how to get back visual basic 6 project again on coding again

[Syed Zubair Ali]

Dear Dani,
I had visual basic 6 project, built earlier and was being used a platform, however, my hard disk has been damaged, and entire project has been collapsed. I have exe back up file to run this project and working well, however, i need some more changes and updating on this program, but due to hard disk damage i don have run time window likewise forms and its tools of this project.
How can i back my project again in design time to build more changes and writing codes. Please help.

[rproffitt]

I had to keep an old Windows 7 laptop around for a very old project from the 1990's. At some point the cost to keep going on VB6 wasn't viable so we ported the entire project to C# and at the time VS2008. Today it loads right up on VS2022.

As to your old system, the usual is to get the PC repaired, install your compiler of choice then restore your project files from backups. If you didn't keep backups then it's a lesson learned.

[Salem]

my hard disk has been damaged, and entire project has been collapsed.

Did the disk just "stop working" one day, or has it been rotting slowly over time?
Or does "damaged" mean "I deleted the source folder". If that happened yesterday, you might have a chance. If that was months ago, most of it is probably lost for good.

In any event, the important thing is to stop using the disk immediately, and consult with the data recovery service offered by your HD manufacturer, or other well-regarded service in your area. This will not be a cheap option.

I have exe back up file to run this project and working well

I'm going to assume you're working in a business environment, where your time had a direct $ cost to the business.

Maybe a tool like this can help https://www.vb-decompiler.org/
You will not get back your source code in a form you can directly recompile. But it seems you should be able to recover a useful amount. There's a demo version to try first, so could be worth checking out.

How long would it take you to rewrite the program from scratch?
Say you cost the business $40/hr (that's a low in the west by the way). The $1600 price of the above tool is basically a week of your time.
So if a rewrite were to take "months", but having the above tool would save you at least a couple of weeks, it might be a thing to consider using.

Perhaps look on this as an opportunity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic_(classic)
"On April 8, 2008, Microsoft stopped supporting the VB6 IDE, relegating it to legacy status"
You'd soon be looking at depending on tooling that's been unsupported for 20 years.
It's really just a matter of time before something else breaks if you stick with VB6.

Armed with some decompiled clues, perhaps make the jump to using C# or some .Net thing.

[Syed Zubair Ali]

Due to installation of windows 11 harddisk were formatted and entire project was saved in C drive. Exe. back up was stored in USB and desktop and working well, however, to update more i have need my project in design mode of vb where I can add tools and writing more code.
I have run vb-decompliler.org where I had recieved my 90% database of design mode however my code is not avaiable there.
What is solution to back my entire code of all forms?

[Shajjad_1]

To get back to coding a Visual Basic 6 project, locate your project files (e.g., .vbp, .frm, .bas). Ensure you have Visual Basic 6.0 installed on your system, as modern IDEs don't support VB6. Open the project file in VB6 IDE, and you can resume editing and coding.