Using VB6 on Vista
Is VB6 support on Vista as a development language?
I have a VB6 application (which is pretty big), but when I come to compile it on Vista RC2 is fails to register all the activeX dlls that are build as part of the application.
I did manage to get round it, but only by running VB6 as Administrator. In a day to day dev environment I don't want to do this every time. I am a local admin so why doesn't this allow VB to register my dlls.
Does this behavior have something to do with UAC?
Thanks for your help
Graham
[552 byte] By [
Gravy] at [2007-12-29]
I know most of you will probably know this already, but...
On further reading for some Vista docs it appears that UAC means that all interactive users run as a standard user, even if the logged on user is a member of the Administators group.
This will explain why when I simply double click the VB6.exe (or the vbg file) it won't compile properly as it tried to register the com components it has just built - you have to be an administrator to register com dlls. By right clicking and choosing Run As Administrator elevates my permissions when I run VB6 and with these new permissions I (or VB) can now register the dlls.
This brings to mind another question for you all...
What are the recommendations for running VB6 or any other dev tool that needs to perform tasks like the above? Should I be disabling UAC for me as a Windows User? Does VS 2005 suffer from the same symptoms?
Thanks
Graham
This is a UAC issue.
We’ve been testing the Visual Basic 6.0 SP6 runtime and IDE on Vista builds since earlier this year. Both run and install successfully on Vista RTM and are supported per the support statement posted at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vbrun/ms788708.aspx.
The Visual Basic 6.0 IDE and SP6 setup needs to be run with UAC on, with the local user running as Admin, running with elevated privileges (right click on the setup exe and select “Run As Administrator…”).
Applications based on the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime need to be run under the same security/runtime settings (UAC/Admin/Elevated). This allows actions like registry reads/writes possible under UAC control.
Please reply back if you application does not work under these settings.
Also, refer to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa948853.aspx for information about running Visual Basic 2005 under UAC on Vista.
Thanks,
Chris Mayo
Visual Basic Program Manager
I'm not able to install both Visual Studio Service Pack 5 and VB6 Service Pack 6.
I have Windows Vista x64.
Obviously, I have tried compatibility stuff and "Run as Admin".
How can I solve this issue ?
I'm assuming this is the same for the final release version of Vista and not just the Release Candidates?
If so, forcing my customers to change their admin settings prior to installation or use of my software is a completely unacceptable solution.
Users do not understand, or care to understand, the need to change settings so applications they've always used work again. When a customer buys my product, and installs it, they expect it to just work.. and just work exactly like it did under WindowsXP.
If a user has to make system setting changes so that the product works, that's a horrendous user experience. It also means that they'll be calling me asking for help. That's money out of my pocket for support calls.
And this isn't a trivial VB6 app I'm selling. It's a project that has taken 3 years of development, sells in the thousands, and it is not at all possible to upgrade it to the VS2005 version (the upgrade process fails miserably) without a major rewrite (mostly because the VB development team at Microsoft completely destroyed the language! Seriously, when are we going to get a VB7 that is actually VB?)
That means I'm using VB6 for the foreseable future. I expect that my software install and function on Vista in exactly the same fashion that it did on XP(and Win98 for that matter). No changing of admin rights, not special security changes, nothing. It should just work.
Period.
Portions of one of my applications are created with VB6.
We've been able to successfully run these VB6 created EXEs under a Vista limited user account with UAC active with no problems. I would think you would only need an Admin account if you actually needed to write to a limited access area of the registry or some limited access file.
I doubt we will ever go through the agony of trying to run Visual Studio 6 on Vista. We plan to keep that on XP for now.
You should probably just try your app under a Vista limited account with UAC on and see what issues there are, if any.
So I have a brand new laptop with Vista Home Premium on it. I have Visual Studio 6 CD's from the MSDN kit. Knowing that C++ doesn't install, I go into custom options and uncheck that program (although I firmly believe it should be supported).
Go through the whole process of installation. It ~looks~ to work.. except when I start it. I'm immediately presented with a dialog that says one of the core OCX files is not registered or missing. Then a progression of other warnings and errors about Object Blocks not being set.
I skip all that. Load up my program group and am presented with a bunch of NEW problems.. the tabdlg.ocx is missing, along with a collection of other controls that is preventing my COM dll from loading. Thus, preventing me from even running a test compile.
Is there a step by step set of instructions for installing Visual Studio 6 (sans C++) properly located anywhere on the Microsoft site? The MS folks claim they support it, yet I can't find any information on how to actually install it and make it work.
Hi
I presume this is VB6 we are talking about then. You must remember to lauch VB6 IDE as an Administrator. Simply find the shortcut for Visual Basic 6.0, right click on it then in the Compatibility tab select the option that say: Run this program as an Administrator.
Hope this helps.
Hi.
Yes, I've tried that. However when I run the IDE with that checkmark checked, none of the OCX's are found to be registered. The only way I can actually get the IDE to start normally, is if it's not as an admin.
So with admin on, the IDE starts normally, although I can't register any OCX/DLL files when I compile.
With admin off, the IDE doesn't start properly at all, causing a lot of problems for the loading of projects.
