Bill Evjen's Blog

this is not IE7, this is a XP SP2 protection item.

i tried the above suggestion and worked super. thanks

I don't have the Security/Unblock section of CHM properties. The space between attributes and the buttons on the bottom is blank even for CHM files stored on the network which I am blocked from reading.
Do you know why this would not appear?

Bill - Thanks a ton for this... I had some old chm files which suddenly stopped working in my xp machine... I was splitting my hairs to figure this out!

-d

I was opening the CHM from a server and could not view the pages. When I viewed the properties, I didn't have Unblock as an option. I copied it to my local drive, and voila, no probs.

you should check that the name of your chm file does not include the '#' character. if it does: rename it (choose a name that doesn't include the '#' character) and this will solve the problem.

just copy the files to your own computer, dose'n work if you acces the file over the local network.

my file name doesn't include the '#' but my container folder. I renamed it, and it working. Thanks dude

Thank you Bill.

I am currently upgrading SharePoint's discussion list to have features almost similar to what Community

I have CHM files that must be accessed across our local intranet but since we installed IE7 we've been having the problem described above. We cannot copy these files locally. We are also having the same problem Cathi and Cam reported above: we do not see the Security/Unblock section of CHM properties. The space between attributes and the buttons on the bottom is blank. Thank you.

...good man :D

tnx

I renamed it, and it working too. Thank you very much!

I couldn't view he frames of CHM files, and I change C# to CS in files names and in folders names and now works

thanks to all

thank you very much for postin the informaiton.
I also had the same problem.

My CHM file is on my local C: drive without any strange characters in the path, yet I don't have the Security/Unblock section of CHM properties, either. Any ideas? I sort of need this help file.

Hi, I don't have the unblock option and there are no strange characters in the file path. If anyone figures this out please post the solution as this is driving me bonkers. Thanks!

Well seems I'm the one that found the solution, so as promised here is the follow-up post. Wow, what an ordeal just to view a chm file! Apparently this problem was introduced with one of MS security updates. I hope they fix this cause its a pain in the butt. The one most straight forward solution I found was to download this help file named MJsDiag.exe. It appears to re-register all dll's associated with help files. I was scared as hell to execute this thing but I said a prayer hoping that a million viruses/trojans wouldn't be installed, but i ran it and voila, the help files now display with no problem. I put the link to the exe below. Run at your own discretion.

http://helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#MJs

guys I have several program installed in
"C:\Program Files>#Internet"
That's the path i WANTED it for program like dc++, Opera, etc..
I can open the CHM files if I copy them somewhere in a folder that does not contain the # character in its name. I wanna ask you, is there any workaround , so i can open my chm files in a folder that contains in his name the # character?

Thanks for the pointer, it really helped me a lot. This also shows that due to the bad design of Internet Explorer CHM as help platform is basically dead. Microsoft announced that they will not make any updates or changes to the CHM viewer. I recommend using a different help format, such as WebHelp.

thank a lot , this's work

Thanks for the tip.. saved me hours of fiddling with security settings

Hi,

I have another problem. I have several CHM files. And some do open ad others like, crash, you see the window of the CHM file, but nothing in it. And you can´t close it anymore, it is blocked. So only with the administator it is possible to remove it. Any idea why this could be?
I have XP Pro, latest SP, and IE7

Thx

David

Thanks. It is helpful.

In case you cannot access the local drives, but you can connect some USB drives to the computer, you can read the chm files on the USB drives instead.

Thanks, that fixed it right away!!!

We are cutting over to .CHM help files with our apps to better support Vista and always end up with lots of "blocked" stuff that is boring to UNBLOCK. I thought your readers might be interested in the following script that will bulk unblock all files in the current directory - just save as UNBLOCK.JS and run from the command line.
// Script to "UNBLOCK" all files in the current directory by pete.at.redtitan.com
// (c) RedTitan Technology 2007
// http://www.pclviewer.com

var shell=new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");

fso=new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");

var total=0;
var f=fso.GetFolder('.'); // Current folder
var fc=new Enumerator(f.files);
for (; !fc.atEnd(); fc.moveNext()){
var fileName=fc.item().Name+':Zone.Identifier';
try
{
f1 = fso.OpenTextFile(fileName,2); // If the Zone Identifier does not exist ..
total++;
f1.Close();
}
catch(e){} // .. we don't care
}

shell.Popup('Unblocked '+total+' files');

it looks that creating a new folder in your c drive and placing CHM files there will solve the problem

YOOOOOOOW....

wow..
thx a lot..
it helps me MUCH... (^_^)

I can open the chm files but i can't see the pictures in it . How do i enable it?

Possible solutions on other sites always involved fiddling with the registry.

No need for that. The unblock button worked just fine.

Thanks a lot.

hey , i removed the # symbol and it works perfectly.

Just to thank you for this post, Bill.

Saved me a lot of time.

Ricardo

I can't see anything on the viewing pane of chm files only the tree-like directory on the left. this goes the same for all other chm files on any drives or folders, not even in folders without the # on its name. i just installed the autopatcher XP july update.

Thanks! Damn, I spent about half an hour trying to find the solution in IE7

Uncheck the option "always ask before opening the file option"
reopen the file and your IE should be able to open it.

Thank you for the help.

Worked. Saved me from going nuts!
I'd tried going through the Registry with no luck.

Thanks alot Bill ;)

HI ALL!!!
Million 10xs!!!
I Also don't have the UNLOCK option.

MOVING THE FILES TO C:\ DRIVE SOLVED THE PROBLEM

STUPID WINDOWS !!!

How do you open a chm file hosted in a IIS server. I have limitations in saving the files locally. I will need to share the chm with the guyz at my location and also with users who will access through the IIS server but with the limitations mentioned above. Any insights into this would be appreciated truly! I have kind of lost my hair on this.

tnx a lot... :D

Hi there.

I've see no "Security" section on chm's properties dialog and, there is no '#' in my chm's path.

Besides, my problems are not the same as described in the post. I do can view most of the contents, but it's just TOO slow - 10s after clicking on the tree-like directory. The problem disappears however, if I disconnect my PC from internet, weird enough, eh?

hi peeps

my vista machine I had a same problem and I changed the folder's name from C# to CS then it works. solution is removing "#" letter from the file's name.

Worked great, thanks for the tip!

I am using vista home premium. I downloaded this chm files from the internet. I cannot open it. There is no unblock options and no weird characters. Will anyone help me? Please.

Great explanation, thanks a lot, now i can read CHM files without any problems..

Jharris your the man.
i had issues on our servers, when they were cloned via VMWare, tested on another clone
and it worked a dream

even Ms couldnt resolve the issue.

thanks

Thanks. Just what I was looking for.

Than diagnostic program MJsDiag.zip saved the day.Thank you for that program pal.Now i can open chm files!Way to go!!!!!Thanks a milion!!!!

thank you and god bless you you saved me
amanda

Thanks a bunch for the info. Unblocking under properties worked like a charm!!!!!!!!!

Thanks bro! It worked for me. I can't tell how greatfull i am for your help.
Keep up the good work!
Super.

Hi Guys!

Im using EI7. I can open my CHM files but I can not view the pictures inside. What should I do?
Thanks.

there is a tool you can add to your firefox browser called something like CHM file reader. I installed it and it works fine, but now I have to open firefox and go to file>open and then select the location of the file but it works for me

Thanks.
It worked like boommm.

thank you so much it worked

If you are having issues opening a CHM file from a network share (and seeing contents list but no pages, you might also want to have a look at this KB article There was a security fix for a vulnerability related to CHM files, which could be causing the problem. The KB has specific steps to get around it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896054