Vista Help & Support - Permissions Problem?

I posted this in General, but got no response. I have a little bit of
updated findings to post here.

If I run Help and Support as Administrator or if I create a new user and run
from it, Vista Help & Support runs perfectly.

However, when I run it from my primary user/administrator sign-on, I just
get text text (looks like text from an .h1s file).

I have googled for days and the closest I can find to a solution refers to
Server 2003 and XP. I can't find anyone with this problem. I can't find a
"Help and Support" services entry like there was on XP. The only program I
can find is HELPPANE.exe and I have changed and rechanged permissions until
my fingers are sore.

The only thing I can find that is different is in Process Explorer (free
download), it shows "Builtin/Administrators" with a deny flag when I run as
primmary user/administrator. "Builtin/Administrators" shows a "mandatory"
flag when I run as Administrator or any new user I create.

I don't have malware. I don't have a restore file that goes back as long as
I have had the problem. I have uninstalled tweaks and freeware/purchased
utility programs. I still cannot get the thing to work.

It appears that the H and S service is not running. But I can't even find a
service to run manually to test.

Please help.

Thanks

See this string in the "TechGuys" forum. It looks like the same problem:
http://forums.techguy.org/showthread...5&goto=newpost
__________________________________________________________________________________________
"Mike" <lagunasrfr@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e3MMGEZAJHA.4064@xxxxxx

Bump - need expert to look at this!
"Mike" <lagunasrfr@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e3MMGEZAJHA.4064@xxxxxx

I've traced the error through event logs in Event Viewer. This is what I am
consistently getting for one user only. The remainder of users have correct
H&S processing.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Help"
Guid="{de513a55-c345-438b-9a74-e18cac5c5cc5}" />
<EventID>2004</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>8</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2008-08-23T14:18:22.172Z" />
<EventRecordID>1082</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="6340" ThreadID="5616" />
<Channel>Microsoft-Windows-Help/Operational</Channel>
<Computer>Mike-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-21-1532843357-3711708830-5164668-1000" />
</System>
<EventData />
</Event>

"Mike" <lagunasrfr@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e3MMGEZAJHA.4064@xxxxxx

Any ideas?
"Mike" <lagunasrfr@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e3MMGEZAJHA.4064@xxxxxx

At the time of the Techguy link mentioned above, there was an almost
identical thread running, to which I was contributing. The problem was
not resolved in either. I have browsed extensively for an answer and
come up blank.


--
davehc
------------------------------------------------------------------------
davehc's Profile: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/member.php?userid=134
View this thread: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20074

Ok. Thanks for bothering with the reply. I'm fairly new to the site and
will note your comment.


--
davehc
------------------------------------------------------------------------
davehc's Profile: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/member.php?userid=134
View this thread: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20074

After working three weeks on this problem, I finally solved it and it was a
file permissions problem.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon Procman.exe
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896645.aspx I'm sure you
experts in the Forum are well aware of it. I'm sure it can help solve most
permissions and HK_CU problems.

I ran procman, using the filter to isolate helppane.exe, Help & Support's
run program. Procman displayed a log of thousands of entries - too many to
eyeball for the problem.

I saved the log as a csv file; read it into Excel and sorted it as a
database to isolate processes that were not allowed (files that could not be
read because of permissions or corruption problems). I found two files that
were not read (see attached partial xls file for details.

I clicked on the files' permissions and changed them to allow access by the
user and, lo and behold, the problem was solved.

These were the two files in case the attachment does not come accross
clearly:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Assistance\Client\1.0\en-US\Help_CValidator.H1D
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Assistance\Client\1.0\en-US\Help_MValidator.Lck


Thanks for everyone who took the time to try and help.
"Mike" <lagunasrfr@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e3MMGEZAJHA.4064@xxxxxx

The name of the program is procmon (Process Monitor). I installed IE8 Beta 2
and my H&S problem came back. I went to
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Assistance\Client\1.0\en-US\Help_CValidator.H1D
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Assistance\Client\1.0\en-US\Help_MValidator.Lck

and found that IE8 had updated these files and reset the permissions.
Fortunately, I had gone through the process explained earlier and used
procmon to quickly locate the files with permission problems and fixed them.

============================================================

"Mike" <lagunasrfr@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:emSEef7CJHA.4700@xxxxxx