Microsoft VPC IE image expiration

Question

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en

The IE6/7/8 XP SP3 images made available for testing from Microsoft are set to expire tomorrow(!) April 30. I'm a little concerned that Microsoft has not posted new images up yet since I use these fairly often as an easy way to test for IE6/7 compatibility issues that come up.

Does anyone else here have experience with these VPC images over a longer time frame to know that they will actually post new images tomorrow so there's no lapse? Or does anyone know of a good way to get this to the attention of the right person at Microsoft and make sure an image refresh happens?

Otherwise, does anyone have a good suggestion on how to test IE6/7 on the same machine that doesn't involve these free images?

Answer 1

This has happened before with the VS.NET 2010 CTP, I think. I believe there is a way to set up an image so that the system clock of the guest OS is separate from the clock of the host OS. You can edit the VPC configuration file, then set the system clock of the guest OS back a few months.

Answer 2

I'm using a fairly old image that expired a while ago. It tends to run for a while and then giving a message about being expired, and then again in about an hour it resets itself. If your version does the same, I'd say it's not a problem really, just restart and off you go.

Answer 3

If you've got a Technet / MSDN subscription, you could download the public RC1 of Windows 7 beginning April 30th, which, as I've heard, contains a copy of Windows XP (with IE6) licensed for Virtual machine use. Its a pretty neat feature, but basically it'll let you run IE 6 & IE 7 SxS without having to bother about downloading an updated VPC image. You can read all about it here and watch a video.

Alternatively wait a few more days (May 5th) and download the public RC of Windows 7 with the same functionality.

Answer 4

As far as I know all VPC images have an expiration date of some sort. So, when they expire, they start rebooting every 2 hours, but other than that they work fine. A message pops up after an hour or work, which means you have another hour left. To work a little longer, you can pause the VPC (Action -> Pause) each time you don't need it for a while.

When the MOSS 2007 VHD that I was using for a while expired, I think it took them a month or so to put out a new one.

As for testing for IE 6/7/8, check out Expression Web SuperPreview - it's pretty cool. More detailed description here.

Answer 5

Looks like MS updated the VPC images on May 5.

See: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en