How do I create an ".msi" installer package for a VB6 Project?

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I have been going crazy looking for a solution to the following problem.

I am a developer who has worked happily on my windows XP machine for the past 10 years or so. I use Visual Studio6 and VB6.0. I create an ".MSI" installer for my software using Visual InterDev 6

I am trying to move my development environment from a 32 bit XP machine to a 64 bit Windows7 machine. I have installed Visual Studio 6 (Enterprise edition) on my windows 7 machine. I've got all of my software tools and components that I use installed and can compile updates to my legacy project just fine.

However, the Visual InterDev 6 on my windows 7 machine no longer has "Visual Basic Installer" listed in the New project tab.

I am not sure if I failed to install the VS6 properly, or Visual InterDev 6 will not run on Windows7, or even what are the right "words" to use when asking for help.

I found a windows installer app (I think that is what it is) on the Microsoft downloads website, but it will not run or install on Windows7. It seems to stop at Windows Vista.

I am looking for any help you might be able to give. I need something that will read my .VBP project file, figure out the dependencies and create the MSI for me. If you know how to do this or a tool I can find that will do this you will forever be my hero.

Posted 8-May-14 10:01am

Slow Eddie

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Maciej Los 8-May-14 16:24pm

Forget about vb6! It's outdated programming language. Re-write your project in VB.NET using .net technics, methods, etc. then create setup file using ClickOnce software.
Why to torture yourself?

Slow Eddie 8-May-14 16:44pm

Your comment is less than helpful it is offensive. I have multiple customers using this legacy app that has more than 350,000 lines of code. I AM IN FACT, REWRITING THE APP IN VS2010, BUT EXPECT IT WILL TAKE ANOTHER 9-12 MONTHS TO COMPLETE. I am a one man shop trying to make a living and need a solution for the interim. Why would you even bother to make a comment like this? If you can't answer my question why not be productive and JUST SHUT UP?

Maciej Los 8-May-14 17:01pm

Who are you? Who gave you the right to shout on me?

Dave Kreskowiak 8-May-14 17:58pm

You did.

Maciej Los 8-May-14 18:10pm

Did i attacked Him or did i shouted on Him? No. Sorry, but i disagree with you. Over 10 years experience in team management... Never meet man like this member. Never raised my voice on my employees, collegues...

Dave Kreskowiak 8-May-14 19:57pm

He did say it was a "legacy" project. That I can see keeping in VB6 until it's officially "end of life"'d.

You did throw the death of VB6 in his face without saying anything else about his options, such as 3rd party installation tools.

CHill60 8-May-14 17:52pm

No need to be rude mate, and no need to shout. You need help, clearly, and offending a long standing member is no way to endear yourself to the rest of us. It was a comment, not a "solution" that would have taken your question out of the queue.
Fact of the matter is we have all had plenty of notice that the VB6 IDE and associated tools would not be supported on Windows 7 and above. The last place I was at were looking at virtual XP machines (Med-V I think) or retaining old desktops just to support the VB6 legacy apps through migration (by the way 350k lines of code doesn't even register on the scale when it comes to what they are dealing with)

Maciej Los 8-May-14 18:14pm

Thank you, Caroline ;)<br>
Your words bring back my faith in people.

Slow Eddie 8-May-14 18:18pm

for Maciej - I agree with Dave, You gave me the right to shout when you posted a ridiculous comment.
for CHill - I guess it was OK for the "Long standing member" to be rude to me and waste my time with criticisms of the tools I use. When I get to be a long standing member, can I make stupid, critical comments to other people asking for help?

CHill60 8-May-14 18:35pm

You've missed my point ... or rather I didn't make it clear - mea culpa. ML's comment was (very!) tame compared to some of the flaming I've seen re VB6 on here. Which is why I found your post ... I track VB6 questions on here ... been using it, well, since VB DOS, and trying to convince companies to upgrade ever since, well VB5. I understand that there is a LOT of VB6 legacy code out there. So I try to dive in after other members have posted far-less-than helpful *solutions*, knocking posts out of the queue. But the fact of the matter is, the comment was not ridiculous, it was well intentioned. And your response was waay over the top... if it was a "waste" of your time reading it, then surely it was a bigger waste of your time to respond to it? Perhaps a response along the lines of "yeah, I know, but I've got 350k of stuff to rewrite... getting there but need an interim solution" ...

