Visual Basic Runtime Files

Pros

• Free runtime files let users run programs written in Visual Basic
• All necessary files for each version are available in a simple installer

Cons

• You have to install the runtime specific to the version used by the program you want to run.
• Visual Basic is slowly being replaced by more modern languages.

Visual Basic runtime files are necessary to install and run programs written in Visual Basic under Windows. These programs can be anything from a directory printer to an audio book player, from a game to a countdown timer. The common thread is that these programs require Visual Basic runtime files to run properly. This is true in all versions of Windows.

These files are available for free by Microsoft, and there are runtime files for each version of Visual Basic. You will need to install the version of the runtime files that corresponds to the version your program was written in. Many people install at least Visual Basic Runtime v6.0 and v5.0 proactively so they're able to run programs written in these versions of the Visual Basic language. If you plan to run older software written for Windows 2000 or early XP, you may need Visual Basic Runtime v3.0.

What is a runtime file?

One of the core strengths of Windows is that it stores frequently used computer code including programming functions in library files. You will see these files on your computer and can recognize them by the .dll extension.

These files allow two different programs, such as an audio book player and a puzzle game, to use time-saving functions from the libraries to do things like draw a window, make a toolbar button, or use a text control when users can type information into the program. Without these central libraries, programmers would have to spend long hours writing code for all these things. The programs would be much bigger and would run more slowly.

Runtime files typically include at least one .dll file along with other types of files. When you install a runtime, its libraries in instructions get incorporated into Windows by a process called registration. You can do this manually for .dll files, but the Visual Basic installers do this automatically. So when we install Visual Basic runtime files, Windows understands how to handle the new type of program.

In recent years, Visual Basic has been replaced with new tools and programming languages. Yet, many developers have invested heavily in learning Visual Basic and still write programs in that language. As of this writing, there are still plenty of programs out there written in Visual Basic. For that reason, it's a good idea to install the runtime for v6.0, even if you don't have a need for it at the moment.

Pros

• Free runtime files let users run programs written in Visual Basic
• All necessary files for each version are available in a simple installer

Cons

• You have to install the runtime specific to the version used by the program you want to run.
• Visual Basic is slowly being replaced by more modern languages.