Visual Basic 6 for Windows 11 — No VM Required

Enables editing and running legacy VB6 applications directly on modern Windows.

ℹ️ About

This package provides a ready-to-use setup for running and compiling VB6 projects on Windows 10 and 11, without needing virtual machines or manual OCX registration. It’s ideal for maintaining old software, analyzing legacy code, or building quick utilities in a familiar environment.

👉 For background information, setup explanations, and optional components, see the Blog post.

✅ Features

Fully working VB6 IDE on Windows XP / 7 / 10 and 11 (including 25H2)
No need to manually register ActiveX controls or system DLLs
Registry and batch files automate all configuration steps
Supports compiling, editing, and running legacy VB6 projects out-of-the-box
Full MSDN Library (October 2001) integration, including F1 context-sensitive help
Ideal for educational purposes, small utilities, and long-term legacy application maintenance

📘 MSDN Help Integration

This setup supports full MSDN Library (October 2001) integration with the VB6 IDE, including working F1 context-sensitive help on modern Windows systems.

👉 For technical details, registry configuration, and supported MSDN versions, see: MSDN

⚙️ How It Works

The entire environment is packaged as a self-extracting archive containing:

The original VB6.exe executable and IDE files
All necessary runtime libraries and dependencies
Preconfigured registry settings to ensure compatibility with modern Windows
Batch scripts to automate the registration of ActiveX controls and system libraries
Required OCX/DLL files (e.g. mscomctl.ocx, msstkprp.dll)
Registration scripts (.reg, .bat) that ensure VB6 components work properly
A desktop and Start menu shortcut for easy access to the VB6 IDE

All actions are performed locally on your machine — no system-level installations or persistent changes beyond what’s required for VB6 to function.

👉 For detailed technical explanations of the installation and compatibility mechanisms, see Technical Notes.

🔐 Antivirus Warning

Some antivirus programs — including Windows Defender — may flag the self-extracting installation archive as suspicious or even as malware. This is a false positive, triggered by the nature of the WinRAR SFX archive, which includes scripts (.bat, .reg) that modify system settings to enable VB6 functionality.

You can safely run the installer if you downloaded it from this repository. If in doubt, inspect or extract the contents manually before execution.

We recommend temporarily disabling real-time protection only during installation, if necessary, and restoring it immediately afterward.

⚠️ Limitations

The solution has been successfully tested on Windows XP, Server 2003, 7, 10, Server 2019/2022, and 11 (including 25H2), but due to variations in system configurations and updates, full compatibility is not guaranteed.
Microsoft officially ended support for VB6 development tools; this package is provided for educational, archival, and legacy support purposes.
This setup is not recommended for creating new business applications — for long-term development, consider porting to modern technologies such as .NET.

🛠️ Installation

Download the Visual-Basic-6-for-Win11.exe installer from the Releases page.
Run the installer (self-extracting archive) with administrative privileges.
Follow the prompts; all required files will be extracted and configured automatically.
After installation, launch VB6 from the desktop shortcut, which is created automatically by the installer for your convenience.

✅ Tested successfully on:

Windows 11 (including 25H2)
Windows 10
Windows Server 2019/2022
Windows 7 SP1
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows XP SP3

❔ Why not just recompile in C#, Java, etc.?

You could — but certain legacy behaviors (e.g., precise startup timing, COM interop, message handling, or agent-like UI features) can’t be easily replicated in .NET or Java.

For example, utilities like delaycmd.exe allow precise control over when and how a dependent application is launched. This can be critical when dealing with shell extensions, startup scripts, or software requiring legacy timing patterns that modern Process.Start() (C#) or Runtime.exec() (Java) don’t handle well.

🧳 Use Cases

Recovering and analyzing old VB6 code
Maintaining legacy desktop utilities still in production use
Developing small tools or prototypes using familiar VB6 workflow
Educational exploration of legacy programming paradigms
Avoiding the need for full virtual machine environments

📖 Technical Notes

👉 For detailed technical explanations of the installation and compatibility mechanisms, see Technical Notes.

🔧 Optional Add-Ins

If you’d like to extend the VB6 IDE with modern or classic utilities, see
👉 Extras — for recommended add-ins such as MZ-Tools and CodeSmart.

🤝 Contributing & Issues

This project is provided as-is, with the goal of making legacy VB6 projects easier to run and maintain on modern Windows.

✅ Issues are welcome if they describe real, reproducible problems (installation errors, missing components, runtime crashes).
✅ Suggestions for improvements are welcome if tested and directly relevant to VB6 compatibility.
⚠️ Please avoid stylistic feedback (e.g., folder names, comments inside .bat files, or alternative approaches without testing).
⚠️ This is not a forum for “why do you use VB6?” discussions. The project exists for those who need it.
⚠️ Only reproducible, VB6-related problems are accepted. Off-topic or untested suggestions will be closed without discussion.

Unhelpful or off-topic issues may be closed without further discussion to keep the focus on maintaining legacy VB6 compatibility.

⚖️ License

This repository provides a preconfigured environment based on existing redistributable components. The package assumes you have the legal right to use VB6 and related tools. Use at your own risk.