Question

I have a VB6 application, the installer is compiled using INNO Setup.
The installer runs fine. But in about 10% of computers when the user clicks the Icon to run the installed app, it doesn’t start, no error message, only a Beep sound.

This is happening on XP and also Win 7.

I develop in XP and Win 7 and the application works OK, so I haven’t been able to reproduce the issue.

The installer registers all ocx and dlls needed (afaik). (Well not completely all, it assumes MS run-time components should be there, but I guess an error message should show up if something is missing)

I was thinking some kind of user permissions, UAC, but even users in the admin group have had the issue.

Could you point me to what possible issues to look for and test in order to patch the app.

Thanks!

[FOLLOW UP]

Thanks to the tips, found out the manifest is causing the problem. I use it to make the controls look better:

http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/vb/code/libraries/xp_visual_styles/using_xp_visual_styles_in_vb/article.asp

Now I’m trying to discover why. I have another application with the same manifest and that one works ok.

Haven’t been able to get feedback on the event viewer yet.

Answer 1

The “beep crash” often points to an error in an application manifest such as an XML syntax error or namspace conflict. Event Logs will often provide a hint about this.

But I’ve found that people often try to use the Common Controls 6.0 Library without ensuring proper library loading sequence.

Before any Forms are openend you should load shell32 and then comctl32. The easiest way is a couple of no-op calls in Sub Main:

Option Explicit

Private Declare Sub InitCommonControls Lib "comctl32" ()

Private Declare Function IsUserAnAdmin Lib "shell32" () As Long

Private Sub InitCommonControlsVB()
    IsUserAnAdmin
    InitCommonControls
End Sub

Private Sub Main()
    InitCommonControlsVB
    Form1.Show
End Sub

Without this your program will usually work fine in Vista or Win7, but will fail on some XP service pack and patch levels. Part of this is due to changes over time in the Fusion subsystem that handles SxS activation and comctl32.dll patches.

Ignore those saying you need to call InitCommonControlsEx(), it isn’t necessary unless you are constructing and using Win32 controls directly instead of VB6 and COM controls.