VB6 Runtime Support on Vista

I periodically hear concern and confusion about Microsoft's support for the VB6 runtime on Windows Vista.  So let me take a minute to put your fears and concerns to rest and direct you to the appropriate resources that spell out our support policy at Microsoft.

About the VB6 runtime, not to be confused with the VB6 development tools.  Our official support statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows Vista is published at https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vbrun/ms788708.aspx.  The executive summary states "The Visual Basic team is committed to “It Just Works” compatibility for Visual Basic 6.0 applications on Windows® Vista™. The Visual Basic team’s goal is that Visual Basic 6.0 applications that run on Windows XP will also run on Windows Vista. The Visual Basic team is also committed to the Visual Basic 6.0 development environment running on Windows Vista. As detailed in this document, the Visual Basic 6.0 runtime will be supported for the full lifetime of Windows Vista, which is five years of mainstream support followed by five years of extended support (https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy)".

Note also that the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE will be supported on Windows Vista as part of the Visual Basic 6.0 Extended Support policy until April 8, 2008. Both the Windows Vista and Visual Basic teams are testing the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE on Windows Vista. However, this announcement does not change the support policy for the IDE.  VB6 IDE specific support dates are posted at https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2971.

For more information on Microsoft's Support Lifecycle visit https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&x=9&y=9#Microsoft's_Support_Lifecycle.  The Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy.