VB 4.0 Setup Fails w/"VB4SETUP.STF Contains NULL Characters"

• Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

The Visual Basic 4.0 installation procedure creates the file VB4SETUP.LST based on the options the user selects. The VB4SETUP.LST file is used during installation, and, at a later time, for adding and removing components. Certain hardware and software problems and incompatibilities cause bad data to be written to this file. The Visual Basic 4.0 setup program fails if it cannot read the file, and displays the error message:

   VB4SETUP.LST contains NULL characters

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior is often caused by a faulty or incompatible CD-ROM driver, drive, network, or network card. The data written to the temporary VB4SETUP.STF file is corrupted. The EXTRACT.EXE utility, used to extract the program files from the compressed *.CAB files, requires that all components are 100 percent compatible and functioning properly.

Early ATAPI CD-ROM drivers, network and network component problems, and some SCSI drivers and components are shown to cause this error.

In most cases, copying the contents of the root and \SETUP directories of the Visual Basic 4.0 CD-ROM to a local hard drive and installing the program from that drive solves the problem. However, obtaining the updated components from the component vendor is recommended whenever possible.

You can obtain the latest CD-ROM or SCSI drivers from the CD-ROM drive or SCSI controller vendor. If you are installing from a network, contact the network administrator or vendor about possible network problems and hardware or software updates.