How To Find VB32.EXE Without Searching the Hard Drive

Article translations Article translations
Article ID: 176876 - View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q176876
Expand all | Collapse all

On This Page


The sample code below demonstrates how to find the location of VB32.EXE by checking the registry rather than searching the entire hard drive.


Because customers occasionally install Visual Basic with a pathname other than the default suggested by SETUP, it may be necessary to search for the directory in which VB32.EXE has been installed. While simply searching the local hard drive with an equivalent to DIR/S serves in most circumstances, the presence of multiple large volumes makes a brute-force search of all the directories on each volume impractical.

Because Visual Basic Setup stores the fully-qualified path name to VB32.EXE under the key:


it is a fairly simple task to obtain that pathname with the RegQueryValueEx() API.

Step-By-Step Instructions

  1. Open a new project. Form1 is created by default.
  2. Add a Code Module and, in the General Declarations section, place the following code:
       Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyExA" _
       (ByVal hKey As Long,  ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal ulOptions As _
       Long, ByVal samDesired As Long, phkResult As  Long) As Long
       Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
       "RegQueryValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As _
       String, ByVal lpReserved As Long, lpType As Long, lpData As Any, _
       lpcbData As Long) As Long
       Option Explicit
       Global Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
       Global Const KEY_READ = &H20019
       Global Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&
  3. Add a CommandButton to the default form.
  4. In the Click Event of the CommandButton, place the following code:
       Dim RegKeyHandle As Long
       Dim RetVal As Long
       Dim KeyType As Long
       Dim Data As String * 255
       Dim DataLen As Long
       RetVal = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, _
       "Software\Classes\VisualBasic\Shell\Open\command", _
       0, KEY_READ, RegKeyHandle)
       If RetVal <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
           MsgBox "Can't Open Key"
           MsgBox "Opened It!" & vbCrLf & "Getting Default Value"
           DataLen = 512
           RetVal = RegQueryValueEx(RegKeyHandle _
                                   , vbNullString _
                                   , 0 _
                                   , KEY_READ _
                                   , ByVal Data _
                                   , DataLen)
           If RetVal <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
               MsgBox "Missed It!"
               MsgBox Left(Data, DataLen)
           End If
       End If
  5. Run the program. If Visual Basic is installed, the fully-qualified pathname to VB32.EXE appears in the message box.


"Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API", Daniel Appleman, PC Magazine Press; c1996.


Article ID: 176876 - Last Review: July 16, 2004 - Revision: 2.2
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 32-Bit Enterprise Edition
kbhowto KB176876

Give Feedback


Contact us for more help

Contact us for more help
Connect with Answer Desk for expert help.
Get more support from