disappearing project files

[Philmanf1]

This is a new problem I haven't seen in 20 years of VB programming. It may have to do with switching from a 32-bit machine to a 64-bit machine or running VB6 on Windows 10.
I have finished a project that I would like to save. I can open it with VB6, edit and save at will (replace in the exact same location). But when I try to find the files using windows explorer or file explorer or my computer to copy them, they are not displayed. If I use VB6 to open the folder containing the files I can "copy" the files, but when I go to paste them Windows says there is no such file in that folder (that I got them from). I can copy the whole folder to another location, but when I use any software including VB6 to open the resulting folder, the project files are not there.

I've been working at trying to save these files for at least five hours now, and nothing works. Any help would be much appreciated.

[DataMiser]

Where are you trying to save them?

My guess would be that you are trying to save them in a protected folder and that is the source of the issue.
By default VB6 wants to save files in the VB directory which is by default in Program Files and that is a protected folder on every version of Windows after XP.

[Philmanf1]

I have saved the files or folder in every possible place, including a separate external hard disk, the documents folder etc. Here are some scenarios:
1. I tell Vb6 I am adding a form to my project so that the directory will be displayed. Then I right-click on the project file and select "copy". Then I go to document files and select "Paste" I get the message: Item not found. This is no longer located in crogramfiles (x86)\microsoft Visual studio\vb98\flash Verify the item's location and try again.

2. I can't try copying from the source folder using standard methods, because the file does not appear in the folder when I used for instance file explorer. WordPad doesn't find the files either.

3. If I copy the whole folder to an external hard drive, VB6 does not find the files in the harddisk version of the folder and nothing else will either. I suspect the files are there, but have no way to verify this.

Phil

[DataMiser]

This is no longer located in crogramfiles (x86)\microsoft Visual studio\vb98\flash Verify the item's location and try again.

As I said program files is protected. You should never try to save anything in any sub folder of program files.

You say that you have saved the files or folder in every possible place but then from what you say afterwards it sounds like you tried to save it in program files and then tried multiple ways to copy it to other places. The issue would be that you saved it in program files to start with.

I would suggest that you change the properties of your VB shortcut namely the start in folder and change that to a folder where you want your projects to be saved and definitely not under program files this way VB will by default always come up with that folder when you try to save a new file.

You can also do save as from within VB and save an existing project somewhere else but when you do this you need to do the save as on each file in the project and do the project last to avoid hard coded paths in the VBP.

[dilettante]

On Windows Vista through 10 that shortcut is typically within:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0

I normally set "Start in" (Current Directory) to some work folder I use for VB6 projects, for example: D:\Development\VB

I am also careful to open existing Projects via Explorer instead of by running VB6 and using the Open menu there. When creating a new Project, very early on I Save Project As... to the place I want it. Then I close VB6. Finally I use Explorer to go to the work folder and open the VBP or VBG file there.

[Philmanf1]

That did it. My programming computer for many many years ran on XP and I just switched to a computer with a later Windows.

Thanks