Project1.exe 'The program to be shelled and return a code

Private Declare Sub ExitProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal uExitCode As Long)

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
ExitProcess 5
End Sub

Project2.exe 'The program to call project1 and get the exit code

Option Explicit

Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
Private Declare Function timeGetTime Lib "winmm.dll" () As Long
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetExitCodeProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hProcess As Long, lpExitCode As Long) As Long

Private Const STILL_ACTIVE = &H103
Private Const PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION = &H400

Private Sub Command1_Click()
 Dim lngWait As Long
 Dim lngStart As Long
 Dim hProcess As Long

 hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION, False, Shell("C:\project1.exe"))
 lngStart = timeGetTime()
 Do
   GetExitCodeProcess hProcess, lngWait
   DoEvents: Sleep 100
   If (timeGetTime() - lngStart > 2000000000) Then
     MsgBox "The process has timed out."
     lngWait = 0
   End If
 Loop While lngWait = STILL_ACTIVE

 MsgBox lngWait

End Sub