iMovie: iMovie Help Does Not Appear/Open After System Software Clean Installation

If iMovie Help will not open from within the iMovie Help menu, and does not appear in the Help Center window, it is likely that the iMovie Help folder is not installed in the Help folder. (The iMovie Help folder is located within your System Folder.) The most likely cause of this is that a clean installation of system software has been performed.

If you still have your previous System Folder on your hard drive, follow these steps to resolve the issue:

1. Open the Previous System Folder on your hard drive.

2. Open the Help folder.

3. Drag the iMovie Help folder to the desktop. Close all windows.

4. Open the System Folder on your hard drive.

5. Drag the iMovie Help folder to the Help folder inside. Close all windows.

When you select the Help Center, you should now see a link for iMovie Help. When you open iMovie, you should be able to open iMovie Help from the Help menu.

If you don't have your previous System Folder, follow these steps to resolve the issue:

1. Insert the iMovie CD (or the iMac DV Restore CD-ROM) that came with your computer.

2. Locate and open the Software Installers folder in the iMovie CD window.

3. Open the iMovie folder.

4. Open the iMovie Help.img document to mount the disk image.

5. When the iMovie Help disk mounts, open it, and open the System Folder inside.

6. Open the Help folder, and drag the iMovie Help folder inside to the desktop. Close all windows.

7. Open the System Folder on your hard drive, and drag the iMovie Help from the desktop to the Help Folder inside the System Folder. Close all windows.

Alternatively, you can perform this process with the Restore CD-ROM using the disk image of the hard drive provided for the restore operation. To do this, locate the configurations folder on the CD-ROM, then mount the Hard Drive disk image with Disk Copy. This will contain all the files that were on the hard drive as configured from the factory. You can then copy the iMovie Help folder from the Help folder on the Hard Drive image to the System Folder's Help folder on your active hard drive partition.

Again, when you select the Help Center, you should now see a link for iMovie Help. When you open iMovie, you should be able to open iMovie Help from the Help menu.

If you are experiencing trouble opening the Help Viewer, please see article 31030: "Mac OS 8.6: Apple Help Viewer 1.2.1 Fails to Open"