[RESOLVED] Installing Visual Basic 5.0 under Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

[esposito]

Hello, I'm having serious problems installing VB5 under Win7 Premium (64 bit). When I click on Setup.exe and select "Run as Administrator", an error message pops up and tells me that I have to get a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the program (but VB5 isn't 16-bit software!).

Is there any way I can manage to install VB5 on my PC?

Thanks in advance.

[Nightwalker83]

Try running it in compatibility mode for Win 95.

[esposito]

Try running it in compatibility mode for Win 95.

Thanks for your reply.

When I select the compatibility mode (both Win95 and XP) and click on "Launch program", nothing happens (no program is launched and no message appears). I really don't know what to do!

[Nightwalker83]

Unfortunately, I am unable to check for you see I no longer have VB5 but looking at the VB6.0 information it says "32-bit". Which version of Win 7 are you using?

Edit:

Looking on google I haven't been able to locate how to install VB5 on Win 7. However, people have posted with problem with VB5.0 on Win 7 once they have installed it.

[esposito]

Unfortunately, I am unable to check for you see I no longer have VB5 but looking at the VB6.0 information it says "32-bit". Which version of Win 7 are you using?

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit).

The incriminated file that generates the error message is

E:\Vb\Setup\Setup.exe

As you can see in the screenshot below, the message reads "Unsupported 16-bit application".

[Nightwalker83]

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit).

The incriminated file that generates the error message is

E:\Vb\Setup\Setup.exe

See if this helps. Unfortunately, the compatibility option I was think of only works on the higher versions of Win 7 such as Professional, Business and Ultimate.

[esposito]

I think the compatibility problem only regards the installation of VB5/6. Once it has been installed, it works just fine under Win7. Is there any way I could make VB5 work by copying the VB5 folder from my XP computer and pasting it under Win7?

[Nightwalker83]

I think the compatibility problem only regards the installation of VB5/6. Once it has been installed, it works just fine under Win7. Is there any way I could make VB5 work by copying the VB5 folder from my XP computer and pasting it under Win7?

You could try it but I think the compatibility covers both installation and running the software.

[esposito]

You could try it but I think the compatibility covers both installation and running the software.

There could be problems with the registration of the main runtime files (I'm not going to install any OCXs, though).

[Nightwalker83]

Yeah, but it is worth a try! If it can't be installed on Win 7 you could also install xp (if you have it) on a virtual machine then install Visual Basic 5.0 on the virtual machine.

[esposito]

EUREKA! I have been able to work around the absurd error message that prevented VB5 from being installed on Windows 7 (64-bit edition).

This is the solution I have come up with which, I know for sure, can also be applied to VB6.

1. I made a copy of the entire VB5 installation CD and pasted it to the Desktop.

2. I opened the "Setup" subfolder, looked for the .stf file (its name may change according to the product version), made two copies of it in the same folder and renamed them "acmsetup.stf" and "acost.exe".

3. I copied the whole content of the subfolder "Setup" and pasted it to the main folder (one level up), i.e. the folder containing the file called "acmboot.exe".

4. I ran (as administrator) the program "acmsetup.exe" and the installation could be completed without any problems.

Hope it helps.

[esposito]

By the way, apart from the installation hitch, the VB5 IDE does not seem to have any compatibility problems under Windows 7.

[Nightwalker83]

Glad you managed to install the software.