Browser testing in Windows Vista – trouble with Internet Explorer
After my recent ‘upgrade’ to Windows Vista I came across a little snag in regards to site testing; the Internet Explorer standalones I had come to love no longer functioned.
This became a very annoying issue for me, as I frequently require easy access to old Internet explorer versions for site testing/bug fixing. But at last I have found a solution; although its slightly more awkward than a nice standalone version of the browsers.
What was the problem?
To put it simply, the IE standalone (found at evolt) would not function in windows vista:
It is important to have access to multiple versions of IE to bug fix your websites and make them backwards compatible.
The solution
The team at IE Blog have generously provided a hard disk image of a windows XP installation (with IE 6) which you can use.
- First download and install Microsoft virtual PC (its free)
- Next, head over to IEBlog and get the image here. The file is a whopping 450mb, so put your feet up and wait. If your on dial-up, give up.
- Run virtual PC and set up a new machine (the process is pretty self explanatory). Use the XP image you just downloaded.
- Run the system, you now have access to IE 6
Thats IE6 out of the way, what about the rest?
- IE7 – Your on vista, so you have it!
- IE6 – On your virtual PC
- IE5/IE5.5 – Copy the standalone version (found at evolt) to your virtual PC (drag and drop, easy!)
- Fix conditional comments on the virtual machine, by going
start > runand typingregedit. FindHKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Version Vectorand rename the ‘IE’ key to ‘zIE’. Conditional comments will now function in the standalone versions.
And there you have it, IE5, 5.5, and 6 on the virtual PC, and IE7 on vista. Perfecto for testing, problem solved!
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Mike Cherim says:
Good info, Mike. I plan to avoid Vista at all costs updating only when forced to (I am satisfied with XP and I don’t see a lot of goodness being brought to the table by Vista), but should the need arise this may be valuable for me. Someday I suppose.
Comment made on April 25, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Mike Jolley says:
I wasn’t going to, but I needed a new laptop, and I didn’t see any point in keeping XP.
Comment made on April 25, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Anthony Brewitt says:
I’m in the same camp as Mike Cherim! I actually take as much presentation of my Windows as possible I actually feel a lot of unnecessary graphics and elements can slow production when your working on a PC so often.
Comment made on May 15, 2007 at 10:08 am
Mike Jolley says:
I disagree, would you be more productive working in a scummy back office, or a posh office with plants and stuff. The prettyness wins IMO, and makes the working environment more pleasent
Comment made on May 15, 2007 at 10:11 am
Houssam says:
hello,
i installed the these items and the xp on my virtual machine, but when i ran the regedit , i couldn’t find
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Version Vector ,
also can i make a dial-up in virtual pc? the modem wasn’t found, please help me
Comment made on June 6, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Mike Jolley says:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/support.mspx?wt_svl=20324a&mg_id=20324b
for virtual pc support.
Comment made on June 6, 2007 at 9:26 pm
R David says:
I have had nothing but problems with Vista since buying a new PC in May. IT took me a week to install my printer, longer to install games, and I can’t get degrag chart graphics to display. I an not at all pleased, I wish that I could go back to XP.
Comment made on August 14, 2007 at 8:48 pm
John Faulds says:
When I went to get a new PC recently I was told I could no longer get one with XP Pro because Microsoft had recalled all the installation disks. I could’ve got XP Media Centre but they didn’t have one with the specs I wanted so ended up getting Vista Ultimate. It’s OK so far although it does freeze up quite frequently which is annoying.
Comment made on October 5, 2007 at 2:53 am