How to Install IE6 on Vista
Got a work intranet application that works fine in IE6 but doesn’t like IE7? Amazingly, Microsoft has provided a way to install the non-Vista-compatible IE6 on Vista. Well, maybe not quite, but near enough…
Internet Explorer 7 has been out for quite a while now, yet there are still plenty of sites out there that can’t cope with it, and demand that users connect using IE6. Unfortunately, most people (certainly the vast majority of home users) are running IE7, having received it as part of a Windows XP update, or they’re running Windows Vista which uses IE7 by default.
If you’re running Windows XP, you can roll back to IE6, but this seems rather a shame to do. If you’re running Windows Vista, there’s no rollback option since IE6 was never released for Vista.
What you can do instead is make use of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. These are two virtual PC hard drive images (downloadable here) which contain a full, pre-activated copy of Windows XP SP2 – one contains IE6 and the other IE7. The idea is to make users able to test either application, and to this end each image contains the IE7 Readiness Toolkit, the Script Debugger and the IE Developer Toolbar.
The individual downloads are fairly chunky (443MB and 491MB respectively) and expand out to 1.48GB and 1.58GB VHD files. To use the files, you need to install Virtual PC 2007, create a new machine using the default settings, and then go into each virtual machine and point the hard drive to the VHD file you just downloaded. Make sure the other settings are correct (especially networking) and then start the machines from the console.
The VHD files don’t have an unlimited life – the current set are due to expire in about a month on the 17th of August 2007 – but it seems that Microsoft has been releasing updated images over time, so as long as there’s a need for them to keep IE6 developers happy, the images should be available for some time.
We’ve put in an enquiry with Microsoft’s PR people to find out whether Microsoft plans to extend the date again.
Tags: Internet, intranet_application, Microsoft, shame, Software, theyre_running, Windows, windows vista, windows xp
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Vinny The Viking on 06 Sep 2007 at 7:20 am #
That’s great however. I’m on day 3 trying to setup the network so I can test my website on IE6.
It’s near impossible to even find a decent tutorial to do it. And I’ve gone through numourous scenarios.
aarrgghhhh. what’s the point in given an incomplete solution to running ie6 and ie7 together.
Help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jordan P on 30 Apr 2008 at 3:16 pm #
The Microsoft download for XP SP2 is now showing July 3, 2008 expiry (so they must be continually moving it out). Thank you for this article!!! Saved me a bunch of headaches and hassles!
Pierre on 22 Dec 2008 at 5:08 pm #
This solution works only for 32 bit machines. Most newer PC run 64 bit do one is flat out of luck.