How to install VB6 SP6 on Windows 8.1 x64?

Question

Need to support some old projects directly in the newest OS, not in a virtual machine.

I've installed VB6 from the VS6 disk #1 successfully, but I cannot install the SP6 for this development environment. When I launch it, an information window that informs me about the installation progress appears for some milliseconds, but the required files (ADVPACK.DLL, msvbvm60.dll, ...) aren't updated in the system folder. The About dialog in VB6 IDE also proves that - I do not see "SP6" anywhere in it.

How to install the SERVICE PACK 6 (not the VB IDE itself) in this OS?

Answer 1

Solved my "problem" - very strange why I couldn't figure out what files I needed and what I should have done...

Downloaded and unpacked this (Vs6sp6.exe, I have only VB6 installed):

Service Pack 6 for Visual Basic 6.0
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5721

Then launched setupsp6.exe with the admin rights explicitly - and it installed the SP6 without any problems.

Answer 2

There is an installer to simplify the installation of the VB6 programming IDE on Windows 7, 8 and 10 which has now had over 25,000 downloads. This includes Service Pack 6

VB6 programming IDE installer

Answer 3

Visual Studio 6 + VB6 SP1 Installation

1. Ensure UAC has been turned off.
2. Ensure your user has administrative rights on the computer.
3. Run the Setup.exe file in the Visual Studio Installer.
4. “Run the program without getting help” when the error “This program has compatibility issues”.
5. Click Next, Accept the Agreement and click Next.
6. Enter your software key, name and company name. Click Next.
7. Update Microsoft Virtual Machine for Java.
8. “Run the program without getting help” when the error “This program has compatibility issues”. Note message shown twice.
9. Say “Yes” to reboot the system.
10. On start up the setup continues to run.
11. “Run the program without getting help”
12. Start Page shown. Click on Desktop.
13. “Run the program without getting help”
14. Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition shown with options “Custom, Products or Server Application”.
15. At this point click “Exit” on the installer and confirm with “Yes” otherwise an error will be shown if you continue.
16. Run the Setup.exe file in the Visual Studio Installer.
17. “Run the program without getting help”
18. Click Next and Accept the Agreement and click Next
19. Enter your software key, name and company name. Click Next.
20. Select Custom and click Next
21. Installation folder click next
22. “Run the program without getting help”
23. Click “Continue”.
24. Product ID click “Ok”
25. Tools -> Change Options -> OLE/Com Object Viewer, Uncheck and click OK.
26. Enterprise Tools -> Change Options -> Visual Studio Analyzer, Uncheck and click OK.
27. Data Access -> Change Options -> ADO, RDS and OLE DB Providers, Uncheck.
28. At this point it warns saying the component is essential. Click OK and OK again.
29. Click continue.
30. Say Yes to register environment variables.
31. Say Yes to VSS DB format.
32. Install box with “Destination File:” should appear.
33. Setup is updating your system message box should appear.
34. Click OK to Windows NT Debug Symbols.
35. Click Restart Windows.
36. On start up the setup continues to run and loads APEMREG.exe.
37. Install using compatibly settings.
38. “Run the program without getting help”
39. Untick install MSDN. Click Next and yes to confirm.
40. Select Nothing and click Next.
41. Select Nothing and click next.
42. Untick Register and click finish. SP6 Installation
43. Run setupsp6.exe
44. Click Continue.
45. Click I Agree.
46. Setup Successful click OK.

Read more: http://www.fortypoundhead.com/showcontent.asp?artid=23916#ixzz3i6JHcNMg

Answer 4

How To Install Visual Basic 6 (VB6) in Windows 10

Get your system prepared

There is a need to prepare a file MSJAVA.DLL in your system directories so that the installation of VB6 could proceed. In terms of doing this, just get the installer VBPreInstall.exe and execute the installer.

Install VB6 and SP6

After getting MSJAVA.DLL ready, you can launch the Visual Basic 6 setup.exe file with administrator privilege to start the installation.

1. Accept agreement, product key
2. Enter name and company information, click Next.
3. Select Custom Setup, click Next.
4. Click Next, wait for another windows pop up, click Continue, then Ok.
5. Setup will “think to itself” for about 2 minutes. Processing can be verified by starting Task Manager, and checking the CPU usage of ACMSETUP.EXE.
6. On the options list, select the following: Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 ActiveX Data Access Graphics All other options should be unchecked.

7. When you select 'Data Access', you need to click the Change Option button.

8. You will then get another list of components with only 5 items. Select the first option “ADO, RDS, and OLE DB Providers” and click the Change Option button.

9. Now you’ll get another list of components that belongs to the ADO, RDS and OLE DB Providers. Simply uncheck the first option “ADO and RDS” and click OK.

10. You should get a warning that this component is an essential part of the application and the application will not run properly if it is not installed. You can ignore that warning popup by clicking OK and proceeding with the installation. The VB6 installation setup should now complete successfully without problems.

11. Uncheck MSDN setting
12. Click Next to skip the installation of Installshield. This is a really old version you don't want anyway.
13. Click Next again to skip the installation of BackOffice, VSS, and SNA Server. Not needed!
14. On the next dialog, uncheck the checkbox for “Register Now”, and click Finish.
15. The wizard will exit, and you're done. You can find VB6 under Start, All Programs, Microsoft Visual Studio 6. Enjoy!

Install VB6 SP6

Install vb6 sp6 by navigating to VbSp6, run setupsp6.exe as administrator with default settings.

Answer 5

Follow these three simple steps:

1. Install VB6 first
2. Install MSDN complete
3. Install VB6 SP6 only after installation of MSDN

You will be able to install VB6 SP6 successfully.

Answer 6

While you can run VB6 in Windows 8.1 it's not going to do well and there will be any number of issues as you've discovered.

An alternative option is to create a Virtual Machine using Hyper-V Manager which is readily available on Windows 8, install Windows XP*, Visual Studio 6, etc. Then remote desktop to your virtual machine and you're good to go.

Also, when windows 9, 10 and 11 arrive, your virtual machine can be transferred over to them or to a new PC all without breaking your VB6 development environment.

*Or Windows 7 32 bit if you have to but XP is better for VB6

Answer 7

I've tried both methods here on Windows 8.1 Update 2. At first the symptom had been the same as the OP, except that I was doing exactly what the OP did as his solution -- extracting the files and running Vs6sp6.exe.

So I tried the other solution, installing MSDN. After MSDN installed, I tried SP6 again. This time, it tells me it can't install because it can't find any VS6 products installed. But VB6 (without SP) still starts up fine. Also MSDN starts up normally.

Any suggestions? If I have to run it in a VM I will; I already have Windows XP on a Hyper-V VM for the original early 90's Oxford English Dictionary. But it would be a lot more convenient if I could get it working directly in 8.1.

BTW I've been running it fine in Windows 7 for years. There are some hoops to go through to get it installed, and it changes the screen when it starts and stops, but overall not bad at all.

Answer 8

I have also found one interesting article that describes how to install VB6 in Windows 10 in the Raimond.CC Blog:

How To Install Visual Basic 6 (VB6) in Windows 10

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/install-visual-basic-6-vb6-in-windows-7-without-microsoft-virtual-machine-for-java/

As you can see from the title, the author gives us an advice how to avoid installing the needless VM for Java. Another useful advice in this article allows us to prevent “Setup is updating your system…” progress from getting stuck.

Read this article. Perhaps, it will help to solve problems with installing VB6 in your OS.