>You have to reinstall VFP; copying the files into directories doesn't put the entries back in the registry.
I did reinstall, for the reasons you mention. Sorry you misinterpreted.

>It has nothing to do with SP3; SP3 relies on the registry to find the Visual Studio components,
I did have registry entries - but I did reinstall VFP, and noticed I had failed to select "Workstation tools" so I installed that. And I read the SP3 Readme (novel idea!) and found the item I was looking for. "MDAC 2.1 Service Pack 1 or later is required for Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 3." The MDAC_type.exe setup is on the SP3 CD. I think this is what fixed me years ago - but your tip about Runtime got me to put those Workstation Tools on, and that might be it also.

Once again, a little nudge from a UT member help me a bunch.

Thanks, VFP6.0 SP3 up and going.
Sylvia