BUG: Uninstalling DAO 3.0 SDK Prevents Help Files from Working (157517)

SYMPTOMS

Uninstalling the DAO SDK that ships with Visual C++ 4.X will result in the incorrect deletion of registry entries used by Microsoft products for the location of Help files. Non-Microsoft products, or Microsoft products not using the specific registry path given below are unaffected.

CAUSE

The DAO SDK uninstall incorrectly destroys the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Help

This is where many Microsoft products store information giving the path of their Help files. When the DAO SDK uninstall removes the entries in this registry path, the Online Help for any Microsoft product using this path will no longer function. The only way to recover the lost entries is to re-install the Microsoft products. If possible, perform partial re-install just on the Help components for each product.

RESOLUTION

Don't uninstall the DAO SDK. This problem is not an issue for the redistributable components.

If you wish to prevent accidental uninstall, you can edit the registry to remove the DAO SDK from the uninstall list. Delete the following registry entry:

   My Computer\ 
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ 
         SOFTWARE\ 
            Microsoft\ 
               Windows\ 
                  CurrentVersion\ 
                     Uninstall\ 
                        Data Access Objects (DAO)

This will prevent Windows from allowing the uninstall of the DAO components.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this bug and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.