Running Visual Studio 6 C++ in Windows 8.1

18,564

Solution 1

I found this: http://www.wavosaur.com/forum/run%20vc6%20with%20windows%208.1%20%28if%20msdev.exe%20crashes%29-t1362.html

I haven't tested it yet, but I will asap and let you know !

Solution 2

I find a simple way to solve the problem!

  1. Look for "MSDEV.EXE" in this path:"C:\Program Files\vc6\Common\MSDev98\Bin".
  2. Rename "MSDEV.EXE" as "MSDEV3.EXE".
  3. Use compatible mode "XP SP2 or SP3".
  4. Run MSDEV3.EXE, report error,rerun again and you will succeed!
  5. If failed, rename MSDEV.EXE as other names and use compatible mode will lead to succeed.

Solution 3

I have VS6 running on Windows 8.1 fine after I found these helpful instructions:

http://blog.wavosaur.com/run-visual-c-6-on-windows-8/

It is unusual indeed that Windows 8 retained compatibility for VS6 without this additional work, and yet Windows 8.1 does not. I hope this helps!

Solution 4

I have been successful with another method (similar to the method of @szc982):

  1. Go to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin"
  2. Rename "MSDEV.exe" into "MSDEV-S.exe" (or any other name)
  3. Right-Click on "MSDEV-S.exe" > Properties > Compatibility > Change Settings for all users
  4. Check "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" and click on "OK"
  5. Go to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0"
  6. Right-Click on the shortcut "Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0" and change the target to "MSDEV-S.exe"

Solution 5

I had a critical need to use VS 6 to continue development of a large MFC application on my Win8 box after upgrading to 8.1. I followed advice from here and elsewhere to copy MSDEV.EXE into a file with a different name (let's call it MSDEVX.EXE) and to change the compatibility settings for the new program to Win 8.0. Unfortunately, the app ran very slowly as a debuggee whenever it used the HeapXxx APIs or an CHttpFile object. I concluded that the problem was the "Fault Tolerant Heap" shim. I cast about wildly for a way to get rid of the FTH shim, and I eventually found one:

I created another copy of MSDEV.EXE -- let's call it MSDEVQ.EXE. I installed the Application Compatibility Manager and followed the instructions to create a custom database with an Application Fix for MSDEVQ.EXE. To create the settings, you'd think you could just copy the MSWIN8 settings and then subtract out the FTH shim. Alas, there is a bug that prevents you from saving the resulting database. Microsoft arrogantly says it won't fix this bug because you should never need to copy compatibility settings. Fine, so I copied the shims one by one, leaving out the FTH shim that's part of MSWIN8. I saved and installed the resulting .sdb file. Voila! No more FTH shim, and I'm back to being able to debug effectively.

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Zangdar
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Zangdar

Updated on June 22, 2022

Comments

  • Zangdar
    Zangdar over 1 year

    I recently migrated my system to windows 8.1. Unfortunatly like some others, I am not able to start Visual Studio 6 anymore. The software is crashing at startup (splash screen).

    I know there are some workaround, to be able to compile with vc6 in newer IDEs, but this is not working for me, since I have to compile a huge number of project and I cannot afford of modifying all the project files 1 by 1...

    I already see the answer coming: that vc6 is so old, and not supported and so on... I am aware about all that! But migrating a lot of code can take a long time and for now we have no other solution!

    Since vc6 was running just fine on Windows 8, I am sure that with some small trick we can manage to get it running under 8.1, but I haven't figured out how yet!

    Did anyone manage to start Visual Studio 6 on Windows 8.1?

    • Jesse Good
      Jesse Good about 10 years
      use a virtual machine
    • Some programmer dude
      Some programmer dude about 10 years
      VS6 is not only old, it's ancient! Unless you need e.g. MFC (which of course have been updated with the later versions) you might want to consider the free express editions of VS.
    • Zangdar
      Zangdar about 10 years
      I am actually using a virtual machine, but this has some performance limitation. I would have been happy to use my new pc with its real capacity... Unfortunalty I still need some MFC...
    • Henno
      Henno about 10 years
      But using newer Visual Studios does not prevent you from using MFC! I'm using MFC with VS2008 on a daily basis, and I know that VS2012 works also.
    • chue x
      chue x about 10 years
    • Zangdar
      Zangdar about 10 years
      For the projects were it was possible we have migrated to newer visual, but there are some projects were is it for the moment just not possible (too much code to change, unstable behaviour...). @chue x: yes but it does not answer the question!
    • user2284570
      user2284570 over 8 years
      I am in the same situation as I would like to port to old ʀɪꜱᴄ architectures.
  • Elvedin Hamzagic
    Elvedin Hamzagic over 9 years
    This is perfect. Just renamed it and it started without error.
  • scott.korin
    scott.korin almost 8 years
    I was having the same problem in Server 2012 (but not only on two of our servers). Oddly, this worked. I don't understand why.
  • Ryan Bemrose
    Ryan Bemrose over 6 years
    @didiz if you have feedback about what commands to run, please leave a comment.
  • windchaser
    windchaser over 4 years
    That's an incredible fix. It worked so good. How did you figured that one out?