Need advice on PDW bootstrap files

Hi,

Does my program need the bootstrap files at all? If ignore them, my program still installs fine on XP, Vista. I realize it checks the version of the files and see if they are out of date. I don't want my users to get errors messages during setup. My program files are installed to the AppPath, so it can't perform a "system" file check.

I read an article that said VB6STKIT.dll, COMCAT.dll are need by VB6 programs. At least tell me which ones I should keep in my install.

[Bootstrap Files]
;[email protected],$(AppPath),,,3/26/99 12:00:00 AM,101888,6.0.84.50
;[email protected],$(AppPath),$(DLLSelfRegister),,5/30/98 11:00:00 PM,22288,4.71.1460.1
;[email protected],$(AppPath),$(TLBRegister),,4/13/08 9:12:08 PM,16896,5.1.2600.5512
;[email protected],$(AppPath),,,3/6/10 2:37:40 AM,65536,5.1.2600.5949
;[email protected],$(AppPath),$(DLLSelfRegister),,4/14/08 5:42:04 AM,84992,5.1.2600.5512
;[email protected],$(AppPath),$(DLLSelfRegister),,4/14/08 5:42:04 AM,551936,5.1.2600.5512
;[email protected],$(AppPath),$(DLLSelfRegister),,4/14/08 5:42:02 AM,1384479,6.0.98.2

You always need the first one, setup1.exe calls it and a machine won't have it unless somebody has run a PDW setup there before. The others should already be preinstalled on any supported version of Windows, though until XP SP3 old ones may be present (predating the fixes in VB6 SP6).

If you plan to deploy to unsupported versions of Windows (XP SP2 or anything earlier) you should include all of these files. As of July 13, 2010 XP SP3 is the oldest supported version of Windows.

I ran my program under Windows 98 and during the install I get the error
"A required .DLL file msvbvm60.dll was not found". Now I have to add this file to my users Windows\system32 folder.

You said and I quote "If you plan to deploy to unsupported versions of Windows (XP SP2 or anything earlier) you should include all of these files."

I want to target 'supported versions' of Windows (XP SP2 and later) so I don't get error messages during setup, so if my user has XP SP1, they will get the error above regarding "A required .DLL file msvbvm60.dll was not found" if they don't have this file.

I only want to cover Windows XP/Vista/7....however the XP SP1 is under windows XP. Otherwise, I could only include VB6STKIT.DLL during the bootstrap sequence and all the other bootstrap files will be preinstalled.

Windows 98 may require all of those files. Windows 98SE probably has the VB6 runtime files but they could be very old versions, so you probably would want to update them by including them in your setup.

Windows XP SP1 will have the runtime files but though newer than those in Windows 98SE they still won't be current. You can skip installing the newest VB6 runtimes in XP SP1, but you should test your program with those older runtimes first. If you need to deploy to XP Gold (RTM), SP1, and SP2 without deploying current VB6 runtimes you should test your program to make sure it can run with VB6 SP4 and SP5 runtimes.


XP SP2 is not a supported version of Windows anymore. SP2 was "retired" this month. More importantly though XP SP2 did not include the VB6 SP6 runtime components so you need to deploy those if your progam requires them.

You can always include all of the files you listed. On newer systems that already have them your setup's copies will be skipped over.

I'm going to target Windows XP / Vista / 7 Operating systems initially. All of the bootstrap files are located in XP's "Windows/system32" so I'm guessing they are already part of Windows XP / Vista / 7 Operating systems. My only concern is the versions (version mismatch) of these DLL files. PDW does a bad job of updating these files, because it prompts the user to restart their machine, and once they do, there is no update, or the user is alerted with more error messages during setup.

My question is, if Windows XP / Vista / 7 Operating systems already have these files, I can bypass the bootstrap sequence totally, because they already exist on the users machine.

I don't want to execute the bootstrap sequence because it seems problematic.

The setup kit (first file) is not preinstalled in Windows. It is part of a PDW setup.

The reboot requests that can go awry happen when you deploy things you should not, most commonly VCRT files.

Only XP SP3 is a supported version now. All other earlier XP service packs are now unsupported.

Ok. I will include only this file in the bootstrap list.

[Bootstrap Files]
[email protected],$(AppPath),,,3/26/99 12:00:00 AM,101888,6.0.84.50

Is it okay if I used "AppPath" as the destination directory? I'm assuming VB6STKIT.DLL will be added or utilized to allow the setup process to run. This file is not pre-installed with XP/Vista/7 operating systems then its pointless adding it to the windows32 folder. (i.e. nothing to compare against, only copied, or utilized)

Don't change the location for that file from its default. None of the bootstrap files should go in AppPath, only your application and its files.

Ok thanks.