Help! Can't open VB project now in Vista

[CoachG]

I'm running Vista and have been working on a VB6 project for a while. Today suddenly when I try to open it I get a "error accessing the system registry" popup and I can not open the project. After I exit the .vbw file is 0 bytes. I was able to open a different project file that was a very basic project so VB6 is working but any suggestions on what I can do to open this current project?

[RobDog888]

Was this project created under xp?
You can open the vbp using notepad to see if all the paths are correct. Otherwise try creating a new vbp and adding all the classes, modules, and forms to it.

[CoachG]

Yes it was. I ended up manually registering the dlls I use in the project and it let me reopen it so I guess that was the solution to the problem.

[RobDog888]

Were these dlls references?

[CoachG]

Yes most of them were and the one that seemed to be the one that needed re-registering was a .dll

[RobDog888]

Yes, because in XP the references referred to one set of classids and when you upgraded to Vista all the classes get redone/upgraded so they have new classids etc. That makes the reference links break in the vbp file.

[CoachG]

Well the strange thing is that it worked for a number of weeks in Vista - just today all of a sudden it happened. Oh well, guess that's Vista for you

[RobDog888]

The paths are eval'd in the classids in the reg. as I just double checked. So maybe the vbp simply got corrupted. It happens once in a while too. Are you running service pack 6 for vs/vb?

[zlander]

<< Well the strange thing is that it worked for a number of weeks in Vista - just today all of a sudden it happened. Oh well, guess that's Vista for you >>

I don't think this is random, as the same happened to me right around the time it happened to you. I had made no changes to the system, though I think an automatic Windows Update ran. A system restore did not fix the problem.

[Hack]

Were you able to reregister the dlls and RobDog888 suggested to the OP?

[zlander]

I was able to register all of my .DLL and .OCX files (right-click CMD.EXE and choose "Run as Administrator", then use regsvr32 to register the files).

I still cannot load my VB project, however.

So I transferred my VB project to another Vista machine and could not load it on that machine either. Then transferred it to an XP machine and the project loaded fine.

I'm logged on as administrator on all three machines, so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm going to try disabling UAC now to see if that does anything.

[RobDog888]

If you are running VB 6 as administrator then the UAC wont make any difference.

Try recreating the vbp on vista and adding the forms, modules, and classes to it.

[Hack]

Try recreating the vbp on vista and adding the forms, modules, and classes to it.

Yep....open a new, standard exe project. Remove the default Form1 and add everything from the old project to it.

Save the project, exist VB, then open VB again and see if you can open your project.

[zlander]

Oddly enough, it is the UAC. Confirmed on both of my Vista machines. Disable UAC, I can load the project, reenable UAC and I cannot load the project.

I've been working in this particular VB project with UAC enabled for months without any troubles. I have to assume Windows Update modified the way UAC works. That's the only change that would have occurred on both my Vista machines.

[RobDog888]

My projects still function fine on my system. Was your system an upgrade from XP or a fresh ful install? The UAC shouldnt be interefrring especially if you are running as an Administrator. I would assume its a issue with the Vista install if its an upgrade.

[zlander]

Both Vista machines are factory installs, not upgrades. I don't have time to test right now, but I'll bet the problem has something to do with protected mode. I'll reinstate UAC and disable protected mode and see what happens later on today.

[RobDog888]

Protected Mode displays in Internet Explorer. It turns on when using the UAC and off when the UAC is disabled.

[zlander]

Just to close this thread out: I uninstalled VBTurboLite and was able to reactivate UAC. Not sure what that's about, but there it is.

Thanks for the help.