Is software available for download also available for use?
Hello. I downloaded Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise edition from your site and thought the installation went well, I am not sure if the license is good.
I am working for governmental institution, and people here are quite picky when it comes to licenses for software.
We have an old application made in VB6 so it didn't compile on Windows 10, but it did on Windows 7.
So I used your VB6 software to compile it and then install it on Windows 10 computers.
They wouldn't allow me to use their licensed VB6 software 
Is the license genuine for using your software?
We would move to newer technologies but for this time I have to make the software work. No help from others provided
Comments
No, nothing on this site provides a license for any kind of production use. The purpose of this site is to archive vintage software for preservation purposes. The bits are available for download, preservation, and educational evaluation. In some cases this may be the ONLY way to get something done (such as restoring from a proprietary backup format, or opening an oddball document), as "licenses" are not obtainable.
In this case, these tools may give you the technical ability to get started fixing your application, but you should immediately hit eBay to obtain media with a valid license. Normally, you would be advised to port the software to a newer environment, but in this case there is no truly viable migration path forward.
I should, however, point out that if your institution is that picky about "licenses", they may also be picky about "support". They may not approve of running an "unsupported" program, even with a valid license. You should approach the situation with caution and be careful of who you trust. Corporate policies can be a minefield.
Note that if you REALLY want to use something from software on this side you often could buy something like Microsoft's Windows 10 GGWA (Get Genuine Windows Agreement) - that's Windows 10 license which allows you to also install older versions of Windows (even including Windows 3.1).
But that license quite explicitly makes you responsible for locating software! You could read it right here:
https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/8/9/68964284-864d-4a6d-aed9-f2c1f8f23e14/downgrade_rights.pdf
That's an interesting read. Thanks for that.
Hmm, how about making Windows 7, 32 bit virtual machine?
Is it legal to make virtual machine with an installation iso file but don't register it and delete it once the job is done?
Nice document you mention there, but hardly ever is going to happen. By the way we have Windows 10 pro.
Hmm, when it comes to virtual machines, Microsoft made some available for download here:https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/
Yes, there is Windows 7, 32 bit
Good for testing old software
You would have to ask a lawyer about legality, and there are none of those here.
A VM still may or may not comply with your corporate policies. Another option to consider is a personal non-network connected laptop with the software installed either natively or in a VM. Then it would not be the company's problem, only yours, and the only company policy issue would be if they allow personal laptops at the location.
Thanks for clearing that out. We have a licensed Visual Basic 6.0 and also operating system. The real problem was, that on my PC, the VB 6.0 IDE didn't work as expected, so I was scared not to finish the work on time. But now I am going to ask them to reinstall the IDE on my system, once I learned that installing VB6 on Windows 10 has problem with the Windows registry , explained on this page:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/luisdem/2018/12/03/how-to-install-visual-basic-6-0-on-windows-10/
I am on my own. Even the technical support who maintains the computers here, do not know all the trickery with the software the programmers use