Offline help only opens in IE - Why?

[Anonymous]

I have download the max help files to be local to my machine and I already have Firefox set up as my default web browser and yet the clicking any help link from 3ds max (2015 or 2012) fires up internet explorer.  Nothing I do, including checking the registry to make sure all htm, html files are associated with Firefox (which they are), works.  However, if i drag the link from the address bar in IE to the desktop, making a URL shortcut in the process, then when I click that shortcut Firefox DOES open - so what's going on here?  Is max hard coded to open IE or what? 

This is really frustrating because not only does it open IE, but clicking help on a second or third item from inside max results in a brand new instance of IE opening instead of it re-using the already open one.

I think others have reported having the same problems in Maya and other Autodesk applications but none of them seem to have a working solution that I can apply.  I've even removed IE from my Windows 7 applications (since you cannont uninstall it), but then the max help does nothing at all which is why it looks like it's hard coded to use IE.

Anyone have a possible solution for this? - it's driving me nuts since atm i spend more time in the help system than in the application itself.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I can only tell you that it is not "Hardcoded" I use Google chrome and my off-line help file open with this. I did however, completely Disable IE from my computer. (there is plenty of google help that will show you how to do this)
Also you might try this: Go to the folder location where help is located - 3DS Max 2016 it's here: C:/program files X86/ Autodesk / Help / 3DSmax2016 / en_us
Right click the Index ( Main start page ) Open with > choose default program > and find your firefox file.
I have not tested that - but I don't know why it should not work.

[Anonymous]

I have tried everything I can think of.  I've removed IE from the windows installed programs, I've reset the default browser via the registry and via your suggested method as well as a 3rd party app to force re-association of programs to particular file types - all of which fail.  Removing IE from windows totally stopped the help from opening at all, so I'm at a loss as to what to try next. 

As I mentioned, if i drop a help link from IE onto the desktop (which automatically makes a shortcut url link) and then click that link my firefox open it - as I expect it to.  The problem is opeing the help from within max that seems to only want to launch IE and not firefox.

This same thing happens with max 2012 and these are the only 2 apps that behave like this - I don't have any other autodesk apps but I would not be surprised if others do the same thing.

The main issues I have are (1) IE is totally flakey and explodes for no apparent reason - a LOT and (2) This problem results in multiple IE windows opening foe each help request from within max, instead of re0using the already open IE window.  Other than those 2 problems I could probably (reluctantly) come to terms with it but they are deal breakers for me.

[Anonymous]

Well you could always ditch firefox for Google chrome!

What if you just create a shortcut/link to the 3ds max help file on your desktop ( it will open without max even started ) and tried your drop link idea?

[pshwayka]

Try this: 

1. Start Regedit. (You may want to back up your registry, but I've never created a problem by editing the following.)
2. Edit your HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.htm so that it says FirefoxHTML 

That should fix it...you may need to reboot, but I've had it work without rebooting.

[Anonymous]

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@pshwayka wrote:

Try this: 

1. Start Regedit. (You may want to back up your registry, but I've never created a problem by editing the following.)
2. Edit your HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.htm so that it says FirefoxHTML 

That should fix it...you may need to reboot, but I've had it work without rebooting.

---

Nope - that setting is already set as is the .html one below it. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well you could always ditch firefox for Google chrome!

What if you just create a shortcut/link to the 3ds max help file on your desktop ( it will open without max even started ) and tried your drop link idea?

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(1) I'm not a fan of chrome - i hate it in fact.  Although my appreciation for FF is waning with every update.

(2) I could do that, but that wouldn't work when it comes to context sensitive help from within max - I would need to open the help each time or do a search for the topic every time - not an efficient approach.

Also, I don't think the problem is with FF.  It opens every other app's html help just fine, but not max's.  I DO believe the problem is with Windows and IE not respecting the file association in some cases, but exactly how to get around it or fix it is a mystery.

While digging through the registry I found many many entries that call IE or one of its DLLs in connection with various internet related extensions and such, but they're not as straight forward as just re-pointing them to Firefox and there's too many of them scattered all throughout the registry.  I'm not even sure if they're actually active or just dormant.

[Anonymous]

OK, 

TheXennon.  I was so curious as to why in the world you would be haveing such a problem with firefox - I did this as a experiement. I downloaded a copy of Firefox, ( version 45.0.1 ) I installed it - I made it my preferred browser -  I went to the directory where 3DS max help file is located - RClick on the file "Index" - told to open with Firefox . Started 3DS Max 2016 and hit help - and it opens in FIREFOX! Imagine that! 

