Getting VB6 to reveal which component doesn't have a design time license installed

Question

I've inherited a VB6 project that I'm trying to "Make".

The build fails on the "Making EXE" step with a licensing error:

License information for this component not found. 
You do not have an appropriate license to use this functionality 
in the design environment.

How can I figure out which component is missing the license?

The project has about 15 references; a mixture between commercial and Microsoft. I've installed development versions / licenses for all the obvious references - and checked that I can compile their sample apps successfully.

Of the remaining 13 odd references; how I can get more information as to which component is throwing the licensing error?

Any tips / techniques on how to get a more verbose error message would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

1. Create a new, empty application with all the same references
2. Confirm that you still have the same problem
3. Delete the second half of the references
4. If you still have the same problem, then the problem is with the references which remain. Go to 3
5. If not, then the problem is with the references you deleted. Put them back. Delete one half of those you put back. Go to 2.

Basically, just a binary search, except it's really "binary delete".

Answer 2

It's worth trying both the Microsoft fixes - one and two - for this error, in case you've run into one of the known issues.

If that doesn't work, open the form designer for every single form in the VB6 IDE. Look out for an error message box on displaying a form. When this error is displayed, the IDE writes a log file formname.log that gives more information on which control caused the problem.