How Do I run Visual C++ 6 IDE on Windows Vista or higher?

To achieve what you want you need proceed with the following instructions:

1) navigate to the installation directory of your VC++6 installation

2) open the /Common/MSDev98/Bin/ folder.

3) Right click on MSDEV.exe and select 'properties'.

4) Select the ocmpatibility tab and select "run this program in compatibility mode for:"

From the dropdown menu select Windows 98/me (Windows XP SP3 works fine too)

5) Check "Run As Administrator"

6) Apply the changes and Fire up MSDEV.exe

7) Select Tools > Options

8) In the editor tab you MUST UNCHECK ALL BOXES in 'Save Options' and 'Statement Completion Options'

9) click OK

10) Select Tools > Options again

11) In the compatibility tab make sure you have "Current source editor emulation:" dropdown box at "Developer Studio"

12) Check ONLY "Enable copy without selection" and "Double-click in dialog editor edits code (MFC only)"

13) click OK

14) Select Tools > Options again

15) In "Workspace" tab make sure ONLY the following items (may be) are checked: "Display Status Bar" , "Output" , "Workspace"

16) click OK

17) Close the IDE

18) Go to you visual C++ installation directory, then to /Common/MSDev98/Bin/IDE/

19) Delete the following file: DEVDBG.PKG (YES DELETE, or AT LEAST move it to you desktop, far, far away from VC++6)

20) Create a COPY of DEVCPP.PKG

21) Rename the created copy to DEVDBG.PKG

22) Have fun using Visual Studio C++ 6 under windows vista / 7 / 8

NOTE: YOU CANNOT USE THE 'OPEN FILE' MENU. You have to load projects by right clicking on the .DSP file (if not associated) and select to open with MSDEV.exe

Some other stuff might not work too, but I at least managed to use the VC++ 6.0 IDE on W7x64 (I can't apply patches somehow :( )

Building some advanced projects works like a charm!

(IF VC++ 6 asks you which of the "two C++" version to use, select the first one!)

Update: The menu crash error can probably be fixed thanks to this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/231655

if everything done correctly you should have a working version of VC++6.0 in you windows vista/7/8 installation.

Please note that the compiler always works, it's just the IDE which crashes sometimes. (And we tried to fix it now)

UPDATE 2:

If you manage to install SP6 (i installed it in a virtual xp machine then copied the updated files back to my windows 7 host) then even more problems will be gone.