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I found some online resources which shows how to compile vb6 code in windows 7 64 bit machines. Since I do not have a computer science background, I am unsure if there are any hurdles in deploying dlls generated on a windows 7 64 bit machine to a windows server 2003 32 bit machine.

Is it okay to compile vb6 on my windows 7 machine even if it is meant for a windows 2003 server?

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Yes, it's fine to do that. VB6 always compiles 32-bit applications and it links against the VB6 runtimes.

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Make sure the Windows 7 machine is fully patched if you are using ADO. VB6 apps using ADO have been unusable on other OSs for a while. See social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/… –  Rob Feb 21 '13 at 23:36
This may not be always true, I have had issues in the past with programs compiled in VB6 on Windows 7 64Bit machines randomly failing on winxp 32bit. I particularly remember debugging an OCX that I had no idea why it was failing to load on XP (error 425). Don't know the actual reason why it failed, I suspect it had to do with the linker. Worked fine on all platforms when compiled on XP, which is why our build machines for VB6 still run on XP (our SA's love keeping up XP VM's up to date). –  Kris Erickson Feb 22 '13 at 17:03
It's also true that some stuff just will not work on some Operating Systems. I have a largish project that runs on Win 2000 -> Windows 8 x64. It will not run on Windows Server 2003 or 2008. One of the components just refuses to work on Server versions. –  Rob Feb 24 '13 at 22:08
Agreed, but frankly, all of those problems could also occur when sticking to a 32-bit Windows xp (although less likely to happen). –  Michael Feb 25 '13 at 14:33
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I have encountered the problem with VB 6 code compiled on a Win 7 64 bit machine not running on XP and Vista machines. My solution was to copy the code to a XP 32 bit machine and compile it there. After doing that the application will run on everything including Win 8 machines.

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