Can't get help files after install of CS4 Standard

Question

The programs seem to be working fine, but whenever I click on the specific Help link the programs say there was an error in installation and I should re-install (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat) How do I get to access Help?
Also, with PsCS3 the license allowed installation on 2 computers (my desktop and my notebook) but it is unclear if this applies to Creative Suite CS4. Can you clarify before I try installing on my notebook?

Answer 1

Well, there *is* a way to sidestep this without having to reinstall the whole suite on Windows XP (Vista too, most probably). However, this manual solution might be a chore to some since you'd have to do this for *each* of the help volumes within C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Help\en_US\.
I'll just detail what I did with the folder containing the Photoshop help files. I believe that with the others it should be a similar procedure, but I haven't tried it yet.
Within C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Help\en_US\Photoshop\11.0\ look for these two text files: helpmap.txt and helpmapBaseUrl.txt.
MAKE BACKUPS OF THOSE TWO FILES BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES (and, like me, ask permission from your boss before you do anything like this :) ). Save the files somewhere safe so you can restore them if what I suggest below doesn't work for you.
======================
[Step 1]
It looks like helpmapBaseUrl.txt tells PS where to look for the Help files, and those of you with the "problem" will probably find that it contains this address:
"http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0"
which is why (AFAIK) pressing F1 takes you to the Web help.
Delete "http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0" and paste the path to the PS help files in your machine, which (if you installed it in C:) should be something like:
file:///C:/Program%20Files/Common%20Files/Adobe/Help/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/
Save helpmapBaseUrl.txt.
==========================
[Step 2]
Open helpmap.txt. Look for these two entries:
AH_ION search.html?AH_ION=true Ion Search Page
AH_HOME WSC04AFC0E-5BF5-4c2f-8A32-BEDE16E9DF95.html Home
Delete everything to the right of "AH_ION," copy WSC04AFC0E-5BF5-4c2f-8A32-BEDE16E9DF95.html (the HTML file listed to the right of "AH_Home") and paste it beside "AH_ION," so it now looks like this:
AH_ION WSC04AFC0E-5BF5-4c2f-8A32-BEDE16E9DF95.html
Save helpmap.txt.
============================
[Step 3]
Restart PS. Now, pressing F1 should open the local help files in your browser. Also, all the "How to's" should open using the local files as well. Pat yourself in the back.
Maybe there is an easier way to do this, I don't know. But so far this works for me.
I hope some of you find this helpful.