How do you open a hxs file?

chm
Peter Walke picture Peter Walke · Oct 7, 2008 · Viewed 15k times · Source

I understand that a hxs file is a compiled help file, a replacement for .chm files, but I can't seem to open them.

I've read that you read them with the help explorer, dexplore.exe found here: C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help 9\dexplore.exe

When I try opening the file with dexplore, it asks me to save the file to disk, or open with another program.

Any ideas?

Answer

Todd Rowan picture Todd Rowan · Oct 7, 2008

Not sure if you want to look through them programmatically or with some tool, but Help Explorer can open hxs files and extract contents. CHM files (the precursor to hxs) were a custom binary format with indexing and other data at the beginning of the file, and a zip archive in the rest.

You can also decompile hxs using HxComp.exe

EDIT: That link appears to be broken/down or something, but your answer did lead me to find Help Explorer Viewer, which may or may not be the same program, but it does the job.

Edit: I've deleted all broken links to spare confusion.

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