All accross the board Maya 2016 help- Firefox

                                 Inventor 2016 Help - Firefox

                                 MotionBuilder 2016 - Firefox

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

OK, 

@Anonymous.  I was so curious as to why in the world you would be haveing such a problem with firefox - I did this as a experiement. I downloaded a copy of Firefox, ( version 45.0.1 ) I installed it - I made it my preferred browser -  I went to the directory where 3DS max help file is located - RClick on the file "Index" - told to open with Firefox . Started 3DS Max 2016 and hit help - and it opens in FIREFOX! Imagine that! 

All accross the board Maya 2016 help- Firefox

                                 Inventor 2016 Help - Firefox

                                 MotionBuilder 2016 - Firefox

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That's interesting - What's the path to your help files?  Are they under C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Help\...... ?

[Anonymous]

yes, as noted in my second post.

This path is also the ( should be ) the same as shows in Preference settings > Help > under help location. 

Also note : other than making Firefox my preferred browser - I made ABSOLUTELY no change to any file association anywhere.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

OK, I managed to resolve the problem although it wasn't easy and I have no idea why I needed to go to these lengths to get it to work, but just in case there other having the same problems, they might benefit from this approach.

Firstly the original situation:  (Windows 7 Pro, x64)
# My help files were installed (by default) to C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Help\3dsmax2015\en_us
# My default browser was set to Firefox (v45.0.2)
# My File associations for .htm and .html were also set to FirefoxHTML in the Registry.
# The Registry entry: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command] was set to
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" %1

With these settings, MAX Help would always open a new IE window and if it was a context sensitive help request it would open at the appropriate point in the help file but always via a new IE window.

To solve the problem, I first ran the FTYPE command to change the "htmlfile" association to point to FireFox.
In a command prompt window: FTYPE htmlfile="C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "%1"

Now [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command] is set to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "%1"

Now opening MAX help would open FireFox, but FireFox kept giving me the error:

File Not found.  Firefox can't find the file at /C:/Program.

This made me think that Firefox was choking on the [space] in the path to the help files.
I relocated (moved) the help files to C:\Autodesk\Help\3dsmax2015\en_us (No spaces in the path)
and BINGO! Everything started working properly.

So the solution is 3-fold.
(1) Use FTYPE to associate "htmlfile" file types with Firefox in the registry.
(2) Move the help files to a path that DOES NOT have any spaces.
(3) Tell MAX where to find the relocated help files in Customize > Preferences > Help.

I have no idea why my setup is so messed up and doesn't work as described by davidveyhle above.  In any case, what I described here resolved the issue 100%.  I hope this spares others the angst I went through trying to fix this.

Strangely enough, running Firefox in safe-vanilla-mode seemed to work without all the gymnsatics described above - I have no idea why.

One issue still remains: Each call to the help system now opens a new TAB in Firefox instead of a new window in IE - Not sure how to fix that one yet, but I can live with it for now.

[Anonymous]

Good for YOU - I am glad you figured it out. Know I can get that piece of shi* browser ( firefox off my system ) Ha Ha

[Anonymous]

After this debarkle I'm seriously considering the same.

[spacefrog_]

This got nothing to do with Firefox, it's just how registry entries are parsed when there are spaces in the path
You have to put the path in question into quotes inside the registry to ensure that the whole part is passed when it gets launched

here's is the reg file i use to set Firefox to open my Maxhelp ( my firefox sits on a differen path, but have adopted to your installation )
just copy&paste that into a text file, save as *.reg file of any name ( just keep the .reg extension )

A doubleclick on the reg file to import should then set up everything

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe" -osint -url \"%1\""

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe" -osint -url \"%1\""

There's a chance that the previously mentioned registry tweak about setting things to FirefoxHTM might break this, so i can't say that this will work on your system. I only know that i had the same thing ( IE still opened the max help files, despite firefox being the default browser ) and this tweak fixed that for me

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

This got nothing to do with Firefox, it's just how registry entries are parsed when there are spaces in the path
You have to put the path in question into quotes inside the registry to ensure that the whole part is passed when it gets launched

here's is the reg file i use to set Firefox to open my Maxhelp ( my firefox sits on a differen path, but have adopted to your installation )
just copy&paste that into a text file, save as *.reg file of any name ( just keep the .reg extension )

A doubleclick on the reg file to import should then set up everything

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe" -osint -url \"%1\""

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe" -osint -url \"%1\""

There's a chance that the previously mentioned registry tweak about setting things to FirefoxHTM might break this, so i can't say that this will work on your system. I only know that i had the same thing ( IE still opened the max help files, despite firefox being the default browser ) and this tweak fixed that for me

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@Anonymous  - Thank you for your interest, however your suggestion doesn't work on my machine.  Clicking on help from within max (using your reg file) would do nothing - not even IE would open with your version.  Furthermore, as I explained in my post, I did put quotes around the command line.  Additionally, adding the parameters "-osint -url" to my adopted solution resulted in Firefox not firing up at all but removing them again made it work fine.

