You receive an error message when you try to display Office help on a Microsoft Windows XP-, Windows 2000- or Windows Me-based computer (249065)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Access 2000
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Developer
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
This article was previously published under Q249065

SYMPTOMS

When you try to start the Data Access Objects Help file in Microsoft Access, you may receive the following error message:
Microsoft Visual Basic

Microsoft Access cannot display help. An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning properly. Would you like to repair this feature now?
If you click Yes, the Microsoft Visual Basic Help window appears, but there are no Help topics in the Help window. If you click No, you receive the following error message:
Microsoft Visual Basic

Unable to display help.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because Microsoft Office 2000 installs the compressed HTML programming Help files for Microsoft Data Access (MDAC) 2.1, which covers ADO and DAO Help topics. Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), however, install MDAC 2.5, and Windows XP installs MDAC 2.7, but does not include the compressed HTML programming Help files.

After installing Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows Me and while installing Microsoft Office 2000, the system detects that MDAC has already been installed. Therefore, MDAC installation skips the installation of the compressed HTML programming Help files. When you press F1 in the Microsoft Visual Basic Environment to locate Help about an object, a property, or a method, you receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain Microsoft Office 2000 Service Release 1/1a (SR-1/SR-1a).

To obtain SR-1/SR-1a, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

245025 How to obtain and install the Office 2000 SR-1/SR-1a Update

IMPORTANT: Although you do not see the error message after you install Office 2000 SR-1, you must still copy Ado210.chm and Msjro.chm to the Program Files\Common Files\System\ADO folder. See the "Workaround" section of this article for more details. If these files are not copied to the appropriate folder, you may see an empty Help window.

NOTE: You may still experience this problem if you install Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1) before you install Office 2000 SR-1/SR-1a. Under these circumstances, see the "Workaround" section of this article to correct this problem.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem when you experience this error, use the following methods in the following order:
  • Copy the missing compressed HTML programming Help files to your hard disk.

    Copy the missing compressed HTML programming Help files (*.chm) from Microsoft Office CD1 to the appropriate location. After you have copied the .chm file to the appropriate location, double-click the file to make sure that the file opens correctly.
    File nameCopy from Microsoft Office 2000 CD1 locationTo
    Ado210.chmPfiles\Common\System\AdoProgram Files\Common Files\System\ADO
    Dao360.chmPfiles\Common\Msshared\DaoProgram Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO
    Jetdef40.chmPfiles\Msoffice\Office\1033Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033
    Jetsql40.chmPfiles\Msoffice\Office\1033Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033
    Msjro.chmPfiles\Common\System\AdoProgram Files\Common Files\System\ADO
  • Modify the HTML Help registry string value.

    If the following registry key does not exist on your computer, you must add the registry key.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\HTML Help\ADO210.chm

    Note If you must manually copy the HTML files from the CD to the local computer, this registry key does not exist on your computer.

    To add the registry key, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, click Run, type Regedit, and then click OK.

      Registry Editor starts.
    2. Move to the following directory by double-clicking the folder:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\HTML Help

    3. On the right side of the screen, you see a long list of string values. Right-click anywhere in the white area, click New, and then click String Value.
    4. Name the string value "ado210.chm".
    5. Right-click the ado210.chm string value that you created, and then click Modify.
    6. In the Value Data box, type the following:

      C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Ado\

  • Copy the missing compressed HTML programming Help files to your hard drive.

    Note This workaround only applies if you are using Microsoft Access 2000 on Microsoft Windows 2000.

    Copy the Ado210.chm Help file to the WINNT\Help folder. For example, copy the folder to C:\WINNT\Help.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1/SR-1a.

MORE INFORMATION

At least five compressed HTML Help files that are related to MDAC are not installed on Windows XP-, Windows 2000-, or Windows Me-based computers after you install Microsoft Office 2000. The files that do not appear on Windows XP-, Windows 2000-, or Windows Me-based computers after you install Microsoft Office 2000 include:
  • Ado210.chm
  • Msjro.chm
  • Dao360.chm
  • Jetdef40.chm
  • Jetsql40.chm

Steps to Reproduce the Behavior

  1. Install Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows Me.
  2. Install Microsoft Office 2000.
  3. Start Microsoft Access.
  4. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
  5. In the Database window, click Modules, and then click New.
  6. In the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor, click References on the Tools menu. Make sure that there is a reference to the Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library.
  7. In any code module, type the following line of code:
    DAO.Database
  8. Press F1 to start Help.
  9. Click the entry for the DAO Library Help, and then click Help.

    Note that you receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section of this article.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/26/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbhelp kbbug kberrmsg kbpending KB249065 kbAudDeveloper
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