Maciej Los 9-May-14 2:34am

Caroline, one more time: Thank you! Thank you very much!

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-May-14 19:15pm

Nothing give you a right to shout. Nothing.
—SA

Maciej Los 9-May-14 2:35am

Sergey, one more time: Thank you! Thank you very much!

Maciej Los 9-May-14 2:33am

I disagree with you. There is a big (really BIG) difference to post critical and aggressive comment.
Don't get me wrong, but even my parents never told me: "SHOUT UP"! You haven't got right to behave this way.

No matter of your behaviour (or against it) i posted an answer. If want to see it, please...

5 solutions

Solution 3

I've heard about ExeToMsi converter[^]. If you are able create setup (*.exe) file, you can try to convert it to *.msi.

Posted 8-May-14 20:13pm

Maciej Los

Solution 4

I just read your question of 8 May 2014. I have the same problem. I was using InstallShield 2011. After moving my vb6 project to Win7, I had to update to InstallShield 2014. This new version no longer has a vb6 wizard. We will be rewriting our app to C# but that will take more than a year (over 500K lines of code). What solution did you come up with to build installs?

Posted 4-Apr-15 4:00am

jtb1895

Comments

CHill60 4-Apr-15 10:14am

If you want to respond to posts please use the "Have a Question or Comment" link next to them rather than posting a solution to an old question.
Rather than just trying what this OP used why not try one of the solutions posted instead - solution 1 would probably be appropriate for you

jtb1895 5-Apr-15 13:11pm

I'm new to CodeProject. I don't see where I should have clicked to send my question to Ed Aymami.

CHill60 5-Apr-15 20:29pm

There is a "Have a Question or Comment?" link associated to the original post - you just have to scroll through the initial comments to get to it

Solution 5

As crazy as is sounds, I have continued to use Interdev to create an MSI file on my XP machine. I just finally figured out how to install it and make it work on Windows7. I copy the msi to a folder on the windows 7 machine. I am logged on as an administrator on that machine. I set the msi file to run in compatibility mode for XP service pack3 ,and run as an administrator. The install runs and then I set the exe file to run with the same parameters.

It works for all of my users so far.

ALSO I have installed same way on a Windows Server2008R2 application server for one client who is running on a VM ware platform and it works there too!

My app is about as big the one mentioned by jbt1895 above and I am rewriting in VB2013. I hope to finish it before the world comes to an end.....

Posted 4-Apr-15 14:03pm

Slow Eddie

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Pete O'Hanlon · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08T11:33:00

Solution 1

Do you have a MSI file from the old machine? If you do, you can use the AdvancedInstaller repackager[^] to capture the changes that the VB6 installer makes, and create your new MSI from that.

Posted 8-May-14 11:33am

Pete O'Hanlon

Comments

Maciej Los 8-May-14 17:48pm

5ed!

CHill60 8-May-14 17:54pm

5'd ... and that comes with thanks. Will be contacting my last employer ... for a potential fee of course ;-)

Dave Kreskowiak · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08T12:03:00

Solution 2

Pete's answer is probably better as you have greater flexibility in creating an installer than using InterDev.

But, another option is to build an XP virtual machine (VMware has a "Player" version that's free) or Microsoft's VirutalPC, or VirtualBox, or any other) and just install your DEV environment on that. Since VS6 is a 32-bit only environment you get nothing advantageous by installing it on a 64-bit O/S.

Posted 8-May-14 12:03pm

Dave Kreskowiak

Comments

CHill60 8-May-14 18:08pm

5'd ... I knew there were some virtual solutions, just couldn't bring them all to mind (and too lazy to look them up)

Maciej Los 8-May-14 18:20pm

A5!
It's interesting option, but i need to warn OP, because installing XP virtual machine consumes a lot of space. I'd suggest to not install it on system drive.

walterhevedeich 9-May-14 2:06am

5. We currently use XP virtual machines for some development where the tools won't work on Windows 7. On a related note, to the OP, you may use Disk2VHD to create a virtual image of your current XP operating system.