Knowledgebase: Help File
8 Options to Fix Viewing the POSitive Help File
Posted by Sean W, Last modified by Dean Martin on 03 June 2021 12:45 PM

POSitive has a help file which you should be able to use by opening POSitive then clicking on the Help pull-down menu at the top and selecting Help. You can also press the 'F1' key on your keyboard while viewing any screen in POSitive. If you get a 'cannot be found' error, then you can download the Help File



--- PROJECT SUMMARY---

If the POSitive help file is displaying a message like "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" or "This program cannot display the webpage" instead of the topic content then keep reading. This problem is typically NOT coming from POSitive software or its Help file. Instead, here are some likely reasons why it's happening and possible solutions.


Before getting started, be sure you can view file extensions. Here's how:

1. Open Windows File Explorer (Press the Windows logo key + E)
2. Click the 'File', 'View' or 'Organize' menu option
3. Select 'Options' or 'Folder and Search Options'
4. Select the 'View' tab
5. Uncheck the option 'Hide extensions for known file types'
6. Click OK to close



--- TROUBLESHOOTING OPTIONS ---

Start from the beginning and work your way down until you find a solution that works. All of the following options should be performed at the computer that is not displaying the help file properly.

  • Option 1: Intranet Security Settings
  • Option 2: File-Security Warning
  • Option 3: The Help File Is Blocked by A Windows Security Policy
  • Option 4: The problem with the Help file might have been caused by an old Microsoft Update (KB896358)
  • Option 5: The HTML Help (CHM) Viewer Component Is Not Registered
  • Option 6: Your Help File is in a Restricted Internet Zone
  • Option 7: Help File Has the '#' Hash Character in the Directory Name
  • Option 8: Search the Web for More Suggestions
  • Viewing Alternative A: Copy The Help File To Your Desktop And Open It Directly
  • Viewing Alternative B: View the Help File Online
  • Addendum: How to open the POSitive installation directory
  • Addendum: Download the POSitive Help File



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OPTION 1: Intranet Settings
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Your Intranet Security Settings in could be incorrectly detecting your local network, which can cause problems with viewing the Help file. You can check/override these by doing the following on any computer that the Help file is not working properly:

1. Open Windows Control Panel or click on the Windows Start button and type "internet options"
2. Open 'Internet Options'
3. Click the 'Security' tab
4. Select the 'Local intranet' zone
5. Click the 'Sites' button
6. Make sure that all of the boxes are checked EXCEPT 'Automatically Detect Intranet'

intranetsettings

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OPTION 2: File-Security Warning
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1. On your server computer, right-click on the shortcut you use to open POSitive and choose 'Properties'
2. Click the 'Open File Location' button
3. Double-click the 'PRM.chm' file to open it
4. In the 'Open File-Security Warning' dialog box, click to clear the 'Always ask before opening this file' check box.
5. Click Open

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OPTION 3: The Help File Is Blocked by A Windows Security Policy
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The POSitive help file is a CHM file. Since CHM files in general consist of compiled HTML files, it can contain harmful scripts. That's why Windows security updates may block its content.

To unblock a trusted CHM Helpf file:

1. On your server computer, right-click on the shortcut you use to open POSitive and choose 'Properties'
2. Click the 'Open File Location' button
3. Right-click on the PRM.chm file and select 'Properties'
4. Click on the 'General' tab, if Windows is blocking that file you will see an 'Unblock' button. Just click the 'Unblock' button and then click 'OK'.

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OPTION 4: The problem with the Help file might have been caused by an old Microsoft Update (KB896358)
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The Help file may have some compatibility issues with Microsoft Windows' security update 896358. This option will merge registry entries into your computer's registry file, which provides a workaround for those compatibility issues.


Instructions here and/or steps.

1. Download the registry fix file below:
gopositive.com/downloads/positive/kb896358_fix_546.zip
2. Press Ctrl+J in your web browser to find the file you just downloaded
3. Find and right-mouse-click on the downloaded file name and select 'Open containing folder'
4. Right-mouse-click on the downloaded file and select Extract All, and then follow the instructions
5. Double-mouse-click on the 'KB896358_FIX.reg' file
6. Choose Yes or OK to every warning screen that pops up
7. Click OK to finish
8. Reboot your computer

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OPTION 5: The HTML Help (CHM) Viewer Component Is Not Registered
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Open a Windows Command Prompt and type in the following: "regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx" (without quotes) and press Enter. After getting the success message like "DllRegisterServer in hhctrl.ocx succeeded", try to open the Help file again.

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OPTION 6: Your Help File is in a Restricted Internet Zone
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Your Help file may be located on a network computer, or network drive that exists in a restricted zone.

