Knowledge Base

PRB: Screen Turns Black While Making .exe

Article ID: 169385

Article Last Modified on 12/10/2003

Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Control Creation Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition

This article was previously published under Q169385

SYMPTOMS

When you try to create an executable (.EXE) with Visual Basic, the entire display turns black. You see the same behavior whether you compile to Native Code or P-Code. This problem only occurs on Windows NT.

CAUSE

The Console Windows Display (DOS Window) is set to "Full Screen."

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, you need to change the Console Windows Display to "Window" instead of "Full Screen."

Step-by-Step Example

Go to Control Panel and double-click on the Console icon.
From the Console Windows Properties Dialog, select the Options tab.
Select "Window" under Display Options.
Return to the Visual Basic IDE.
Make an executable. The screen should not turn black.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Go to Control Panel and double-click on the Console icon.
From the Console Windows Properties Dialog select, the Options tab.
Select "Full Screen" under Display Options.
Start a new Standard EXE in Visual Basic.
Select "Make Project1.exe" under the File menu. The entire display turns black. However, after the executable is made, it will return to normal.

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Keywords: kbprb KB169385