Will Windows 7 support the VB6 runtime?

Question

I can't seem to find a straight answer on this. It appears that Visual Studio 6 won't be supported, but I'm only concerned with the runtime. We have some legacy apps that we'd rather not rewrite, but our customers will expect them to run on Windows 7.

If anyone can provide a link to something official from MS on the topic, that would be very helpful.

Answer 1

Microsoft say

Windows 10 is designed to run Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 software programs. And yes, everyone’s favorite VB6 Runtime will continue to work, too.

Everones's favorite VB6 programming

They also say that Project Centennial will allow VB6 apps to be Universal Windows Apps.

Answer 2

Our primary software product which is written in VB6 and uses various older libraries installed and ran on Windows 7 Beta without any problems.

I have yet to see an official statement from Microsoft regarding support for VB6 in Windows 7. Ceasing runtime support for the millions of VB6 applications and libraries would make little sense for them commercially, considering how popular VB6 still is.

Answer 3

I seriously doubt that Windows 7 will break the VB6 runtime. There must be zillions of end user built little libraries that would also break.

Hardliners perhaps wouldn't have a problem with that but commercially I think MS would even after this many years.

Answer 4

It would be great to see an official statement. Some folks have reported on the VB6 newsgroup - and again - that the VB6 runtime is included, and VB6 programs (and even the IDE) run fine on the Windows 7 32-bit beta.

Answer 5

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/ee413549

As stated above, legacy application written in VB6 will be supported in Windows 7 through out it's lifecycle. But it also states that every new development should be done in vb.net, which implies that the vb6 team only guarantee its runtime not its development. So it's important to know that development environment is already dead for vb6 and disasters like security holes and bugs can sneak into your vb6 code whenever you try to do new development with it. I bet that MS will support vb6 legacy application to run for another decade or so. Thus, no need to worry about running it but always keep in mind that this does not mean your allowed to keep developing using vb6.

Answer 6

The Preview Beta does support VB6 programs, but this could mean nothing in terms of the retail release.

The IDE was supported in Vista's initial release but as indicated above "support" has expired.

It comes down to what you mean by "support" in different contexts, but programs run on the Win7 Beta and people claim the IDE can run there as well (though I haven't tested that myself).