This error occurs when the —either the legacy WinHelp ( .hlp ) or the newer Oracle Help for Java (OHJ, .jar ‑based)—cannot be launched from within a Forms application. Forms applications rely on this help system to display context‑sensitive documentation. If the help system fails to initialise, you see the error and no help window appears.
Variables like FORMS_HELP_URL are incorrectly defined in the environment configuration ( default.env ). frm18105 failed to start the help system fix