Re: Offline Nitaaiveda and Windows Vista problem fix

Dear Vaisnavas,

      Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! This is an extract from a blog page.

Troubleshooting CHM files on Vista

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Recently we got quite a few tickets/forum posts/mails from people complaining about issues they had with the CHM files for RadControls under Vista. There are two types of issues, but the cause is the same. It was that either people couldn’t view the CHM files at all (a.k.a. “Navigation Canceled” syndrome) or they could open the CHMs but had a JavaScript error for each page they try to access (a.k.a. “JavaScript permissions error” syndrome).

The typical answer was to send them to http://www.telerik.com/support/documentation/chm.aspx. It’s an old (well I’ve updated it today with the content of this post) but still valid article for solving issues with the CHM files. What was strange with these new complaints is that all these people actually download our ZIP archive with the CHMs and extract it to their local folders and still experience the issues. The aforementioned article deals mostly with directly downloaded CHMs (as they are for RadControls for ASP.NET classic version). What was even more confusing is that we couldn’t reproduce the issue on a machine in our office. It was obvious that there is a Vista-specific problem and we need a solution for that.

The explanation of the problem includes Alternate Data Streams (ADS) saved in the files. ADS are used to store the info that causes the properties page of the CHM file to present the "Unblock" button. 

The workaround is quite simple and it seems it’s working for all of the cases. There are two ways to fix the issue:

   
1. Copy the CHM files to a non-NTFS file system, for example on a flash drive     with FAT system. Delete the original files from your hard drive and copy them     back from the flash drive.
   
2. One can delete ADS with a number of different tools or techniques.      Microsoft Streams     (ex-Sysinternals application) is one of them that can be used for this     purpose.

Alternate Data Streams are a feature of NTFS only; if you move/copy to a non-NTFS file system, the ADS are lost. That's how the workaround works.

Note that if the CHM file resides on a network drive, you will see similar results ("Navigation to the webpage was canceled"), even if you unblock it. (Info on that in the MS KB: "You cannot open remote content by using the InfoTech protocol"; though it doesn't specifically mention Vista, it certainly seems to apply.)

Alternate data streams (ADS) are used to store the info that causes the properties page to present the "Unblock" button.  One can delete ADS with a number of different tools or techniques.  Sysinternals' "Streams" can be used for this. 

If you are familiar with DOS prompt, then From the COMMAND prompt, change to the folder with the CHM files you're having problems with, and enter:

C:\Path\To\StreamsProgram\streams.exe .\*.chm

(Replace "C:\Path\To\StreamsProgram\" with the actual path to streams.exe. Path is the actual directory path).

This will give a listing of all .CHM files in the current folder that have ADS.  To delete the streams, enter:

C:\Path\To\StreamsProgram\streams -d .\*.chm

This will delete the streams from all .CHM files in the current folder.  To verify the streams are gone, execute the first command again.

Then, try opening the .CHM files and see if you still have problems.

Or, you could move all .CHM files you're having problems with to a non-NTFS drive or partition.  ADS are a feature of NTFS; if you move / copy to a non-NTFS filesystem, the ADS are lost.  Then, you can move the .CHM files back to where you want them to be and the streams should be gone.

In your service,

Srinath

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