I have downloaded and installed the C++, C#, and VB express editions and also the MSDN library and yet it is impossible to access the local help.
The "filter" combos are empty and any request for help display fails. I have past the last two days fiddling around in any possible way to make it
work, including uninstalling and reinstalling not to avail.
It is evident that, without the corresponding documentation, these development tools are absolutely useless, and I will have to uninstall them,
contenting myself with the available GNU tools.
I am very sorry, I browsed the web and found many requests for help about the same problem and nobody got a sensible answer from Microsoft.

Hi,

What do you mean by "local help"? 
Is it the help page showing up when you search or press F1?

It will show the content of installed Help files on your computer.
You might want to try Developer Documentation and Help System for more help:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/devdocs/threads

Harry

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Welcome to the All-In-One Code Framework! If you have any feedback, please tell us.

Local help is the MSDN Express edition as displayed by the builtin document explorer.
The help page shows up, but it is empty and reports a 0x8007007E error for any search,
or "ms-help://ms.vscc.v90 is invalid" when accessed by the VS start menu.

/dm