You can simply copy the Help file to your 'Temp' folder:

1. On your server computer, right-click on the shortcut you use to open POSitive and choose 'Properties'
2. Click the 'Open File Location' button
3. Right-click on the PRM.chm file and select 'Copy
4. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Windows 'Run' command
5. Enter "%temp%" (without quotes) and click OK. This will open a new Windows File Explorer window displaying the contents of the 'Temp' folder
6. Right-mouse-click in a blank area (be careful that no folder or file is selected or highlighted) in the 'Temp' folder and select 'Paste'

Simply copying the Help file to your 'Temp' folder may not be enough. You might need to tell POSitive where to find the Help file by editing the 'retailer.ini' file which can be found in either 'C:\Windows', or 'C:\Users\<UserProfile>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windows' (change <UserProfile> to your Windows login name).

1. Once you locate the 'retailer.ini' file right-click on it and select 'Edit' (if prompted, choose to open it with Windows Notepad).
2. Search the text for "[Help]" (without quotes)
3. If the text exists, then change the section that begins with 'HelpPath=' to "HelpPath=%temp%\PRM.chm". If the text does not exist, then add the following to the bottom of the text:

[Help]
HelpPath=%temp%\PRM.chm


However, sometimes using the environment variables won't work, so you'll need to explicitly define the path to the 'PRM.chm' file in the 'retailer.ini' file.

For example:

[Help]
HelpPath=C:\Users\<UserProfile>\AppData\Local\Temp


The <UserProfile> section used above is the login name you used when you logged into Windows. Typically you can view this name by opening Windows File Explorer and in the navigation bar at the top type "%temp%" (without quotes) and press Enter.

If you were logged in as 'JohnDoe' you would see a path such as:

C:\Users\JohnDoe\AppData\Local\Temp

or you might instead see:

> This PC > Local Disk (C:) > Users > UserDoe > AppDatta > Local > Temp



Option 6 Alternative (not for POSitive 2017 products): Execute 'help.bat' which automatically copies the POSitive help file to your local computer and inserts the location of the it into a file which POSitive reads each time it's opened on a workstation.

A special batch utility file will attempt to copy the help file to your local computer so you can use the 'F1' key to open it normally. This alternative option only works under certain circumstances. Having the Windows User Account Control setting set to its DEFAULT level is required.

Before we get started, if you have not done so already, download the latest help file for your software and save it to your POSitive installation directory

On the computer that needs the Help file to work:

1. Ensure that POSitive software is not running
2. Open your POSitive installation directory (e.g. 'P:\POSitiveRetailManager')
3. Take note of the name of your help file (i.e. 'POSitive Retail Manager' = 'prm.chm', 'POSitive GEM' = 'gem.chm', 'POSitive Five Star' = '5star.chm', etc.)
4. Download the batch file that matches your software and save it to your POSitive installation directory overwriting the existing 'help.bat' file:
--- Right-click a link below and choose Save File As...
--- 5Star, GEM, PBM, PRM,,

Windows 10
1. Open your POSitive installation directory using Windows File Explorer and click on the 'File' tab on the Ribbon menu,
2. Hover over 'Open Command Prompt' and choose 'Open command prompt as administrator'
--- Alternatively, click the Windows Start button and type "cmd" in the Windows Search box, right-click on Command Prompt and choose 'Run as administrator'.
3. Type "pushd \\<YourServerName-without-arrows>\POSitive\<PRM-POSitive-installation-directory-without-arrows>"
(e.g. "pushd \\Server\POSitive\PRM" without quotes) and press Enter.
4. Type "help.bat" and press Enter
5. Wait for the command to process... A message will indicate if it was successful

One of the executions the 'help.bat' file performs is writing the location of the help file into the 'retailer.ini' file using environment variables. Sometimes using the environment variables won't work, so you'll need to explicitly define the path to the help file in the 'retailer.ini' file manually, which can be found in either 'C:\Windows', or 'C:\Users\<UserProfile>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windows'. Follow step 3 of Option 6 above to make the corrections.

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OPTION 7: Help File Has the '#' Hash Character in the Directory Name (not likely, but still possible)
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Hash (#) is a registered character which is used for hyperlinks. This character cannot be used (as well as "?","&" and "+" characters in directory names. All those have special meaning. Try to remove all hashes and other special characters from any of the folder names in the path where POSitive is installed. (e.g. 'C:\POSitive\POSitive#ForBusiness')

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OPTION 8: Search the Web for More Suggestions
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--- Search: "CHM help file not displaying" http://goo.gl/83XULk

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--- HELP FILE VIEWING ALTERNATIVES ---



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VIEWING ALTERNATIVE A: Copy the Help File to your desktop and open it directly
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If you simply copy the 'PRM.chm' file from the POSitive installation directory to your local desktop you can double-click to open it from your desktop and it should operate normally.

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VIEWING ALTERNATIVE B: View the Help file online
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The POSitive Help File is available online (might not be the most current version) as well as in other formats. For more information, click here:
http://gopositive.com/onlinehelpfile

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ADDENDUM
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How to open the POSitive installation directory
1. Right-click on the shortcut you use to open POSitive and choose 'Properties'
2. Click the 'Open File Location' button

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Download the POSitive Help File
If you press the 'F1' key and you get an error that POSitive can't find the help file, but sure that it exists in the POSitive installation folder. If not, then download it and save it to your POSitive installation directory.

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Updated 7/27/2017