Help Library Manager Administrator's Guide
Help Library Manager lets you manage the product documentation in the local Microsoft Help Viewer content store. You can find and install new content from the MSDN Library website or from media, go online to obtain updates for your offline content, and remove offline content. Help Library Manager also manages settings that let you customize your help experience.
Help Library Manager can be run interactively or by using the command line. Arguments are prefaced with a forward slash (/) and are case-insensitive. The following command-line arguments are supported.
Argument |
Description |
|---|---|
/help or /? |
Displays a list of the supported command-line arguments. |
/product |
The product code (for example, vs). |
/version |
The product version being installed (for example, 100). |
/locale |
The product locale being installed (for example, en-us). |
/silent |
Performs the installation without prompting the user or displaying any user interface. Digitally signed CAB files are required for silent installation .mshc files that are not deployed in signed CAB files cannot be installed silently. When run in silent mode Help Library Manager writes a log file to the %Temp% directory. |
/content |
Specifies the location for the local content store if one has not been previously set. This argument is required if the /silent argument is present and /uninstall is not present. It is ignored if the content store location has already been defined. |
/brandingPackage |
Specifies the file name of the branding package for the content. The branding package is an optional component that customizes the content presentation. This argument is ignored if the product already has a branding package defined. |
/sourceMedia |
Specifies the content installation file helpcontentsetup.msha. If the specified file is not found or is invalid, the /sourceWeb argument is used. |
/sourceWeb |
Specifies the URL that defines the location of content that can be downloaded and installed. |
/mediaBookList |
When not combined with /uninstall, this argument specifies the books to install. This argument is valid only for silent installations. If it is not specified, all books in the file specified by /sourceMedia are installed. Values specified for this argument match the file names that describe each book on the media (book1.html, book2.html, and so on). When combined with /uninstall, this argument specifies the names of the books to be uninstalled. Use double quotes (") around book names that contain spaces, and use a space as the delimiter for a list of books. This argument is required when /uninstall is specified. |
/webBookList |
Specifies the books to install. This argument is valid only for silent installations. If this argument is not specified, all books found at the /sourceWeb endpoint that match the /locale argument are installed. The book list values are fully qualified; they are not relative based on /sourceWeb. To separate URLs, use a space. |
/uninstall |
Specifies that books should be removed from the local content store. This argument requires the /silent, /productName, /mediaBookList, and /vendor arguments. |
/productName |
Specifies the product name for the books that will be uninstalled. The product name is identified in the helpcontentsetup.msha or books.html file that shipped with the content. An uninstall operation can remove books only from a single product. Removing books from multiple products requires multiple uninstalls. |
/vendor |
Specifies the vendor for the product content to be uninstalled. |
Exit Codes
When Help Library Manager is run in silent mode, it returns the following exit codes.
Exit code |
Description |
|---|---|
0 |
The operation was successful. |
100 |
One or more command-line arguments was missing or invalid. |
110 |
The application configuration file for Help Library Manager was missing or invalid. |
120 |
The help content store could not be locked for update. This error typically occurs when the content is locked for update by another process. |
130 |
Files required to install content for a new product were not found. |
131 |
Files required to install content for a new product were invalid. |
140 |
The path specified for the /content switch is invalid. |
150 |
The local content store is in an invalid state. This error occurs when the directory permissions do not allow writing, or a required file is missing from the directory. |
200 |
The arguments passed to Help Library Manager did not result in content being installed. This can occur when the content is already installed. |
400 |
The removal of content failed. Detailed information can be found in the event log and in the installation log. |
401 |
The installation of content failed. Detailed information can be found in the event log and in the installation log. |
See Also
Concepts
Help Library Manager (Microsoft Help System 1.1)