Strange request to insert Office2000 CD

[tedsmith]

I unticked the Windows password box in one of my computers so I dont have to log in when I start WindowsXP and now whenever I start VB6, I get six requests (that I can cancel) to insert Microsoft Office 2000 before vb6 starts.

All references in past projects I have recently written are OK and the apps still work OK.

I notice that there are only 2 add-ins visible as opposed to about 10 on my other computer.

When I try to start Add-ins/Visual Data Manager I get the same 6 requests and a system error message &h80010105 after 6 cancels.

Can anybody shed any light on this?

 

[dilettante]

You are probably now running as a different user than when you were logging on. I'd guess that various Office components and the missing add-ins are not fully installed for this user.

One of the hazards of running a VB6 program is that any ActiveX components they use always get re-registered behind your back to get around the per-user registration requirements of NT OSs. This can wreak havoc if you "install" by putting such libraries into the same folder as the EXE. I believe (but have not proven) that the self-reg entrypoints only get called if the per-user registry entries aren't already present.

Remember, running regsvr32 is a bit of a hack. It does not do a complete component registration conforming to NT5+ standards. See the Remarks at SelfReg Table.

 

[tedsmith]

Yes but how do I 'remove' these added ones and get back to the original VB6 installation pre Office?

They are apparently ActiveXs that I don't use because the apps I already have work fine on this machine as it is.

The problem messages are only when I start VB6 IDE and before I load any project.
Unfortunately nothing seems to tell you which are the offending ones.

I am concerned that maybe if I compile an app in the present condition, it might not work on someone else's machine that doesn't have Office but because all my machines do, I cant test that.

 

[dilettante]

One thing that might work is to consider the procedure described in Windows Installer starts unexpectedly in an Office 2000 program on Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, or on Windows 2000 Server with Terminal Services enabled.

While the title and even the description in that KB article don't quite seem to fit your symptoms, you could at least verify the registry keys involved. Who knows? It might take care of this for you!

Just do a backup of the registry first before trying it.