Locate the failing initialization stage
- Record whether any splash screen, form or log entry appears.
- Capture Windows event details, faulting module and exact runtime message.
- Compare loaded modules, file access and registry access with a working machine.
- Test configuration parsing, working directory and user-specific paths.
- Identify early COM creation, database connection, printer enumeration and device opening.
An unhandled error in Sub Main, form load/initialize events or global object construction can terminate the process before normal error reporting is active.
Interpret common evidence
| Faulting third-party DLL | Version, architecture, dependency or incompatible API behavior. |
|---|---|
| Crash after configuration read | Malformed value, locale-dependent conversion or inaccessible path. |
| Works offline only | Database, network, printer or device initialization path. |
| Only one user fails | Permissions, profile state, per-user registry or mapped resources. |
This page is for a process that starts and then terminates. If it never launches, use VB6 won't-start diagnosis. For named native modules see missing DLLs; for object creation see error 429 and the VB6 pillar.