Also, the 2nd key in your reg file ([HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\....) doesn't exist on my system and adding it didn't fix anything either.

The settings containing "FirefoxHTM" were there by default and not added by me, so I didn't change them.

The windows registry is a real can of worms, and I have no idea why some things work for some people but not others even when using the same registry settings.  I doubt that even microsoft know.

As it stands, using my adopted approach is working fine (except for each help topic opening a new TAB), so I think I'll stick with it for now.

[spacefrog_]

okay - it might be that you are on windows 8 or windows 10, which added yet another layer of obscurity to how which fileformats are opened by what program. I have to confess that my registry is pretty tweaked and far away from the standard install, so the system might take a more direct route on my system than on any other ...

Edit:

i just tested my regfile on a vanilla Windows 8 which opened the help in IE. and importing the regfile immediatly fixed that for me and the regfile openes now in Firefox. Are you sure that both registry keys are created and you have the default for HTML and HTM files set to firefox in control panel's  "default programs" dialog ? ( in the "default programs" and in the "protocol association" dialogs )

Just to add that you are right about the registry of being a can of worms. The same is true for the new default file format handling in Windows 8 and even more in windows 10, it's just an insane mess ...

[Anonymous]

Nope, I'm on Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 and I did try the reg file as you provided it.  Also, the file associations were confirmed to point to Firefox before I started messing around with the registry and I also used a 3rd party file association utility to verify and fix if required, any obscure associations but none were found. 

Personally, I'm convinced that Firefox is screwing things up in different ways - after updating to the latest version, my Youtube configurations all went out the window and it was driving me crazy coz I was blaming Google for the issues when it turns out to be Firefox changing the way it does things.  I rolled back my Firefox to the version I had previously and all was fixed.  If I didn't hate the chrome UI so much, I'd switch to that.

To further complicate things, my windows install has gradually become a little unstable in different areas and it's probably due for a complete wipe and re-install but the thought of re-configuring and re-installing everything I have currently literally scares the hell out of me.  I (try) to keep a current backup just in case, but I know I'm treading on dangerous ground and eventually things will just explode.

[Anonymous]

Another solution other than having to move the help files to a different location is to just paste in an 8.3 style path like "C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\3DSMAX~1\help\en-US" for example. instead of supplying the original path that contained spaces ("C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2015\help\en-US"). If you in stall Lopesoft's FileMenu tools you can easily get the 8.3 style path for any folder by right clicking on the folder then choosing FileMenu Tools>(press and hold Ctrl) & clicking "Copy Path". (there may well be other ways to obtain the path but I like the convenience of FileMenu Tools as well as some of the other features it provides). Of course this already assumes you have .html files associated with Firefox (as per your FTYPE command). Hope this helps others who encounter this issue.

[Anonymous]

I'm having this problem with Windows 10, Maya 2018 and the solution here helped. I only did one step in an elevated CMD window (won't work in powershell):

ftype htmlfile="C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" "%1"

The browser you choose should not matter, I think. I don't think I have a problem with help files with spaces because Maya launches help by pointing to a HTTP URL, not a file. Maybe internally Maya requests htmlfile as the filetype, and feeds it a URL, and it's probably URL-encoded if there are any spaces. Seems like a hack by autodesk to launch the browser in an unusual way!

[Anonymous]

I think the reason I was having issues with the help files is because I'm using offline help which stores the help files locally instead of accessing the internet version.  It seems you are using the online version.

As for the browser type - in my case it does make a difference because of the way Firefox processes access to local "files" as opposed to internet URLs.  The way Firefox was doing it at the time, was/is linked to some kind of security issue which i never really understood.

I'm glad that my post helped even if you had to make slight changes for your circumstances.  It's so great when you have a problem and a full or partial solution drops in your lap - not so great when it doesn't, like happened to me.  I recall being extremely frustrated by the whole thing but oh so relieved when I got it to work.

cheers!