How do I run IE6 and IE7 (even IE8) together on the same machine?

01.26.2009 | Author: Georgiana | Posted in Quick and dirty, Software, testing

This is a very common issue among us, developers or testers of web applications, so I will explain here exactly what worked for me, along with other solutions which have proved useful for others in the past.

After trying the various solutions on the internet, I learnt that the simple is the best.

  1. IE6 standalone install (best choice)
    • download the IE6 standalone kit from evolt.org
    • unpack the archive in a convenient place on your computer; be careful to keep all the files into the same directory
    • create a shortcut to iexplore.exe either on the desktop or in the QuickLaunch bar
    • Congratulations, you’re done!
    • please note that until IE8 is a stable release and gains a small market share I am not interested in testing web apps for it, so this is the reason I chose this solution to be the best one for me
  2. Use Internet Explorer Collection
    • download the IE Collection kit (note: at the time of this writing, the IE Collection has 42.4 MB, and has reached 1.1.0.1);
    • this package contains various versions of IE:
      • Internet Explorer 8.0 (8.0.6001.18241)
      • Internet Explorer 7.0 (7.0.5730.13)
      • Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2800.1106)
      • Internet Explorer 5.5 (5.51.4807.2300)
      • Internet Explorer 5.01 (5.00.3314.2100)
      • Internet Explorer 4.01 (4.72.3110.0)
      • Internet Explorer 3.0 (3.0.1152)
      • Internet Explorer 2.01 (2.1.0.46)
      • Internet Explorer 1.5 (0.1.0.10)
      • Internet Explorer 1.0 (4.40.0.308)
    • choose the version of IE you want to install
    • All set up!
    • please note that this solution does not work with Microsoft Vista
  3. Use IETester
    • download the IETester kit from the My DebugBar page (note: at the time of this writing the kit has reached version 0.2.3 and has 24 MB)
    • please note that you need to have Windows Vista or Windows XP with IE7 installed if you choose this solution (ithese 2 are the configurations known to work)
    • install it and you’re ready to go!
    Happy coding / testing!

12 Responses

  1. Radu ROMANIA January 26th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    err, *cough*—VPC?

  2. Sultan Al-Otaibi SAUDI ARABIA February 12th, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Thank you… I am downloading the 3rd solution… and I will write my feedback later on…

  3. Sultan Al-Otaibi SAUDI ARABIA February 12th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    Perfect, it works fine.. thank you

  4. Georgiana ROMANIA February 12th, 2009 at 5:24 pm

    oh, I’m very glad it worked for you

  5. Bobtat UNITED STATES February 26th, 2009 at 10:56 pm

    Doesn’t work with IE8 and Vista Business

  6. Bring Down IE 6: a campaign by .net magazine - CGC - Creative Graphics Communications UNITED KINGDOM March 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    [...] How do I run IE6 and IE7 (even IE8) together on the same machine? (tekkie.ro) [...]

  7. matte UNITED STATES May 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    I used option #1. I run iexplore.exe, and About windows dialog still reports version 7 is running. What’s up with that?

  8. matte UNITED STATES May 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    Oh, and i am using XP. Sorry.

  9. Georgiana ROMANIA May 28th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    matte, please make sure you start IE6 from the folder where you unpack it and try opening the “about” dialog again

    also, did you try any of the other options?

  10. Peter ROMANIA July 16th, 2009 at 11:20 am

    IF IE6 download doesn’t work.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?bijd1mum3mj

  11. Toronto Website Designers CANADA March 20th, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    This is how I solved this problem.
    There is one elegant way to run IE6, IE7 and IE8 on the same machine, called virtual PC.

    First download virtual PC from Microsoft website here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&displaylang=en

    Then download 3 EXE files with IE6, IE7 and IE8 here:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en

    Install them on your PC and test your web applications. Saved me days of looking for similar solutions.

  12. Chad Survey UKRAINE June 15th, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    There is more simple way to solve this problem, just install on your PC simple program called multipleIEs, with this program you can instal two or more version of IE
    download here:
    http://multipleies.en.softonic.com/

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