Installing and Activating RoboHelp
What's covered?This topic covers both installing and activating RoboHelp for versions up to and including RoboHelp 9. It provides a link to the Adobe topics on these subjects includes how to do a full uninstall. |
Installing RoboHelp
The problems usually arise through RoboHelp being installed without the necessary rights. At one time it was necessary to both install and run RoboHelp with local admin rights and that had to be with the user's logon. From Adobe RoboHelp 6, it is only necessary to have local admin rights during installation and from Adobe RoboHelp 7 the installation can be conducted by an IT administrator.
Versions up to and including Adobe RoboHelp 6
RoboHelp's licence is to the user so when RoboHelp is installed, the logged on user during installation MUST be whoever is to use that copy of RoboHelp and they MUST have local administrative rights on the PC.
Many IT departments do not give users that level of rights. What you need to do is get them to temporarily assign those rights to you whilst RoboHelp is being installed. Also it is recommended that you run RoboHelp for the first time whilst you have those rights. After that your IT department can restore your rights to the normal level. If they want to see this confirmed by Adobe, point them to this topic.
It has been reported that the installation can be done by an IT person using their logon. Whilst that may be true in the sense that the program will install and run, it will ultimately fail. If not immediately later you may be trying to resolve some RoboHelp problem with no clue as to the cause. The cause may well be that it was installed in this way!
Do make sure you use the correct key for each user. You may have multiple authors validly using RoboHelp in the sense that you have paid for a licence for each of them. However with versions up to and including RoboHelp Office X3, when RoboHelp is launched it checks for other users on the network using the same copy and locks out both the new user and the existing user. From RoboHelp Office X4 onwards, product activation ensures that the correct key is used when installing.
RoboHelp Office X3 shipped with RoboHelp for HTML Version 3.
RoboHelp Office X4 shipped with RoboHelp for HTML Version 3.1.
RoboHelp Office X4.1 shipped with RoboHelp for HTML Version 4.1.
Adobe RoboHelp 7 onwards
The procedure changed in RoboHelp 7 and RoboHelp can now be installed by either the user, provided they have local admin rights at the time of installation, or an IT administrator. If you are using RoboHelp for Word, that should be run once while the same person is logged in with admin rights.
Activating RoboHelp
One licence entitles the user to activate RoboHelp on two PCs such as an office desktop or laptop and a home desktop or laptop. RoboHelp will run for seven days without being activated.
If you have any problems with activation, then click this link and it will take you to Adobe's page which covers the whole subject very clearly.
The activation process changed in RoboHelp 6. See the section on RoboHelp 6 below.
Further changes have been made in RoboHelp 9 and with very limited exceptions, RoboHelp can only be activated online. Click here for more information.
Problem Installs and Uninstalling RoboHelp
If you have problems with the installation, try disabling any anti-spyware and anti-virus programs. I know that often these programs are blamed for everything but a number of posters on the forums have reported not being able to install with one or other such program running, McAffee and WebRoot SpySweeper have both been mentioned. Obviously disconnect from the internet while these programs are disabled!
A normal uninstall and reinstall should fix things but sometimes you will still find things are not working as they should. When this happens, the old advice was to uninstall and then clean the registry as described in this topic on Adobe's site. The topic relates to version X5 and I have been advised that Adobe RoboHelp 7 does clean up the registry so that no such procedure should be necessary. In the topic Adobe warn not to delete the any licence keys. However, one user who could not install the licenced version after running the trial version was told by Adobe that they should delete the licence key for the trial version. If your problem is related to installing RoboHelp following use of the trial version, I suggest you contact Technical Support.
That article is a bit dated and there is now an easier way to clean up the registry for any version that will not respond to a normal uninstall and reinstall. RevoUninstaller is a free program that was recommended on the forum and I have seen a number of people report good results. The way it works is to first of all use the uninstall process that is part of the software you are trying to remove, then it offers various further levels of uninstall. Ensure you only select the registry entries that are highlighted in bold text. Again, this is at your own risk and you should only do this under the supervision of your IT department.
Find out more on RevoUninstaller's site.
