### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/1 "2003-05-07T18:20:18Z")
This question may go unanswered, as it seems that very few programmers do this, but…
According to [this site](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q168428&ID=168428), I should be able to create an ActiveX document in VB, run it, then open the resultant .VBD file in a browser. When I try, I keep getting a dialog box that asks me if I want to download the file. I say yes. Then nothing happens. How come?
At the end of the article it says
> [@](#):
>
> Problem 4:
>
> A dialog box with the following messages appear in Internet Explorer:
>
> Opening file \.VBD
>
> What would you like to do with this file?
>
> Open it or Save it to disk.
> Resolution 4:
>
> This error occurs because the Visual Basic 5.0 Run-time Library (MSVBVM50.DLL) is not installed. This will most likely occur if the Internet Explorer safety level is set to High. Set the Internet Explorer safety level to Medium or None.
Tried it. Didn’t help. On my PC I can open other VBD files I see on the web. But my own won’t open on my PC, another PC, or a Mac.
Anyone else ever have this problem? Should I just post this to the Pit instead?
---
### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/2 "2003-05-07T18:28:07Z")
What browser are you using? To what is your security level set?
---
### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/3 "2003-05-07T18:30:05Z")
What are you ActiveX options set to in Security?
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/4 "2003-05-07T18:34:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \*
> \*\*What are you ActiveX options set to in Security? \*\*
I set everything to the least secure and most ActiveX friendly settings possible. I don’t think this is the issue, as I can open ActiveX components that were created by others.
My browser is IE 5.5.
---
### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/5 "2003-05-07T18:44:10Z")
Can anyone else open your .vbd files? Can you try opening one on another machine? If you’re able to open one on another machine, you can at least determine the problem’s machine specific.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/6 "2003-05-07T18:54:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \*
> \*\*Can anyone else open your .vbd files? Can you try opening one on another machine? If you’re able to open one on another machine, you can at least determine the problem’s machine specific. \*\*
No. Like I said in the OP, I tried it on a couple of PCs and a Mac. (This was after doing the package deployment stuff.) So I think it must have something to do with the construction of the file itself. To answer your next question, yes, I uninstalled and reinstalled VB, making sure that all components installed correctly.
---
### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/7 "2003-05-07T19:17:42Z")
Sorry, tdn, I see I missed the ‘on another pc’ part.
Hey, no fair answering my next question!!!
Do you, in IE, get a message in the status bar after it ‘downloads’?
Isn’t there a log created to tell you what failed and why? Lemme check…
Here, view [this article](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;252937).
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/8 "2003-05-07T21:07:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \*
> \*\*Do you, in IE, get a message in the status bar after it ‘downloads’?
>
> Isn’t there a log created to tell you what failed and why? Lemme check…
>
> Here, view [this article](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;252937). \*\*
Great link, thanks! I bookmarked that page.
But it did me no good – nothing was logged, and no IE message. I’m sure this means something fairly significant, but I have no idea what that would be. Hrmmm…
---
### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/9 "2003-05-08T14:11:57Z")
Have you made any headway with this, tdn? Maybe some other programmers can chime in this morning…
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/10 "2003-05-08T16:22:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \*
> \*\*Have you made any headway with this, tdn? Maybe some other programmers can chime in this morning… \*\*
Thanks for the thought and the bump.
No, no luck yet.
---
### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/programming-question-activex-documents/173723/11 "2003-05-08T18:12:05Z")
I’m another programmer, but all I can say is that following the instructions didn’t work for me either. OTOH, I’m ok, but not a real expert in VB, and my knowledge of ActiveX specifically doesn’t extend much beyond “Don’t run the damned things!”.
The failure mode was almost exactly what **tdn** described. It wants to download it, I click on “open from this page”, but it downloads, then opens in Visual Studio.
I wasn’t able to get my “security settings” to stay at low, but they were on Medium, which should have worked anyways. I’ll see about creating some simple html container, but I doubt it will work.