Several of our Windows Server systems have missing or broken “Help & Support” services. I finally tracked down Microsoft KB 937231, which describes a very similar issue. My situation didn’t match closely, but the article described a work-around procedure for re-installing the Help & Support service.
At a command prompt, run:
%windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\HelpSvc.exe /regserver /svchost netsvcs /RAInstall %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\HSCUpd.exe -i %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\hscmui.cab %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\HSCUpd.exe -i %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\hscsp_l3.cab
Turns out that my system didn’t have hsccp_l3.cab, but I did have hsccp_e3.cab. So I substituted that file in the last setp. Now the Help & Support service is running, and the things that plug into it &emdash; like the links in events in the event logs — are working.
I’m always happy when I fix a long-standing annoyance.
On yet another system, I found a
hsccp_s3.cabfile.