When you open the online Help system in client/server versions of SAS^® 8 or SAS^®9 or the SAS OnlineDoc for Windows in SAS^®9, an error message similar to the following might appear:

When you select an item on the Contents tab in the online Help system, either the message disappears and the right pane is empty, or else the following error message appears:

For Online Help and Online Documentation

The error messages appear on Windows when you are using a SAS 8 or SAS 9 client/server implementation when you select Help ► Help and Online Documentation or when you access any .chm Help file on a machine that is remote from the local machine.

Behavior: The Windows HTML Help viewer opens, the SAS Help opens and populates the TOC in the left pane, and the error message appears in the right pane. When you navigate to the location of the .chm files and click one, the same message appears.

In the sasv9.cfg file, the HELPLOC option appears correctly, as follows:

The .chm files will exist in the correction location.

For SAS OnlineDoc for Windows

The error messages appear when you try to access any .chm file on a machine remote from your local machine.

Behavior: OnlineDoc viewer opens, SAS OnlineDoc opens and populates the TOC in the left pane, and in the right pane the error message appears.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This error message does not appear in or affect OnlineDoc for the Web.

The problem occurs because of Microsoft update 896358. See the following Microsoft articles for a full description of the issue:

• MS05-026: A vulnerability in HTML Help could allow remote code execution
• After you install security update 896358, content that should be displayed in a different frame is displayed in the frame that contains the HTML Help ActiveX control

When Microsoft disabled the opening of the .chm files for Windows Help from a network path, it defined a registry entry that allows paths to be specified. The registry key involved is as follows:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions\UrlAllowList

Warning: This fix is experimental and untested: Use at your own risk.

Warning: Always back up your registry before you make any registry changes. For assistance, see Windows Help, Microsoft documentation, or the Microsoft Windows Web site. SAS is not responsible when you edit your registry.

To fix this issue on client/server installations of SAS, uninstall the update or specify paths that should be allowed by changing the entries in ItssRestrictions\UrlAllowList.

To change the entry in ItssRestrictions\UrlAllowList, do the following:

1. Click Start and then, depending on your operating system, either click Run or type run in the Search box. Then type regedit and click OK.
2. In the Registry Editor window, locate and click the following subkey:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions

   Note: If this registry subkey does not exist, create it as follows:

   1. In the Registry Editor window, select Edit ► New ► Key.
   2. Enter the name ItssRestrictions and press ENTER.
3. Right-click the ItssRestrictions subkey and select New ► String Value.
4. Type UrlAllowList, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click the UrlAllowList value, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type the name of !SASROOT on the server in the following form: !sasroot\;file://!sasroot

   The !SASROOT MUST *match* the parameter after the -sasroot option in the sasv8.cfg or sasv9.cfg file. The first value of !SASROOT needs to end with a backslash. The second one does not. For example, if !SASROOT is \\d11407\SASServer\9.1\sas, then the value for UrlAllowList is as follows:

   \\d11407\sasserver\9.1\sas\;file://\\d11407\sasserver\9.1\sas

   If !SASROOT is a mapped drive rather than a UNC path (for example: s:\sas\sas91, then the value for UrlAllowList is as follows:
   s:\sas\sas91\;file://s:\sas\sas91

Additional Step for Users of Windows 64-bit Platforms

In addition to the registry keys listed above, add similar entries into the following:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions\MaxAllowedZone
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions\UrlAllowList

The values for these keys should match the values for the 32-bit keys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	Base SAS	Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition	9.1 TS1M3
		Microsoft Windows XP Professional	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows NT Workstation	9 TS M0
		Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Server	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server	9 TS M0
		Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional	9 TS M0

* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.

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Type:	Problem Note
Priority:	medium
Topic:	Internal Administration ==> Documentation

Date Modified:	2006-01-24 16:36:07
Date Created:	2005-06-27 07:42:09