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After installing VS2019 in a couple of PCs I found that I don't have local content for help viewer on Win32 API. Using "Manage Content" I verify to have "Programming reference for Windows API", but that resolves only to have local index to it. As an example, I have the function list for "winbase.h" header, with the short description, but as I click on any function name all I get is

The topic you requested was not found on your computer, but you can view the topic online.

What's wrong with it? What is the content I'm missing? I read the list of help content to add to help viewer, but looks like I don't have anything else referring to Win32/Windows API...

LuC
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  • Microsoft have basically got rid of all local help and it's all online. F1 in visual studio does nothing useful any more. – Jonathan Potter Mar 17 '20 at 19:05
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    There are [loads of issues](https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/search.html?f=&type=question+OR+problem+OR+idea&type=question+OR+problem+OR+idea&c=&redirect=search%2Fsearch&sort=relevance&q=offline+help) reported. Most of them closed as duplicates, the others closed as *"Fixed"*. Without having been fixed. This has been an open issue since Visual Studio 2012 (or earlier). The best you can do for the time being is to fork the documentation repository and clone it to your local machine. – IInspectable Mar 17 '20 at 19:30

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Windows Desktop App Development in Help Viewer does not contain all Win32 functions, you can try to install the old full version to fix.

This is a useful link for you. In order to prevent the link from failing, I will list some useful information.

Install Windows Desktop App Development 2018

  • In Microsoft Help Viewer, switch to the Manage Content tab and uninstall broken books, such as Windows Desktop App Development and Programming reference for Windows API.
  • Click the Update button to remove the broken books.
  • Select the Installation source Disk and enter the following URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mgtek/win32_en-us_vs/master/helpcontentsetup.msha
  • Select Windows Desktop App Development (2018) and click Add and then Update to install the book.
Strive Sun
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