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I have uninstalled Help Viewer 3 of VS 2012.

Now I want to reinstall it, but I don't know how.

Using add/remove program, and "Modify" VS 2012, there is no option to reinstall the help.

A repair of VS 2012 does not install the help.

If I launch from the VS DVD image the file Packages\Help\help3_vs_net.msi, it says that

This component may only be installed during Visual Studio setup.

How can I force the reinstallation? Is there any switch to pass to msiexec to workaround the issue?

[Edit] A bit of progress, according this thread, I can run msiexec /i help3_vs_net.msi VS_SETUP=1. This installs the help viewer.

Unfortunately, when I start it, it says : 

A content file required by the Help Viewer is missing or has been corrupted.
Steve B
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  • @jim: as I did not get an answer, I ended up by removing VS 2012 completely, before reinstalling it – Steve B Dec 18 '12 at 08:48
  • actually i fixed this issue. you need to modify couple of registry keys that have been removed by VS 2012 Update1 package. i got the issue after applying the update and it turns out to be a bug in that update package!! – jim Dec 19 '12 at 02:30
  • Do not hesitate to answer to the question. Even if I won't be able to check your solution, I may upvote it – Steve B Dec 19 '12 at 08:16
  • there are already many solutions to that online, which i've used. simply googling for "VS2012 Update 1 help viewer" will do the trick! – jim Dec 20 '12 at 02:14

1 Answers1

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This message is usually found when the content store for the Help Viewer has been moved and the registry key is pointing to the wrong location, as seen here.

Please try to change your registry key 'LocationPath' under the folder below to the correct folder where you moved the content store to. 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Help\v2.0\Catalogs\VisualStudio11

(you can probably find the folder by searching for the file CatalogType.xml)

Bruno Brant
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  • I don't have any way to test your workaround, because I ended by reinstalling the whole Visual Studio setup. I mark this as the answer, but I'm not sure if it was the case. – Steve B Feb 03 '13 at 07:46
  • @SteveB, too bad! I used this solution two days ago and it worked; Albeit my scenario was a little different, the error message was the same. – Bruno Brant Feb 04 '13 at 12:45
  • Note that (in my case for VS 2013) using the "Repair" option does not fix this either. However, setting the correct location in the correct registry key (the one given in the answer or newer keys reflecting the newer VS versions) does work. – mdisibio Mar 24 '17 at 00:14
  • In my case CatalogType.xml was missing. So I used from previous VS version: The contnent for those having no such file: "UserManaged" – Motlicek Petr Jan 31 '19 at 10:49