Visual C++ 6.0 stopped working in Windows 7

Hi there,

I use Visual C++ 6.0 for my software - legacy software originally developed with MSVC 6.0.

Anyway was working fine in Windows 7 until today. Suddenly the program just won't start any more.

I can't think what the reason was. It suddenly stopped working, and I did a reboot, Windows did an update during the reboot but that can't be the reason, also I rolled back all the updates.

The error is:

Faulting application name: msdev.exe, version: 6.0.8168.1, time stamp: 0x35889589
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17651, time stamp: 0x4e211319
Exception code: 0xe06d7363
Fault offset: 0x0000b9bc
Faulting process id: 0x12e0
Faulting application start time: 0x01cdab02f8cfd6fe
Faulting application path: C:\Programs\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin\msdev.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 37e889fb-16f6-11e2-a335-f0def18ffc44

Also when it first started, got this error as well - this one first then the previous one (but don't get this one any more)

Faulting application name: msdev.exe, version: 6.0.8168.1, time stamp: 0x35889589
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17725, time stamp: 0x4ec49b8f
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000344ec
Faulting process id: 0x3f9c
Faulting application start time: 0x01cda7c98218d338
Faulting application path: C:\Programs\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin\msdev.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 8aa702da-16c3-11e2-a5e3-f0def18ffc44

I can run it in XP mode still - so could do that e.g. to make the release build. But it's not much good for debugging, as my debugged program also runs in XP mode if I do that (with 256 colour too actually).

I want to be able to debug my software in MSVC 6.0 with both msdev.exe and my debugged program running as Windows 7 programs. And despite warnings about compatibility was able to do that just fine until 1pm today (UK time).

Just have no idea what changed and why it stopped working. Anyone got any ideas, anyone encountered anything like this?

Any help or ideas or suggestions much appreciated, thanks.

Robert (Walker)

Tags: C++, Windows