Vista compatibility for installing VB6

[mickeykelley]

When I attempt to install my VB6 (SP6) development on a new vista machine, I get a message saying there are know compatibility issues with Vista. Any comments or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[RobDog888]

Yes, the compatability issue is with VC++ so just dont install that app when you get to that screen. Also, before you start, turn off the UAC (improves speed and prevents errors during installation), run the setup.exe by right clicking it and selecting "Run as Administrator" and its best to do all this under an account with Admin permissions.

Then before you run Vs 6 install VS SP-6 using the same techniques and you will be good to go.

[NickThissen]

Note that if you are using the Windows Aero theme (which include the glass titlebars for example), you will see a latency in speed in the 'form design mode'.

EG, dragging edges of controls around will look slow and jerky.

To prevent this, you can use a different theme, such as the Windows Vista Basic theme.
A nice little tip is to go to the Properties of the VB6.exe file (not the shortcut, the actual exe file located in the installation folder) and go to the Compatibility tab. There, check Display dekstop composition. This will automatically switch the theme to Windows Vista Basic when you start VB6 and back to Windows Aero (or whatever your default theme is) when you close it.


Another thing, using SendKeys will only work in the compiled exe for some reason. You will get a permission denied error when you try it in the IDE.

[mickeykelley]

Great answers and help. Just one question, I don't recognize the UAC initials. What is that. Thanks

[RobDog888]

User Account Control.

Control Panel > User Accounts > uncheck "Use the UAC to help protect my computer" > click OK > Reboot > install VS 6.

[Macka007]

This should be stickied or put in FAQ or something, im sure there are pleanty of people who want to know that