Internet Explorer Application Compatibility Virtual PC Images

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 17, 2010
Updated • Apr 22, 2012
Development, Internet Explorer, Windows Vista, Windows XP
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Web developers have several options to test their web projects in different web browsers. Among the available choices are virtual operating system images that provide access to specific web browsers. Microsoft has just updated a set of Internet Explorer application compatibility VPC images that are available as a free download for Windows operating systems compatible with Virtual PC.

A total of five different Virtual PC images are offered, to give the web developer options to test websites in the following constellations:

  • Internet Explorer 6 running on Windows XP SP3
  • Internet Explorer 7 running on Windows XP SP3
  • Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows XP SP3
  • Internet Explorer 7 running on Windows Vista SP2
  • Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows Vista SP2

The images are available as separate downloads from Microsoft Download. The Windows XP images have a size between 490 and 580 Megabytes, the Windows Vista images between 1990 and 2100 Megabytes. A version of Windows Virtual PC is required to run the virtual operating systems on the computer.

The XP and Vista images have different expiration dates:

Windows XP Images
These images were last updated on October 13, 2010, and expire on January 11, 2011.

IE6-on-XPSP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE6 VHD file. Expires January 11, 2011
IE7-on-XPSP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE7 VHD file. Expires January 11, 2011
IE8-on-XPSP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE8 VHD file. Expires January 11, 2011

Windows Vista
Due to the size of the Vista VHD, it is split across several files, you'll need to download all files for that version of the Internet Explorer and uncompress them to the same directory to unpack the VHD file. This VHD only has SP1, and should be updated to ensure it has the latest service packs and security updates.

IE7-VIS1.exe+IE7-VIS2.rar+IE7-VIS3.rar contain a Vista Image with IE7 VHD file. Expires 90 days after first run.
IE8-VIS1.exe+IE8-VIS2.rar+IE8-VIS3.rar+IE8-VIS4.rar contain a Vista Image with IE8 VHD file. Expires 90 days after first run.

The virtual PC images are created by double-clicking the files to create the VHD file. They then need to be loaded as a new VPC image in Virtual PC.

All five different Virtual PC images are available for download at Microsoft Download. Web developers find another option to Use Multiple Internet Explorer Versions Simultaneously in a previous guide that we have published.

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Comments

  1. Lobo Schmidt said on April 28, 2006 at 5:58 pm
    Reply

    That’s a nice tip and a good thing to learn.

    But you can also use the Unlocker (a freeware that I learn about here, thanks again) to do this tip and a lot of another ones:

    http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Unlocker.shtml

  2. Martin said on April 28, 2006 at 6:24 pm
    Reply

    Yes Iam using Unlocker but if you watch lots of Avi movies its simply to much work to always select unlocker to unlock the avi.

    With the tip you can delete it immediatly. I´am using unlocker for other files though ;)

  3. paul said on May 6, 2006 at 11:09 pm
    Reply

    can this FIX also help with MP3 files? i had a problem with “getpopupinfo.exe” from dbpoweramp not allowing me to delete a an MP3 file. i used WHOLOCKME to see what was blocking it and it said getpopupinfo.exe. i used 3 programs (incluing MS tasks option) to close the getpopupinfo.exe program but it kept reappearing. supposedly i have to change a DBP option, but was unable to even get there (http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/printthread.php?t=1221). i ended up uninstalling DBP.

  4. john said on January 18, 2008 at 6:32 am
    Reply

    thanx for the tip. i just wish i would have read this before purchasing a regcare program that didn’t work.

  5. Rohit said on December 12, 2008 at 12:19 pm
    Reply

    Or u could just close the directory where the file is, go to dos mode (CMD.exe) and delete file from there….saves u from accidentally messing up your registry

  6. Anonymous said on June 16, 2009 at 4:36 pm
    Reply

    How comes that Microsoft don’t want to fix that problem them self? It should be their responsibility…

  7. Markus said on August 5, 2009 at 5:30 pm
    Reply

    Thanks! I tried all kinds of other things that people suggested, and this finally worked.

  8. RyAn said on November 18, 2009 at 9:08 am
    Reply

    rename it to a .csv

    open with excel

    delete everything

    save the csv

    close excel

    delete the csv

    easy.

  9. Parminder said on June 12, 2012 at 9:25 pm
    Reply

    Thanks, it really helped my problem

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