Deactivating RoboHelp
As above, the licence permits RoboHelp to be used on two PCs. From RoboHelp 6 onwards, it is important that you note that if you attempt to activate a third installation, it will not be permitted. If you want to install RoboHelp 6 after it has already been installed and activated on two PCs, such as installing on a replacement PC, it is important that you deactivate it on the old PC first. If for any reason that cannot be done, then contact Adobe's activation team. See the section below on RoboHelp 6 and follow the link there.
Do not confuse Installing with Activation or confuse Uninstalling with Deactivation. You can install without activating and you can deactivate without uninstalling.
RoboHelp X5 and Word 2003
If you are a Word 2003 user you will find that when you install RoboHelp X5 it may not offer Word 2003 on the list of compatible versions that you can use. This is because Word 2003 came out after X5 and the early CDs did not cover it. Here's the procedure.
- Install Word 2003 and any MS service packs that are going to be deployed.
- Install RoboHelp X5. It will offer Word XP as the highest. Accept that and click continue when it whinges it cannot be found.
- Install RoboHelp Service Pack 2. You can skip Service Pack 1 as it is contained in Service Pack 2. To do that go to RoboHelp's Help menu and select Check for Updates OR close RoboHelp and it will prompt you that an update is available.
After you have installed the update, RoboHelp will work quite happily with Word 2003.
The activation server is no longer available for X5. See Snippet 100 for the workaround.
RoboHelp 6 and above
See my separate topic on installing RoboHelp 6. Whilst obviously written specifically for RoboHelp 6, it contains useful non version specific information.
Upgrading
If you purchase an upgrade licence, you are not entitled to leave the old version installed. More importantly, leaving the old version installed can cause various problems.
You should uninstall the old version and then install the new version. If you are upgrading at the same time as building a new PC, it is not necessary to install the old version just to upgrade. Instead you install the new version and during the installation when RoboHelp sees the serial number you have entered is for an upgrade only, it will later prompt you for the old serial number as well.
If you are upgrading from standalone RoboHelp to the full Technical Communication Suite, you should also uninstall RoboHelp first as the TCS version does have some differences.
Silent Installation and Troubleshooting
Perform a silent installation of RoboHelp 8
RoboHelp 7 troubleshooting guide - Contains information relevant to earlier versions.
Troubleshoot installation problems (RoboHelp 8 on Windows Vista)
Troubleshoot installation problems (RoboHelp 8 on Windows XP)
RoboHelp 9 Installation failure - See Item 5.
Technical Communication Suite 3 Log analyser - This is TCS specific and does not work with RoboHelp on its own.
Perform a silent installation of Technical Communication Suite 3 / RoboHelp 9
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Topic Revisions
Date |
Changes to this page |
| 14 Jun 2011 | Updated to include TCS3 and RoboHelp 9 silent installation. |
| 18 Apr 2011 | Updated to include RoboHelp 9. |
| 19 Jul 2009 | Updated to cover installs that fail to complete and completed installs that fail to work. Use of Revouninstaller added. |
| 12 Apr 2008 | Cleaning the registry, not necessary for Adobe RoboHelp 7. |
| 01 Dec 2007 | RoboHelp 7 and Troubleshooting added. |
| 06 May 2007 | All references to Macromedia changed to Adobe. Links updated. Need to deactivate RoboHelp 6 before transferring it to another PC covered. |
| 15 Feb 2007 | Link added to Adobe site topic on Getting Started with RoboHelp 6. |
| 31 Jan 2006 | Note to disable anti-spyware and anti-virus programs added if crashing experience whilst installing. |
| 20 Nov 2005 | Amended to cover contradictory information given by Macromedia about deleting licence keys. |
08 Aug 2005 |
Intro to Installing X5 with Word 2003 amended to cover the fact that the problem only arises with some installation CDs. |
09 May 2005 |
Installing X5 to work with Word 2003 added. |
| 19 Jan 2005 | Links added to Macromedia's topics on installing and uninstalling RoboHelp. |
| 05 Jan 2005 | New topic. The installation side was previously covered within the Snippets topic and was written with input from David Mozealous who works for Macromedia. |