VS 2022 documentation missing

Question

VS 2022 documentation missing

Armin Zingler 21

Hi,

I've installed, repaired, tried everything up and down, searched the web... ...but all I got is the VS 2015 documentation after installing VS 2022. It's not mentioned anywhere, not even that it's missing. I feel like I'm in the wrong universe.

I've also searched all installable components:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/workload-component-id-vs-community?view=vs-2022&preserve-view=true
But it's not there.

I've spent so many hours to find it myself but know I'm at loss. So, how can I install the VS 2022 documentation?

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,441 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-10-10T06:58:04.743+00:00

Hi @Armin Zingler ,

Please also check if Go online to get content and check for content updates option is selected in Viewer Options, and then close Help Viewer, restart VS and Help Viewer. If this still doesn’t work, I would recommend directly reporting this issue on our Developer Community.
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-10T18:54:47.557+00:00

Thank you for your reply. Both options are checked.

BTW, the language packs intalled in the VS installer are English and German:

EDIT:
If I disable the option you've underlined, less content is offered, but it's all for VS 2015.
I just did another repair installation, rebooted, but to no avail. I've no clue what to change.

To start from the start:
There was no previous VS 2022 installation. I've created an offline setup from the command line ("vs_community.exe --layout ....") adding some workloads and two languages (English and German). After that was done, I've installed from that layout without changing any options (i.e. no other workloads as specified when creating the layout). I was expecting that installing from a layout doesn't require pulling more from the internet, but it did. When everything was done, I've opened the HelpViewer from inside VS and got what you see in the screenshot. Meanwhile I did a repair installation two times and also verified the layout.
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-10T22:42:07.487+00:00

Kind of "solved" it:
I've set the Visual Studio IDE language to "English":

After that, the HelpViewer displays different help content, including VS 2022 product documentation. This does not make sense.

I should be able to use the localized IDE while having full access to the product documentation. If not (completely) localized, at least the English version. But it's not offered at all.

2 answers

Your answer

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,441 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-10-10T06:58:04.743+00:00

Hi @Armin Zingler ,

Please also check if Go online to get content and check for content updates option is selected in Viewer Options, and then close Help Viewer, restart VS and Help Viewer. If this still doesn’t work, I would recommend directly reporting this issue on our Developer Community.
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-10T18:54:47.557+00:00

Thank you for your reply. Both options are checked.

BTW, the language packs intalled in the VS installer are English and German:

EDIT:
If I disable the option you've underlined, less content is offered, but it's all for VS 2015.
I just did another repair installation, rebooted, but to no avail. I've no clue what to change.

To start from the start:
There was no previous VS 2022 installation. I've created an offline setup from the command line ("vs_community.exe --layout ....") adding some workloads and two languages (English and German). After that was done, I've installed from that layout without changing any options (i.e. no other workloads as specified when creating the layout). I was expecting that installing from a layout doesn't require pulling more from the internet, but it did. When everything was done, I've opened the HelpViewer from inside VS and got what you see in the screenshot. Meanwhile I did a repair installation two times and also verified the layout.
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-10T22:42:07.487+00:00

Kind of "solved" it:
I've set the Visual Studio IDE language to "English":

After that, the HelpViewer displays different help content, including VS 2022 product documentation. This does not make sense.

I should be able to use the localized IDE while having full access to the product documentation. If not (completely) localized, at least the English version. But it's not offered at all.

Answer 1

Castorix31 90,681

Try to change the language :
Your link is https://services.mtps.microsoft.com/serviceapi/catalogs/dev15/de-DE
Mine is : https://services.mtps.microsoft.com/serviceapi/catalogs/dev15/en-US and I have VS 2022 documentation :
Also check is the registry has correct values (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Help\v2.3\Catalogs, LocationPath, etc...)

Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-10T19:11:25.083+00:00

Thanks for your reply.

