Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows 8 (UPDATED)

The latest for VB6 Support on Windows 8.x:

Microsoft is committed to support existing Visual Basic 6.0 applications running on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 including R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, and Windows 8.x. As detailed here, the core Visual Basic 6.0 runtime will be supported for the full lifetime of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 8 for serious regressions and critical security issues.

Visual Basic 6.0 is made up of these key deliverables:

  • Visual Basic 6.0 IDE [Integrated Development Environment] is no longer supported as of April 8, 2008.
  • Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime -- the base libraries and execution engine used to run VB6 applications.
  • Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files – select ActiveX control OCX files, libraries, and tools shipping with the IDE media and as an online release. 

Support for VB6 runtime and runtime extended running on Windows XP ends at the time Windows XP support ended on April 8, 2014.

 

Supported Windows Operating System Versions

 

This section provides additional information regarding the operating systems that offer some level of support for VB6. 

 

Windows Operating System Has support?  
VB6 Supported Runtime - Files Shipping in Windows VB6 Supported Runtime – Extended Files to Distribute with Your Application VB6 IDE
Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, all 32bit editions Yes * Yes * No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, all 64bit editions (WOW only) Yes*32bit apps running in WOW only Yes*32bit apps running in WOW only No
Windows 7, all 32bit editions Yes * Yes * No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows 7, all 64bit editions (WOW only) Yes*32bit apps running in WOW only Yes*32bit apps running in WOW only No
Windows Vista, all 32bit editions Yes* Yes* No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows Vista, all x64 editions (WOW only)

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

No
Windows Server 2008, all 32bit editions including R2 Yes* Yes* No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows Server 2008, all x64 editions including R2 (WOW only)

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

No
Windows XP, all 32bit editions Yes* Yes* No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows XP, all x64 editions (WOW only)

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

No
Windows 2003 server, all 32bit editions including R2 Yes* Yes* No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows 2003 server. all x64 editions including R2

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

Yes*

32bit apps running in WOW only

No
Windows 2000 Professional, all editions Yes* Yes* No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.
Windows 2000 Server, all editions Yes* Yes* No, but Custom Support Agreements may be available.

 

* VB6 runtime support is limited by the OS support lifecycle.  E.g. if the target OS is in Extended support, VB6 cannot have a higher level of support than Extended support.