What is a .vbs file?

About the format

A .vbs file is a VBScript — a scripting language from the late 1990s executed by Windows Script Host. Double-clicking one runs it silently, no console window, with your full permissions: the combination that made .vbs a legendary malware vehicle (the ILOVEYOU worm of 2000 was a .vbs attachment, and the technique never fully died). Legitimate uses persist in old corporate logon scripts and admin glue, but new development abandoned VBScript long ago, and Microsoft has formally deprecated it — modern Windows 11 builds ship it as an optional feature on the path to removal. The practical guidance is blunt: a .vbs file arriving by email, download or USB stick today is presumed hostile until read. It's plain text, so right-click → Edit shows exactly what it does; obfuscated string concatenation and Chr() soup is itself the red flag. If you don't rely on legacy scripts, disabling Windows Script Host or removing the VBScript feature closes the door entirely.

How to open a .vbs file

Is a .vbs file dangerous?

Yes — runs silently on double-click with your permissions, and its modern-day base rate of being malicious is high. Read first, or better, don't run at all.

Related file types