferred value to be the collection ID that you just copied.


  7. Select the Developer Collections key again (the key selected in the first step).


  8. Verify that the Language value is pointing to the Language ID key value that contains your preferred collection. If not, change it. For example, if the preferred collection of the MSDN Library was an English version, the Language key should be set to 0x0409.



At this point, you can properly install the MSDN Library using the Add/Remove Programs application. This is described in the RESOLUTION section of this article.


REFERENCES

For additional information, please click the article number(s) below to view the article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q195878 PRB: MSDN Help Cannot Find msdn*.col File on Terminal Server
Q216109 HOWTO: Troubleshooting MSDN Library Run-Time/Install/Uninstall Problems

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbHTMLHelp kbMSDN kbDSupport kbGrpDSTools
Version : winnt:
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb


Last Reviewed: January 19, 2000
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