It’s 2026 and I’m retired, so lets get Visual Basic 6.0 to run on Windows 11

In 1999 I released my first commercial software product. ShutOff 2000 was a Windows application that could log off or shut down Windows in multiple ways. It was successful enough that a serial number generator was produced by at least two hacker collectives. A badge of honour, really.

So now that I’m retired, I thought I’d go back and look at how different life is from the last release, which was as recent as 2014.

And then I realized I needed to install Visual Basic 6.0 on my 64-bit Windows 11 virtual machine.

The first thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that compatibility mode has changed (for the worse, yes I said it) in Windows 11. If I never have to open the “Troubleshoot compatibility” option on the context menu in Windows Explorer File Explorer, it’ll be too soon.

In any case, there are Steps To Follow, which are available in bits and pieces all over the place, so I’m going to summarize them here. This is not my original work.

Note: You will have to wait at least 15 minutes on one of the screens. This is not a joke. I wish I was kidding. Don’t be impatient.

1. Obtain legitimate installer for Visual Studio 6.0 (or just Visual Basic 6.0).
2. Run the Visual Studio 6.0 installer.
3. Some websites suggest removing the Java component. I didn’t, and it worked fine. I had to restart Windows here. If you restart, start the installer again.
4. Wait 15 minutes. It might be longer. Don’t skip this part.
5. Only choose Visual Basic, and leave out C++, the other one, the other other one, and definitely don’t install Visual Source Safe.
6. The installer will do file copying as expected. It will show another screen, but never finishes.
7. Use Task Manager to kill SETUP.EXE first, then ACMSETUP.EXE. Don’t do it the other way.
8. Restart Windows (again).
9. Finish the installation process that pops up. Maybe you want MSDN (cue tombstone emoji for good documentation).

So it’s been an hour and 45 minutes because you were impatient, and now Visual Basic is installed. Now you have to install the service packs. Guess what? That hasn’t worked properly since Windows 7.

According to legend, the service pack installer (you know you have to install Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 5 before you install Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6, right?) is looking for the path of the installer, and it won’t find it because reasons.

To fix it, add the following two keys in a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MS Setup (ACME)\Table Files]
"Snapshot Viewer@v10.00.00.5508"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Snapshot Viewer\\Setup\\snap90.stf"
"Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition@v6.0.0.0.0626 (1033)"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\VB98\\Setup\\1033\\setup.stf"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition]
"DisplayName"="Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition"
"UninstallString"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\VB98\\Setup\\1033\\Setup.exe"

Incidentally, when I started the Service Pack 5 installer, the Snapshot Viewer installer opened and I let it do its thing, then the rest of the installation was quick.

Restart Windows again.

Install Service Pack 6, and by some miracle you might not have to restart the operating system.

It worked!