Quote Originally Posted by bushmobile
If Form.Visible = False then all controls .Visible = False

there's nothing theoretical about it.
That is completely, 100%, totally correct and the Form will not be visible until ALL code in the Form_Load has executed.

This is why errors are generated when you try to SetFocus to a control in the Form_Load.

Move your code to the Form_Activate event instead of Form_Load and you should be fine.