Help CHMs not displaying on MS Windows Server?

by James Sands

This month's tip comes via Gail Van Landingham and impacts writers in companies using Windows Server 2003. It seems that Microsoft has released a Service Pack for Windows Server 2003 that has an interesting side effect for Help users. After installing, Service Pack 1 prevents server-based CHM files from displaying properly. Having said that, I'd like to discuss:

Server-based Help in general and where to find a solution to this problem if you think it impacts your company.
Alternatives to server-based CHM files.

Server-based Compiled Help and Windows 2003 SP1

Compiled or CHM Help may be placed on a company server for a variety of reasons:

It can be used as an alternative to packaging client-based Help on a CD. This can allow writers more time to develop the Help even as the actual product is being shipped. The CHM file is later downloaded to a customer's PC from the Web when they install their product. (This application of server-based Help should not be impacted by the SP1 problem, because, in this scenario, the server is just a delivery vehicle.)
It can also be loaded and maintained on a server to ensure that employees with company Intranet access can access Help for a product or process. On the downside, this can cause performance problems on slower Web connections. As a result, some Help users may take the opportunity to download the server-based Help to their PC to make it faster. Guess what happens when the CHM on the server is later modified? The user has obsolete Help and doesn't even know it. (This application of server-based Help is impacted by the SP1 problem, because users will be attempting to open the file while it is still resident on the server.)

If you have Windows 2003 server-based CHM Help systems, you might want to review a detailed explanation (with possible solutions) at Peter Grainge's Web site at the URL shown at the end of this article. Peter describes the problem/solution in much more detail than can be done here. You may also want to investigate possible alternatives (discussed below) to server-based compiled Help.

Alternatives to Server-Based CHM Help

Remember the RoboHelp WebHelp product? It was originally designed to be multi-OS and multi-browser. With WebHelp, you were allowed to create both Web-based and CHM-based Help from the same source files. The WebHelp option was not as pretty as the CHM version, but it ran a lot better on Intranets.

WebHelp or similar Web-based products are the most stable long-term delivery solution for server or browser-based Help systems. Or, you might want to consider individual HTML Help files linked through a centralized menu. Fundamentally, CHMs and Web-centric systems were not designed to be compatible, and they are not a good marriage. If you're still running CHMs on your Intranet servers, this current Windows Server problem may be a warning shot across the bow. It may be time to start thinking about converting all server-based Help to Web-based technology.

How do I learn more?

For additional information, the following may be useful and may lead you to additional resources:

"CHM Files Not Working," at http://www.grainge.org. Located in the Authoring section of the Help based guide. By the way, this Help file was created using eHelp's WebHelp product.

Once again, thanks to Gail Van Landingham for researching this problem and sharing her findings with us.

Jim Sands is an independent e-Learning and Help system consultant and writes on technical issues for several professional organizations throughout the country. You can reach him at jsands@help101.org.