INFO: Troubleshooting VB Application Installation Issues

ID: Q193270

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual Basic Professional and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0, 6.0

SUMMARY

The information included in this article provides some insight into preventing errors resulting from installing a Microsoft Visual Basic program using the Application Setup Wizard (ASW) and/or the Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW). The information in this article is divided into different areas that need to be considered before deploying an application: Environment, Operating System, Installed Applications of the Development Machine, and Third-Party Controls.

NOTE: This article does not cover specific issues using the ASW/PDW to create Internet Component Download distribution sets. Although the information may be helpful in the creation of such distribution sets, this article is intended for standard application deployment.

MORE INFORMATION

NOTE: The Application Setup Wizard (ASW) and Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW) are referred to as ASW/PDW throughout this article.

Environment

When developing an application, the development machine needs to stay free of any external applications or Internet downloaded components that are not specifically necessary for the development of the application. For example, beta software should not be used because it is possible that beta components may be included when you create the application distribution set.

Another area that can affect the development environment is the browsing of the Internet on the development machine. Depending on the security level of your browser software, some sites can download new components and install them. This may not affect the development of the application, but, when creating the application distribution set, may cause unknown file versions and/or non-redistributable files to be included with your application. The preferred method of avoiding this problem is to not use your development machine for browsing the Internet. If this is not possible, consult your Internet browser's documentation for instructions on how to avoid downloading components or how to successfully uninstall components after they have been installed.

Please refer to the "Application Distribution Set Methodology" section later in this article before using the ASW/PDW to build the application distribution set.

Operating System

If possible, develop the application on the same operating system the target machine will use. This will ensure that operating specific versions of the supporting files are similar in the development and target environment. Also, service packs often fix many known problems with the operating systems and, with some operating systems, a certain Service Pack release is required to install a Visual Basic application. The latest Service Packs can be found at the following location:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/default.asp

Applications Installed on Development Machine

Applications installed on the development machine may affect the ASW/PDW in many ways. For instance, the presence of Microsoft Office 97 may have newer versions of some files and have additional controls that did not ship with Visual Basic. Once again, it is best to keep the development machine as clean as possible so as not to introduce any component that can alter the Visual Basic environment.

For the most part, having multiple versions of Visual Basic on the same machine does not alter the development environment. With regards to application deployment, however, having multiple versions can cause the application to not install correctly due to newer versions of components and the inability of the installation application to correctly determine dependency information and/or register these components. To ensure a good distribution of the application, the development machine should have only the necessary version of Visual Basic installed.

Again, please refer to the "Application Distribution Set Methodology" section of this article before using the ASW/PDW to build the application distribution set.

Third-party Controls

Third-party controls are controls that do not ship with Visual Basic and are supplied by a third-party vendor. These controls can be incompatible with other pieces of the application or even the operating system itself. If you suspect a third-party control may be causing a problem with your distribution set, you should create a test setup using the Setup Wizard for a very simple application (the Calc.vbp sample project that comes with Visual Basic is a good sample application). Create a distribution set using the Setup Wizard for a sample application such as Calc.vbp. If this setup is successful, begin eliminating the third-party controls from the original setup one by one and re-test. This helps you decide if a control is causing the problem. If you identify a control that is causing the problem, contact the vendor for additional information regarding the control.

Application Distribution Set Methodology

The information below lists the ideal way to create a setup routine for your Visual Basic application. It is meant to be used as a guideline for setting up a clean environment for creating trouble-free application distribution sets and is not intended to be used as a step-by-step example:

Use a clean development machine that has as little as possible installed. A clean installation of the Windows operating system plus Visual Basic and AntiVirus software would be the ideal environment.

In an ideal environment, the development machine should have the same version of Windows (95/98 or NT) as the target machines. This may not be possible due to differences on the target machines. Use the operating system that is the most common among your target machines.

Install the latest Service Pack updates for both the operating system and for Visual Basic to ensure you are using the most up-to-date files available.

Using AntiVirus software, check the machine for all known viruses. This ensures that you will not be distributing a virus to your target users.

Test the application using the Visual Basic IDE, ensuring all components of the application work as designed.

Run the ASW/PDW on your project to create the necessary distribution files.

Test the application on the development machine by installing the application and ensuring all components of the application work as intended.

Again, use AntiVirus software to check the machine.

Test the installation on a target machine. Testing on more than one target machine can also help identify issues before the application is deployed to clients.

This should lead to a resolution of most issues dealing with the installation of a custom application using the ASW/PDW. If the above information does not lead to a resolution, please check the Microsoft Knowledge Base for any known issues or contact Microsoft Technical Support for help resolving the issue. The Microsoft Knowledge base can be accessed directly from the Internet using the following URL:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/support

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q161344 INFO: Visual Basic 4.0 and Visual Basic 5.0 Compatibility

Q174135 INFO: Setup Cannot Continue...System Files Are Out of Date

Q178354 INFO: Dependency Files and How Setup Wizard/PDW Use Them

Q180071 FILE: MSVBVM50.EXE Installs Visual Basic 5.0 Run-Time Files

Q187282 INFO: List of Visual Basic Run-Time Files Installed by Product

Q191692 PRB: SHDOCVW.DLL Not Included in PDW Setup Package

Q190978 PRB: Missing Dependency Information Dialog in PDW

Q192461 FILE: VBRUN60.EXE Installs Visual Basic 6.0 Run-Time Files

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbwizard kbAppSetup kbVBp kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpVB kbPDWizard
Version : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo