[TC 11.00rc1] Crash when using Help > Index > Keyword

[brahman]

Can you try this to see if it helps:
* Restart your computer or log out and log in again.
* Go to the folder %APPDATA%\Microsoft\HTML Help
* Delete TOTALCMD.chw and hh.dat (warning: deleting "hh.dat" resets all CHM windows to their default settings)
* Open the Help in 32-bit TC by pressing F1, use the Index and Search and browse to a number of pages
* Restart your computer or log out and log in again.
* Try 64-bit TC again.

2white
I am now at step 3 - but there is no TOTALCMD.chw anywhere on my PC.

So should I still delete hh.dat and continue?

[white]

So should I still delete hh.dat and continue?

Yes.

[brahman]

Ok, I finished the procedure by the book.

There is a fresh hh.dat now with only a Totalcmd entry in the file, no TOTALCMD.CHW, and the same abnormal crashing behaviour as before.

[white]

2brahman
Too bad, thanks for testing.

[white]

Have you tried to see if there are optional updates?
* Go to settings
* Start Windows Update
* Click Advanced settings
* Under Extra options, click on Optional updates

By the way, did you click on "Check for updates" after starting Windows Update? I forgot to mention that, it might list the 22H2 version.

[brahman]

Yes, I did.

And I also did all the optional updates but Windows 22H2 is not made available.

Can't I copy 22H2 to an USB stick and make an upgrade without losing my data and keeping my programs? I was considering that, but I have been too busy. Maybe now is a good occasion.

[petermad]

2white

* Open the Help in 32-bit TC by pressing F1, use the Index and Search and browse to a number of pages
* Restart your computer or log out and log in again.
* Try 64-bit TC again.

Is that for a combined 32bit+64bit installation, or will it also work if the 32bit and the 64bit versions are installed in independent directories, hence there being two totalcmd.chm files?

[brahman]

Combined installation - actually I don't INSTALL TC, I extract the files from the installation archive, because I prefer to have a portable installation while keeping my custom changes to menus etc.

[AntonyD]

2white
Agree that it was better to get a separate clarification of this case for the current time moment.
Now we know it for sure and we don't have to check anymore. So it's okay that it turned out to be kind of a simple repetition.

[AntonyD]

2brahman
Is this fall accompanied only by a record in the system of the falls? Like the one you attached earlier?
Can you run procmon.exe
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon
set filter for process name = totalcmd64.exe and repeat the steps for "crashing"
after that - save the log and maybe even upload somewhere?
Or you can by yourself to try to analyze last recorded events related to the moment of hhctrl.ocx "failing"

I just have a suspicion that since these components have not been updated as part of windows for a long time - but only as part of Office and Internet Explorer (it used to be) - maybe you just have some kind of update incorrectly overwritten something somewhere ( ((
It would be easier to find an opportunity to repeat the last available update for these components.

After all, for example, my version of this file is different from yours! And it's older! And there is no update for it.
Those. in fact, it is also possible that some 3rd party program has forcibly updated these components incorrectly.
Although even then all other help files would probably break...

But by the way - updating to the latest version of windows 10 22h2 could really help - there these subcomponents are included in the installation of the new version.

[ghisler(Author)]

My hh.exe and hhctrl.ocx both have version 10.0.22621.1 (Windows 11 x64 22H2), so they are definitely being updated. I don't get any crashes either when entering "sort" in the index search.

[AntonyD]

2brahman
Ha! btw!
You can upload somewhere your versions of hh.exe + hhctrl.ocx - so any of us can try to reproduce the problem with yours files directly!

[JOUBE]

Combined installation - actually I don't INSTALL TC, I extract the files from the installation archive, because I prefer to have a portable installation while keeping my custom changes to menus etc.

And you really copy the newest files of folder e (or d) - with Totalcmd.chm in it - to the right place?

I believe that this (extract the files manually) is no longer necessary in current versions of the installer, since these config files are no longer overwritten. But others here can certainly say that better and more securely than I can...

A test for this would be easy: Back up everything that belongs to the TC and then install it over it and then compare it.

[ghisler(Author)]

I was now able to reproduce it exactly once on my brother's PC with Windows 10 22H2: When typing in the search field of the Index tab, no characters were displayed, and then it crashed. Strangely, it worked just fine when trying again multiple times.

[white]

I was now able to reproduce it exactly once on my brother's PC with Windows 10 22H2: When typing in the search field of the Index tab, no characters were displayed, and then it crashed. Strangely, it worked just fine when trying again multiple times.

What does the Windows Reliability History say? Is the hhctrl.ocx version and Fault offset the same?