Very cool! I wonder if I can get this image to work on VMware as well? If not I could always run Virtual PC inside a VMware virtual PC. ;)

Their FAQ finally runneth over, nice to see a reaction.

time-bombed on April 1st?

finally :)

better late than never.

the timebomb thing though - ok, ie7 may well be the majority browser by april 1st next year (perhaps doubtful itself), but ie6 will still be out there in a large enough percentage of usage to need to test for. what are we all going to do then?

I will carry on using the standalone version of IE6 that will work for a long time after their official "solution" expires. Though they say they will carry on providing the virtual drive images. We'll see what happens in the future.

I have IE5, IE6 and IE7 all running on my PC without this anyway.

[edited by: Hester at 10:50 am (utc) on Dec. 1, 2006]

I appreciate MS trying to make things easier for developers but the solution we have right now is to run IE7 on one machine in the office and IE6 on all the others until the day when user stats show that IE7 has overtaken IE6 in visitor share . . . and I gotta say, so far so good.

Something about TIME BOMB and READINESS TOOLKIT make me want to crawl under my desk and assume the fetal position.

I was excited to see the title of this thread but must admit my heart sank when I read the details. Another short term fix. I am very disappointed and won't be using the solution provided. I'm certain the multiple browser issue stems from Microsoft's hard-headed determination to keep the browser integrated with their OS. It sure is frustrating for a developer.

Time-bombed? Why do people talk like that? Geeks

Before the MS hate gets too strong:

Download the free Virtual PC 2004 and roll your own install of Win + IE.

finally :)

better late than never.

the timebomb thing though - ok, ie7 may well be the majority browser by april 1st next year (perhaps doubtful itself), but ie6 will still be out there in a large enough percentage of usage to need to test for. what are we all going to do then?

... cry ourselves to sleep?

This seems more like a marketing gimmick for Virtual PC than it is a real solution to cross browser testing.

If I was the VMWare guys, I'd be telling my lawyers to line up the anti-trust assault squad.

(ps: I know VMWare and Virtual PC ar both free, but both are used to market their enterprise software).

That's got to be one of the lamest 'solutions' I've ever heard. Nice to see that everything is a marketing opportunity to them.

Have those of you who are complaining actually worked with Virtual PC or VMware? It doesn't sound like it in a number of cases. Or maybe we're not reading the same article...

MS is giving developers a pre-activated Windows XP SP2 to play with here. This is similar to what a lot of MSDN subscribers have to pay for. You're getting a time limited copy for testing after which MS says they hope to continue to provide these images in the future as a service to web developers.

What happens when this version times out? You'll probably just get another one. Serious developers should really consider this tool. It's the best way to test multiple versions of browsers, particularly IE.

yes offcourse many of the versions of IE can run on the same machine at same time. It's not just IE 6 and IE7 but other versions can also run simultaneously. It's a nice utility added.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I was able to get IE6 and IE7 running on the same machine (without any VirtualAnything) using this IE7 standalone installer: [tredosoft.com...]

I think the missing factor is whether the non-official approaches give exactly the same fuctionality that a full install would. In the above linked article, the IE product manager says;

There are workarounds, but they are unsupported and don’t necessarily work the same way as IE6 or IE7 would work when installed properly.

The problem isn't so much that you can't get IE6 and IE7 to run side by side with full functionality ... The problem is the amount of high level tech expertise that goes into doing so.

This move by Microsoft at least shows that they acknowledge the problem and are willing to provide a solution. It is, indeed, excellent news to follow the trend that gave us IE7 to begin with.

Microsoft has recently made Virtual PC 2004 a free download; we';ve taken advantage of that by releasing a VPC virtual machine image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, IE6 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit to help facilitate your testing and development. The image is time bombed and will no longer function after April 1, 2007. We hope to continue to provide these images in the future as a service to web developers.

[blogs.msdn.com...]

Does anyone know if Microsoft has decided to "continue to provide these images"? Is there a replacement image for the one that expired on April 1?

[edited by: tedster at 6:23 pm (utc) on April 13, 2007]
[edit reason] fix charset issue [/edit]

Look here: [quirksmode.org...]
and here: [positioniseverything.net...]
for alternatives for running multiple IE at the same time.

[edited by: tedster at 6:17 pm (utc) on April 13, 2007]

@Fotiman: my VPC image still works, hasn't expired. And MS indeed has made a new one available, over here [microsoft.com].

Overview
A VPC hard disk image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, and either IE6 or IE7 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit.

This VPC image will expire on 08/17/2007.

Yes I downloaded it and it does work.

Incidentally, don't install Vista on your virtual machine. It kills it. ;)

Archenar, also tried the standalone IE6 version, it works with some success, it follows IE6's rules, but Help -> about still says IE7 and I don't think [if IE6] comments were working properly.

Archenar, also tried the standalone IE6 version, it works with some success, it follows IE6's rules, but Help -> about still says IE7 and I don't think [if IE6] comments were working properly.

"help - About" always reports the default installation. I suppose that it calls a common DLL. Still, the user-agent is correct.
One of the pages provides a test page for CC if you need to check.

Nah I've got the VPC working fine, that'll do me. Thanks for info tho.

It's nice to have all browsers opened at the same time, side by side (or almost). :)

Ok, This I've been after for a long time and now it supports Vista I'm very happy.

One question though...

Never done this before and the help isn't very helpful. I take it I have to install the OS I want onto it (XP in this case). Can I install an existing (registered) copy of XP onto it without it affecting the terms of use for the real machine?

I'm worried about the verifying action knowing the OEM I use already exists on the main machine.