Install exe compiled with Windows 2000 at WinNT station

[kkl_mal]

Hi,
I have written an application with VB 6 at Windows 2000 OS. Now I would like to install this application at another PC with WinNT OS. I couldn't install it as some files are different, e.g comcat.dll, oleaut32.dll, olepro32.dll, comdlg32.ocx, mscomctl.ocx, etc.


The dates of the files in WinNT OS PC are pretty old, 1997 but the one I had in Windows OS is 2003.

Please advise.

[RhinoBull]

... I couldn't install it as some files are different...

Of course they are, so what happend when you tried?

[kkl_mal]

Of course they are, so what happend when you tried?

I was prompted with a message telling me that a newer version is needed. I couldn't continue with the installation.

[RhinoBull]

You know, you just remainded me something: few years ago we had to have an NT machine so we could compile new releases and also build distribution directly on NT for NT - that was the only way at the time as our main development platform was already XP.

[kkl_mal]

You know, you just remainded me something: few years ago we had to have an NT machine so we could compile new releases and also build distribution directly on NT for NT - that was the only way at the time as our main development platform was already XP.

So, that is the only way, find a NT PC, install VB6, compile it again? No other alternatives?

Thank you.

[MartinLiss]

So, that is the only way, find a NT PC, install VB6, compile it again? No other alternatives?

Thank you.

I moved your thread here which is where we talk about installation problems, and no, you don't need to recompile your app. Just use the P&D Wizard, Inno, or other 3rd-party installer tool to create a set of installation files. Those files will contain everything that is needed for someone to install your app.

[kkl_mal]

I moved your thread here which is where we talk about installation problems, and no, you don't need to recompile your app. Just use the P&D Wizard, Inno, or other 3rd-party installer tool to create a set of installation files. Those files will contain everything that is needed for someone to install your app.

I still don't know how to do. What is P&D, Inno, etc???

As I have seen earlier, I couldn't overwrite the comdlg32.dll, oleaut32.dll,etc on the targeted PC which is running under WinNT OS.

Please guide. Thank you.

[kkl_mal]

I moved your thread here which is where we talk about installation problems, and no, you don't need to recompile your app. Just use the P&D Wizard, Inno, or other 3rd-party installer tool to create a set of installation files. Those files will contain everything that is needed for someone to install your app.

Hi,
I would like to give a more detail description of the problem that I am facing. I have VB6.0 running on windows 2000. This is where I created the application. When I use the P&DW to create the setup and cab files, I am successful when installing these distribution files on Windows 2000 machines. However, when I use these files to try to install onto Windows NT, I fail. The setup file starts to run and says it's copying 7 out of 7 stsem files. These include the files: ASYCFIL.DLL, COMCAT.DLL, MSVBVM60.DLL, OLEAUT32.DLL, OLEPRO32.DLL, STDOLE2.TLB, & VB6STKIT.DLL. This part of the setup seems to work, but then I get a pop-up window that says: "Setup can not continue because some system files are out of date on your system. Click OK if you would like setup to update these files for you now. You will need to restart windows before you can run setup again. Click cancel to exit setup without updating system files." I click OK of course and then reboot. Then run setup again and the same error popup window is displays no matter how many times I keep retrying. Is there some way around this problem so that my application can run on Windows NT?

[randem]

That is a very old an still common problem. You need the universal VB runtime files in your installation to stop part of that problem.

BTW: P&D (aka PDW, package and Deployment Wizard) is the package you are having problems with. Inno Setup is another installer packager.

[MartinLiss]

Give Inno a try. randem is an expert in its use.

[RhinoBull]

So, that is the only way, find a NT PC, install VB6, compile it again? No other alternatives?

Thank you.

Perhaps there is but that is the safe way.
And you only have to build distribution package once unless you add new components to your project. After that you would only need to compile new exe.

One good alternative if you (or your company) can afford it is to use CITRIX.
With CITRIX deployment is a breeze - it really doesn't matter anymore what paltform your end user is on - they all will run the same executable directly from the CITRIX server through virtual layer. Some extra hardware would be required though...

[randem]

RhinoBull brings up a thought...

You can also deploy your app using a VM Workstation deployment. That way it does not matter the platform you deploy to as long as the VM Workstation works on that platform. This way you can basically deploy a XP machine on an NT platform and it can't crash the NT machine.

[RhinoBull]

@randem:

if you have in mind Virtual PC then it requires a lot of memory (I think at least a 1Gb) and that (old type of memory) could cost more than new PC.

[randem]

No, I meant VM Player, VM Workstation creates the Virtual Machine for the player. It's a perfect way to run an app without fear of crashing the host system.

http://www.vmware.com/download/player/

What are the minimum PC requirements to install and use VMware Player?

For a typical host system, we recommend that you have a 400MHz or faster processor (500MHz recommended) and 128MB RAM minimum (256MB RAM recommended). You must have enough memory to run the host operating system, plus the memory required for each guest operating system and for applications on the host and guest. See your guest operating system and application documentation for their memory requirements. VMware Player requires approximately 150MB of disk space to install the application. For more details on minimum PC requirements, see the Player specs.

[RhinoBull]

Interesting, I haven't used it so may give it a try some day...

[randem]

I use it a lot to test apps on my laptop. It give me the availability of multiple OS's on my one laptop. I can install and re-install over and over with a clean OS each time. I just unzip the original VM object and it's a clean machine all over again and there is no fear of contaminating my laptop.

[RhinoBull]

That sounds like Virtual PC - we use it all the time for testing. Perhaps, we are talking about the same thing.

[randem]

Isn't Virtual PC made by Microsoft? The one I am talking about is made by VMWare. But the concept is the same...