PRB: VB 4.0 16-Bit Add-ins Fail After Installing VB 5.0

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View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q169534

SYMPTOMS

When you try to access Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 16-bit Add-Ins after you have installed Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0, the following error message to appears:

<Name of Add-In>' could not be loaded.
Remove it from the list of available Add-Ins?

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CAUSE

This problem occurs because the new type information installed by Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 is unreadable by 16-bit Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0.

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RESOLUTION

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Step By Step Example

Open NotePad or any other text editor.

Copy the following .REG file information into the new document.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the width constraints imposed by this article's format, the underscore character ("_") is used as a line continuation character when it appears at the end of a line. When the information below is copied into a text editor, the underscores at the end of the lines should be deleted and the lines which follow the underscores should be appended to the end of those lines. There are no leading or trailing spaces. For example, a line such as:

      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
      {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}

Should be interpreted as:

      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}

Now copy the following information into your text editor:

      REGEDIT4

      ; Main Visual Basic 5.0/Visual Basic 4.0 IDE Extensibility
      ; Typelib Key.
      ;
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}]

      ; Visual Basic 4.0 Sub-Keys.
      ; Information on 32-bit Visual Basic 4.0 below is important to keep
      ; if it is also installed on the machine. It is not necessary
      ; otherwise.
      ;
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-
      00DD010F7EBB}\4.0]
      @="Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Development Environment"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\4.0\0]
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}_
          \4.0\0\win16]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\16-bit\\vbext.olb"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}_
          \4.0\0\win32]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\32-bit\\vbext32.olb"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\4.0\FLAGS]
      @="0"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\4.0\HELPDIR]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\16-bit"

      ; Visual Basic 5.0 Sub-Keys.
      ;
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\5.0]
      @="Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Extensibility"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\5.0\0]
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}_
          \5.0\0\win16]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\16-bit\\VBEXT.OLB"
      HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\5.0\0\win32]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\DevStudio\\VB5\\VB5EXT.OLB"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\5.0\FLAGS]
      @="0"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\5.0\HELPDIR]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\DevStudio\\VB5"

      ; Additional Visual Basic 4.0 Sub-Key.
      ; Because this is the highest version, the 16-bit IDE will use it.
      ; Information on 32-bit Visual Basic 4.0 below is important to keep
      ; if it is also installed on the machine. It is not necessary
      ; otherwise.
      ;
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\99.0]
      @="Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Development Environment"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}_
          \99.0\0]
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}_
          \99.0\0\win16]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\16-bit\\vbext.olb"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}_
          \99.0\0\win32]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\32-bit\\vbext32.olb"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\99.0\FLAGS]
      @="0"
      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\_
         {EF404E00-EDA6-101A-8DAF-00DD010F7EBB}\99.0\HELPDIR]
      @="C:\\Program Files\\Visual Basic4\\16-bit"

      ;End Reg File

You must replace all occurrences of the following text strings within the document with the correct path strings. Make sure that you use the double back slash "\\" to delimit each folder.

   Replace This                      With This
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   C:\\Program Files\\DevStudio\\    <Your Path to Visual Basic 5.0>
      VB5
   C:\\Program Files\\               <Your Path to Visual Basic 4.0 32-Bit>
      Visual Basic4\\32-bit
   C:\\Program Files\\               <Your Path to Visual Basic 4.0 16-Bit>
      Visual Basic4\\16-Bit

Save the file as text with a .reg extension, that is, VBFix.reg.
Open Microsoft Windows Explorer, locate and double-click the .REG file to register the proper entries in the Windows Registry.

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STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

On a machine with 16-bit Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 installed, install an edition of Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0.
Start 16-bit Visual Basic 4.0.
Select Add-In Manager from the Add-Ins Menu.
Select any Add-In by selecting its check box.
Click OK. The error occurs.

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APPLIES TO

Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Control Creation Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 16-bit Enterprise Edition

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kb16bitonly kberrmsg kbprb KB169534

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Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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