I don't know how to change the language. In the VS installer, the installed language packs are English and German (see screenshot in my other reply). In the HelpViewer contentent manager, I'm using "Online" as the source, not from a local disc. So it should offer me what's available online. I do not know where it gets the URL "https://services.mtps.microsoft.com/serviceapi/catalogs/dev15/de-DE" from (as shown in the status bar). In any case, It shouldn't offer me VS 2015 content only.

In the registry, there are two keys under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Help\v2.3\Catalogs\VisualStudio15
One is "de-DE", the other one "en-US". Both contain entries named "SeedFilePath" with the values
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Help Viewer\v2.3\CatalogInfo\VS11_de-de.cab"
resp.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Help Viewer\v2.3\CatalogInfo\VS11_en-us.cab"
Both files exist.

There is no "LocationPath" entry in the registry as you've mentioned.

The local folder "[...]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\HelpViewer2.3" contains one folder only named "VisualStudio15_de-DE"

The local folders
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\HelpLibrary2\Catalogs\VisualStudio15\ContentStore"
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\HelpLibrary2\Catalogs\VisualStudio15\IndexStore"
each contain two folders named "de-DE" and "en-US".
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-10T21:27:17.077+00:00

I started from scratch. Uninstalled everything and rebooted. Ensured that no HelpViewer 2.3 and VS 2022 directories are there anymore, deleted the HelpViewer 2.3 registry keys.

Then installed again. When launching HelpViewer it said that no help content has been downloaded so far and asked if I want to do it now. I said yes. I'm at the same point now. Only VS 2015 content available. In German and English. No VS 2022 documentation.

Answer 2

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,441 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Armin Zingler ,

Did you also install Help Viewer component into your offline layout? It’s an unaffiliated component, the component ID is Microsoft.Component.HelpViewer, and the command line is --add Microsoft.Component.HelpViewer. Please refer to this document: Unaffiliated components.

Best Regards,
Tianyu

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Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-11T10:08:03.5+00:00

Hi Tianyu,

HelpViewer had been installed as shown in the screenshot in my initial post. In addition, as I wrote before, I've checked the HelpViewer options as suggested in your first reply. This is only possibly if HelpViewer had been installed. Furthermore, I was able to notice that only VS 2015 is offered by HelpViewer if HelpViewer had been installed before.

As you can read in my previous comment, I had to switch the IDE language to English, restart VS and open HelpViewer. Then the VS 2022 documentation has been offered on the HelpViewer content management tab. Then I was able to install the VS 2022 documentation as intended. Multiple VS 2015 components disappeared, but that's ok, but I don't need them anway.

After switching back the IDE language to German, the English VS 2022 documentation is still availble, luckily. In addition, the VS 2015 documentation reappeared, but this doesn't disturb.

Conclusion: I've solved the problem, but this shouldn't be the way to do it. I expect that, with the IDE language set to German, still all the documentation should be offered when "Online" is selected as the Source. If there's no localization available, the English content must be shown.

(Btw, is there really no German product documentation for VS 2022 HelpViewer??)
Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,441 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-10-11T10:36:57.733+00:00

Hi @Armin Zingler ,

I have tried to switch to German, and on my side I can see the similar situation. But I still have documentations for VS 2022, though they are listed with -English on the left panel(as you want > the English content must be shown).
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-11T11:19:13.187+00:00

Yes, here too. I've already described that it's still there now and the problem is "kind of" solved. But that was not the point. The point is that you wouldn't have seen any VS 2022 documentation if you started the HelpViewer the first first time while the IDE is set to German.

It's a hack to temporarily switch the IDE language temporarily to English, then install the documentation, then switch the IDE language back to German.
Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,441 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-10-11T13:42:23.603+00:00

I see. Could you also raise a ticket on our Developer Community for further investigate? And I think your feedback should be considered and improved, I will report this issue too.
Armin Zingler 21 Reputation points

2022-10-13T23:29:51.767+00:00

Opening a ticket is not possible, but thank you for your support so far.

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VS 2022 documentation missing

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