VB6 History

A concise timeline of Visual Basic 6.0: release, support milestones, current runtime posture, and future outlook.

Key milestones

  • 1998: Visual Basic 6.0 released as the final classic Visual Basic edition. Visual Basic evolved through the 1990s as Microsoft’s rapid application development environment; VB6, released in 1998, was the last of the “classic” Visual Basic family and became widely used for Windows desktop and database applications.
  • 2008: Microsoft ended support for the VB6 IDE in 2008; the company recommends replacing VB6 development with modern tooling while acknowledging the practical realities of large legacy estates.
  • 2008–present: VB6 runtime maintained as part of supported Windows releases. Runtime compatibility preserved on supported Windows versions; limited support scope.
  • 2020s: Large installed base continues to run mission‑critical VB6 apps across many industries. Despite the IDE being out of support, many organisations still run mission‑critical VB6 applications because of stability, deep integration with legacy systems, and the high cost of full rewrites.

Where we are now

Current technical state

  • IDE: unsupported since 2008; no new IDE updates from Microsoft.
  • Runtime: maintained as part of supported Windows versions; compatibility is preserved for existing apps with a limited support scope.
  • Usage: persistent installed base across finance, healthcare, manufacturing and other sectors; migration choices are driven by cost, risk and business priorities.
  • 32-bit Only: the runtime remains 32-bit. On 64-bit Windows, VB6 apps run in the WOW64 (Windows-on-Windows) emulation environment.
  • Third-Party Controls: support is limited to core Microsoft binaries. If your app uses old third-party .ocx or .dll files, those are not covered by Microsoft’s support.
  • Windows 11 & Server 2025: both modern operating systems include the VB6 runtime. This means applications built in VB6 are officially supported for "serious regressions and critical security issues" as long as those OS versions are supported.

Future outlook

VB6 will likely remain in place in many organisations for the near term because of migration cost and risk, and because Microsoft’s runtime compatibility commitment reduces immediate operational urgency. Over time, organisations will increasingly adopt hybrid strategies — encapsulation, incremental rewrites, or full rewrites — driven by business need, compliance, and integration requirements.