hhctrl event id 1904

Question

_{Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:00 PM | 1 vote}

I am getting hundreds of these in my event viewer logs, but I have no idea what is causing it or how to fix it. I'm on windows 7 64 bit (not an upgrade) - brand new Alienware Aurora.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        HHCTRL
Date:          12/22/2009 8:19:34 AM
Event ID:      1904
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      xxxxxxx
Description:
The description for Event ID 1904 from source HHCTRL cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

about:blank
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=45840

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="HHCTRL" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1904</EventID>
    <Level>4</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-12-22T13:19:34.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>1487</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>xxxxxx</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>about:blank</Data>
    <Data>http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=45840</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

All replies (7)

_{Wednesday, December 23, 2009 10:20 AM ✅Answered | 4 votes}

Hi Eris42,

The event is just informational, and is apparently "harmless". (eventid.net)

When you get the events in the event viewer, are you looking at compiled HTML help (.chm) files for some application?

_{Thursday, December 31, 2009 6:22 AM}

I've gotten this one too...got a little alarmed because it said some component on my nice new install might be "corrupted". It might have been while I was looking at a program's help file; I think I did around that time. I'll check the next time. Any idea why a .chm file would trigger this?

_{Monday, August 23, 2010 12:18 AM | 4 votes}

    I got this "event" every time a link was clicked while using an older version of the MSDN Library that I installed on my machine. ALL of the links were locally installed help files too. Adding this registry entry fixed my problem:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\HHRestrictions]
"OverrideLMZLinHHContainer"=dword:00000001

    Can not find any documentation on the DWORD entry "OverrideLMZLinHHContainer", so not sure if adding it imposes a security risk or not. Found the value name while doing a text search on the actual hhctrl.ocx file near the documented registry values. Best I can tell it stands for "Override Local Machine Zone Level in HH container". Worked for me. Just sad that Microsoft can't seem to get anything right anymore, and we have to resort to undocumented registry hacks to make things work.

_{Thursday, September 27, 2012 5:07 PM}

Does the same thing on my computer every time I access my McAfee VirusScan help file.

_{Wednesday, October 24, 2012 4:23 PM}

I get these entries when I access an entry in my MalwareBytes help file, a .chm file.  A few of the topics in the file will display; however, most won't!  On those that won't, I get the HHCTRL 1904 entries in the Event Log/Windows Logs/Applications.  DFrench's registry solution got rid of the 1904 entries, but I still have the reading topics problem!  I just hear a faint 'click' when I try to read a topic that won't display.  I downloaded a file from MBAM tech support, known to work properly, but on my system I have the same problem as my original, when I replace it with the downloaded one??

_{Friday, February 1, 2013 8:47 PM}

I had the same problem as you describe, for how long I don't know, I saw it in the App Event Log a

few days ago, the log goes back six weeks. I put the fix in the registry, and now no more problems.

Do you have any new news on this fix.

Thanks for the fix.

_{Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:35 PM}

Thank you - no help - Server 2012 R2 and I'm seeing this error in my event log every 5 minutes, 24x7!