VB6 Application Development using 64 bit OS

Question

My company is looking forward to install 64 bit development PCs. A lot of current projects/applications are written in VB6 and there is no plan whatsoever to upgrade these to .NET.

The current VB6 applications are written on a 32 bit architecture and when installing these applications onto a 64 bit PC, they all run fine after a little tweaking to ensure the applications write to/read from the correct registry locations (e.g. SysWOW64) and 'Program Files' directory (e.e. Program Files (x86)).

My understanding is that Visual Studio 6 is 32 bit software and runs on a 64 bit OS (using the 32 bit layer on Windows - WOW). Visual Studio 6 will always run as a 32 bit piece of software.

Can I compile VB6 applications to run as/target 32 bit and 64 bit architecture?

How valid is this link: http://www.javaxt.com/Tutorials/Visual_Studio/Compiling_64_bit_apps_using_Visual_Studio_6_and_Windows_Platform_SDK

Please could someone provide a couple of useful links that I could get references from regarding my questions. Thanks in advance.

JFB

Sure seems on topic to me. As stated below there is no option to compile VB6 programs to 64-bit. — Bob77, Dec 21 '12 at 15:23
This question is very much related to prgramming. Why is it closed as off-topic? — AllSolutions, Oct 06 '16 at 12:05
The link mentioned in the question is probably for Visual C++. I could not even find such screens in VB6 IDE. — AllSolutions, Oct 06 '16 at 12:12
If this question is closed as off-topic, then why is this question allowed: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2501061/does-the-vb6-ide-run-on-windows-7-64-bit? Seriously, the moderators need to think! — AllSolutions, Oct 06 '16 at 12:14

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

The link you provide only refers to Visual C++ 6.0.

You can't create a 64 bits program using VB6.

The VB6 IDE is not supported on Windows 7 64 bit, but you CAN get it to work. See interesting tips in the answers to this question and details on how to install it in this blog.

I have personal experience from supporting VB6 programs running on Windows 7, and as you say yourself, it works just fine. Personally however, I use an old XP box as a VB6 development machine, mostly because I have one with all the tools installed :-).

VB6 Application Development using 64 bit OS

1 Answers1