VB6.0 Service Pack 5 1

[norason]

I have downloaded SP5 and installed it several times, but when I run Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, the About... never shows SP5, just Version 8176. What am I missing? (Yes I re-booted each time) The original reason I wanted to up-grade is that the book I'm learning VB6.0 from instructs me (in lesson 4) to Create a Menu by clicking on the Menu Editor button, but the button doesn't appear on the toolbar. I assume this button is added with SP5.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[gmmastros]

The Menu Editor button exists before service pack 5.

There are several ways to get to the menu editor.

1. On the standard menu, there is a button for menu editor.
2. You can right click a form, and select Menu Editor
3. Click can click the tools menu, and then select menu editor.
4. You can press Ctrl-E to get the menu editor.

That being said, I encourage you to find and download Service Pack 6 for VB6. There are other problems (not related to menu editor) that have been fixed in that service pack.



-George

"The great things about standards is that there are so many to choose from." - Fortune Cookie Wisdom

 

[norason]

George,

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I downloaded SP6 first, it didn't work either, then I read somewhere that SP6 had bugs, and I should use SP5. Go figure...

Gary

 

[dilettante]

The original SP6 had bugs back in 2004, but was re-released with fixes the same year. Since then there have been newer SP6's with additional minor changes, mostly related to XP and later.

You can still find a few people who won't update past SP5 though. I have asked and asked for examples of things broken in SP6 since the original troubled version. So far nobody has given me anything. ;-)

 

[strongm]

>then I read somewhere that SP6 had bugs

Way out of date info. The original SP6 release had some issues, but these were fairly quickly corrected and SP6 was repackaged with the corrections. The current release of SP6 is SP6B (which is, to the best of my knowledge, the only version of SP6 downloadable from Microsoft) and fixes a fair number of issues that SP5 didn't (or actually introduced)

But, as people have said, the service pack has nothing to do with the availability (or not) of the menu editor. Might I suggest, if the menu 'button' is missing that you try:

View/Toolbars/Customize/Toolbars/Reset

to get it back

 

[norason]

I just downloaded SP6 (actually Microsoft always points me to Visual Studio SP6 - VS6SP6B), ran it, and Visual Basic still does not show any service pack. The site also refers to RUN TIME SP6 - do I need that also?

What am I missing?

Thanks,

Gary

 

[strongm]

VS6SP6B .... yep, that should be the right one. Did you follow the instructions?

Running VS6SP6B does NOT install SP6. It extracts the necessary files to a nominated folder and that's all. You then need to run SetupSP6.exe from that folder.

 

[gmmastros]

It's kind-of-a weird process.

You download vs6sp6b.exe
When you run this, it asks for a folder. You should use something like.... C:\TempVB6SP6B

When you click ok, the install package will pop up saying something like, "This folder does not exist, do you want to create it?" click yes. Moments later, it's done.

But, what exactly has it done? it actually unzipped the real install. It hasn't actually installed anything.

Next, open explorer and navigate to the folder you told it in an earlier step (C:\TempVB6SP6B). In that folder, you will find SETUPSP6.exe. When you run this setup, your version of VB will actually be updated to service pack 6b.

Make sense?

-George

"The great things about standards is that there are so many to choose from." - Fortune Cookie Wisdom

 

[strongm]

Too slow, George ... ;-)

 

[gmmastros]

I know. <sigh>



-George

"The great things about standards is that there are so many to choose from." - Fortune Cookie Wisdom

 

[norason]

I followed your instructions carefully - no joy. By the way, I always see "updating Visual Studio..." never just Visual Basic...

At any rate, Visual Basic still doesn't show SP6.

Sigh...

Gary

 

[Disferente]

When you open the about screen, look at the top.
There it says "Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (SP6)" SP6 will say different if you have another service pack of course.

 

[norason]

The About Microsoft Visual Basic... screen says:

Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
For 32-bit Windows Development

Copyright c 1987-1998 Microsoft Corp.

Gary

 

[rickstone]

Norason,

I have exactly the same problem. No matter how many times I "successfully" install SP6, it still doesn't show up in the about screen. And I know that it's not really installed because the DAO data control does not list Access 2000 in the dropdown list.

Were you ever able to resolve this problem?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[HarleyQuinn]

You went through the steps detailed in the posts by strongm and gmmastros fully?

HarleyQuinn
---------------------------------
Carter, hand me my thinking grenades!

You can hang outside in the sun all day tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters. - Eric Cartman

Get the most out of Tek-Tips, read FAQ222-2244: How to get the best answers before posting.

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[rickstone]

HarleyQuinn,

Those steps are completely obvious. I have been using VB for 10+ years. I extracted the setup folder and installed both service pack 5 and 6, and VB still doesn't show the service pack on the splash screen. Further, when I try to open a legacy app that connects to Access 2000 via a DAO data control, VB does not recognize Access 2000 because it only understands Access 97 or earlier.

Note: I am running XP SP3. I'm thinking I will have to reinstall VB and start again because ever since I put VB on this machine, I can no longer run IE, Windows Explorer, or Windows Media Player.

Thanks,
Rick.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

They should be obvious, unfortunately they aren't to everyone. That's why it's worth checking people have followed those steps.

You can't run IE, Windows Explorer, or Windows Media Player after the install? I've never heard of that before (and not having Explorer makes life a little more difficult than most would like).

HarleyQuinn
---------------------------------
Carter, hand me my thinking grenades!

You can hang outside in the sun all day tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters. - Eric Cartman

Get the most out of Tek-Tips, read FAQ222-2244: How to get the best answers before posting.

http://lessthandot.com

 

[norason]

nope, never solved it, just gave up. I'm not sure what I'm missing with the version I'm using, but so far, it's working.

norason

 

[tedsmith]

As strongm said, make sure the only file you run is SETUPSP6.exe AFTER you run the downloaded file to unzip the full list of files needed, SETUPSP6.exe being one of them.

I have installed about 20 VB6's recently and added SP6 and they all show SP6 on the splash form that very briefly shows when you subsequently start VB6.

However SP6 does not show on the first form that then prompts you for a new or existing source

It does show in the Help/About dialog as like this:-
Microsoft Visual Basic(Sp6)

 

[rickstone]

tedsmith,

Thanks for the input. I promise you I did everything correctly. I, too, have installed VB6 and the service pack dozens of times and have never had problems before. (I even taught a VB6 class for several years.)

In the end, I had to ghost my C drive and reinstall VB6 from scratch. I then installed the service pack, and everything's working fine.

Rick