internet explorer 6 testing

Question

Hi,

Is there any way to test a website in IE6 on a computer that already has firefox and IE7 installed, without either:

• Using VM-ware
• Uninstalling IE7 and installing IE6 (if that's even possible)

Cheers, Don

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Duplicate

• Possible to degrade from IE7 to IE6 for debuggin purposes?

Answer 1

You can try multiple IE

Answer 2

I usually see IETester recommended, though I don't have any experience with it personally (I run linux and use VirtualBox for this).

Answer 3

Solutions that will allow IE6 and IE7 together may not give you a real vanilla IE6 so it may not be what you should be looking for. I use http://www.virtualbox.org/ which is lighter than VM-ware.

Answer 4

Microsoft has published free virtual pc images for Internet Explorer compatibility testing. You can find it here.

Answer 5

Could this solve your problem:

Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview for Windows Internet Explorer

Answer 6

Try the Xenocode Web Apps. They're virtualized, but not full-blown VMs.

Virtual PC 2007 is free from MS and isn't VM-Ware. Not sure if your requirement is no VMs or no VM-Ware. The MS provided testing virtual machines work well.

From what I've heard, any of the 3rd party multiple IE testers all have compatibility issues where they're not 100% accurate to the original browser versions.

Answer 7

if it's for testing the rendering you can use Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview :link text

Answer 8

Try out SuperPreview or the whole package (Expression Web announced at Mix) if you can..

SuperPreview is a new free standalone application from Microsoft (still in beta) which enables you to see how your websites will look across different versions of Internet Explorer making migration from IE6 to 7 and 8 much easier than before, without have to start up a Virtual Machine to run IE6, or have a separate computer dedicated to running IE6.

Answer 9

Download Microsoft VirtualPC. Then download any of the files in Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. The second download contains four VHD (virtual hard drive) files which have:

• XP SP2
  • IE 7
• XP SP3
  • IE 6, IE 8 Beta 2
• Vista SP1
  • IE 7

My answer from duplicate question

Answer 10

If you can find an IE 6 Setup executable then you could use the wonderfully handy application called 'Altris Software Virtualization Solution' SVS.21.Personal.zip

Basically it allows you to create layers that can be enabled or disabled. It can create a layer by capturing changes made by an installation executable.

Answer 11

You ought to have an old crappy pc to test on- It's easy to make code work on a modern, well set up machine, but you may have users less fortunate. And outdated pc's are cheap or free, if you don't have any of your own laying around somewhere.

Answer 12

I had the same problem. A VM would work but it slow my 1 GB laptop down to a crawl. So I ended up having to upgrade to 2GB memory and install linux. I enjoy this ALOT better. But since that is not an option here is what I came across.

1. VirtualBox - Personally I like this one. If you have a Windows XP disc lying around this option is great. Especially if you have virtualization options on your processor.

2. SuperPreview - Though I don't like this one it is an option. I had Windows 7 installed because it ran better than Vista and XP but it gave me IE8. I tried this and it only let me preview IE8. Maybe it was too early a beta or because I had a beta OS. Either way, I dont like this one just yet.

3. IETester - By far a great great program. Works perfectly in XP and Vista. IE 6 and 7 dont work right with it in Windows 7. But if you have Vista this is the way to go. Multiple IEs doesnt work right under Vista but this does.

4. MultipleIEs - As stated above, this does not work in Vista but it is an option for any XP user out there. There have been known issues with this causing your OS to actually become more unstable but I don't know for a fact if thats true. Just heard some reports about it.

5. IE7 Standalone - Though not applicable for this question others may find it useful to know that there is a standalone IE7. On my VM I have IE6 installed by default and IE7 as standalone. I would not reccomend this as standalone IE7 is not perfect. MUltipleIEs + genuine IE7 or IETEster is much better option.

6. BrowserShots.com - Browser shots is a great tool but somewhat limited. Basically it takes a screenshot on literally 100s of browsers and lets you view tyhem. Thing is it is mighty slow and you don't get a full screen preview.Not a great option.

7. Meer Meer - I heard about something from Adobe Labs called Meer Meer a while back but never was able to actually find it. I believe meermeer.com actually takes you to Adobe Labs' website too. But it looks like a great tool complete with Onion Skin Overlay and the works. Like Super Preview but on the web instead of local. If it is released, definitely would check this one out.

Overall, I say IETester is a great bet. Anyone running Windows 7 however is left in the cold. I tried every option out there and none of them worked for me except for Linux host and VirtualBox XP guest. Thats my 2.5 cents though

Chuck

Answer 13

Although you specifically said you didn't want to use VMWare, have you consider VMWare ThinAPP?

It effectively lets you build an EXE that lets you run IE6 and IE7 concurrently on the same computer without incurring the performance cost of running an entire virtual machine. It is a little pricey ($6K), buy you only need a license for the machine you build the virtualized version of IE on.

Answer 14

Here's an solution which is 100% free and also works on Vista WITHOUT the need of any virtual machine.

"IETester is a free WebBrowser that allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE9 preview, IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Windows 7, Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process."