I don't want to start another debate on this subject, but I'm at a
crossroads here with certain concerns that I'm hoping a few comments
from you guys/gals can help me straighten out.

Just received a new laptop that came with Vista 64 pre-installed. In
addition, I've pre-ordered Windows 7.

Although I'm perfectly happy with my XP Pro SP3 system, it is likely
that sooner or later I will have users that will be or are running
Vista 32, 64 and eventually Windows 7.

So what is my concern? Well, I went to install my Visual Studio 6 CD
in the new Vista 64 system and it came up with this "capatibility
issue" warning. That was enough to make me cancel the install and to
start surfing the internet looking for some sign of what to expect.


Visual Basic 6 (VB6) and Vista 64. What is the deal? Will this be a
problem for installing and developing applications on this system
using VB6? And what then about Windows 7?

Are the new OS's going to force the issue to move to .NET?

============================

Thanks.

Webbiz

Hi,

Visual Studio should run just fine on Vista and will run on Win7, you will
always get that warning when installing though. SP5 will not install without
a work around for the MDAC, if you do a google search you should be able to
find the work around. SP6 will install just fine on Vista and Win7. There is
a B version that you should install that fixes the earlier problems.

Norm

Show quoteHide quote

Thanks Norm.

What would someone do if they have their old original July 2001 VB Pro
install disk that predates SP5 and 6? On my current XP machine, I
would install the IDE and then update it to the latest SP. If Vista is
going to balk at any older SP than 6, that sounds like it won't let me
install it long enough to update it? Or is that not the case?

Show quoteHide quote

Everyone has already addressed the issues, this is just a minor
amplification.

The problem with installing SP5 on Vista and Win7 is that SP5 wants to
install the MDAC. You can not install MDAC on Vista/Win7. The "MDAC"
components have been replaced with DAC 6 (or aka WDAC) which is already
installed.

It is possible to modify the SP5 setup so that no attempt is made to install
MDAC, but you will likely prefer to use SP6 for any application built to run
on Vista/Win7.

You can install VS/VB 6 on 64-bit systems, the same as you can install any
32-bit application. 32-bit applications run in their own emulation (WoW64).
Until you become familiar with WOW64 - just let the installer place
components, setup the Registry, etc. however it wants to. Environmental
variables, Registry entries, and physical/logical location of files under
emulation is horribly confusing at first brush. The emulator (with UAC) uses
a combination of redirection, reflection, and virtualization that takes some
getting used to. So best to get it installed/working then start chewiing on
the details. lol

-ralph

Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
and Windows 7
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788708.aspx

Yep. I had read that earlier today. But it really didn't clear things
up about running the IDE, except it said something about not
supporting the IDE on 64 bit systems.

Did I read that correctly?

Thanks.
Webbiz

Show quote Hide quote Not sure exactly what to tell you other than I've been using VB6 on Vista 64
for quite some time now.  No major problems. I don't even recall any kind of
warning during installation of VB6. If there was one, I don't remember it
and I'm sure I must have just ignored it and installed anyway. There ARE
some things to look out for. For example, Aero can cause some problems
mostly related to moving/sizing controls during design-time. Everything
works, it's just extremely sluggish. You can work around this by turning
Aero off or by disabling desktop composition (right click the VB6.EXE file
and select Properties, click on the Compatibility tab). Note that this
essentially disables Aero while VB6 is running. This same problem occurs
with a 32 bit version of Vista too.  It's not specific to 64 bit.

There shouldn't be any problem with your VB6 apps as long as you're writing
them correctly.  Basically, that just means that your apps should "work" if
run by a user with non-admin rights.

Eventually, yes. As of now, Microsoft is still supporting VB6 apps under
Windows 7. That's NOT the same as supporting VB6. MS's realizes there are
many VB6-written apps that are critical to businesses. They're going to give
those businesses time to re-write those apps. But sooner or later, yeah,
they're gonna pull the plug. It's very much like when PC's moved from DOS to
Windows. MS had to (and still does to a limited extent) support DOS apps for
MANY years after DOS was declared dead. That's simply because there were so
many DOS apps that businesses HAD to still be able to run them.  Even today,
32 bit versions of  Windows can run many, if not most, DOS business apps
(DOS games are a completely different story).

I doubt a "move to .Net" is forced in any case.  There are plenty of
alternatives, though all of them have issues for a VB6 programmer.

PowerBasic sounds interesting. It reminds me of a BASIC version of
Delphi's pascal. Creating a fast single .exe has its appeal.  :-)

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