RH2020 Fails to generate any output

[PMCDEV]

I have recently duplicated a RH2020 project to do help updates for a new software release. This project is ouput to several versions for three different legacy softwares and two different languages. The final versions bundled with the sofware are HTML and WebHelp. Output to Word format is used during the update process to provide changes to reviewers and translators.

My problem is that, no matter which preset I use, I get an error saying output failed to generate. I have not really made any content updates yet but I had changed some snippets and thought maybe I had messed something up. However, I went back to my previous project which has not been changed since all presets were successfully generated a few months ago. Once again, every preset is failing to generate output.

I was on version 6 of RH2020 so I tried updating to latest version 7.46 but this did not make a difference. I have tried creating a test with only a single topic but that will not generate in any format either.

The most confusing thing is that nothing has changed in the previous project and output generation was successful previously and fails now. I just realized that I did get a new laptop since finishing the previous project. The new laptop is running the same version of Windows (10) but could there be some setting(s) that might be causing my issue?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If the sample project also fails to generate any output, my guess would be you need to uninstall & reinstall RH with Admin rights on this new machine.

[PMCDEV]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was able to successfully generate output from both sample projects included with RH2020.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, so there's something with the project then - did you create a fresh project and an entirely new preset (not a copy of one?)

[PMCDEV]

The new project is always created by duplicating the previous one as much content remains the same and updates are just being done for new features, etc. in the new software version. I still have my old laptop so I opened the previous project on it and was successfully able to generate output. This made me think that possibly something had gone wrong with the file transfer to new laptop so I transferred the files again. But I am still unable to generate output on new laptop - even though using the exact same project files that generate successfully on old laptop. 

[PMCDEV]

While I had the old laptop open I double checked the Windows version. The old laptop was running Windows 10 Enterprise and the new one is running Windows 10 Business. Not sure what difference, if any, that could make.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What happens if you create an entirely new project (don't copy anything - start fresh)? Does it generate output to the location you specified in the "problem projects"? Are you running RH as an Admin? Do you have enough rights to the output folder location?

[PMCDEV]

Well, I thought I was running RH as Admin but I guess I was not! I started RH with "Run as Administrator" and now all of the output is successfully generated. Thank you so much for your suggestion! I never would have thought of that as I should have full rights to all apps on my laptop. Maybe it was not installed properly? Or maybe Windows Business handles it differently than Windows Enterprise? I have changed the properties of RH to always run as Admin. Now when I start it, I get the UAC prompt to "allow the app to make changes to my device" but that is just a minor annoyance. Thank you again for your help!

[Peter Grainge]

I have unmarked this as the correct answer. It is a step on the way to finding the correct answer but it's not the answer to what is wrong in the main project.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Peter Grainge]

Although copying wasn't the issue, I have seen people report that issue and then found if they zipped the project and transferred the zip file, that solved that problem.

At the risk of breaking something you have got working, I wonder if it is worth uninstalling and getting IT to give you admin rights while you reinstall?

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.