COMPLETE Guide To Install IE6 On Windows 7 Home Premium

The need to install Internet Explorer 6 on a PC with Windows 7 Home OS is a common one for web developers as pointed out by Cross Browser Compatibility Tutorial. However you'll face many issues. I've found various guides that solve a part of the problem. Together they solve them all. It's about time someone wrote a post on how to solve this problem from start to finish, with no guesswork and no questions along the way!

The following is a screen shot of Windows Virtual PC running Windows XP SP3 with IE6 installed, our goal for today:


Let's get to each problem you may face and how you can resolve it!

Problem #1: You CANNOT install IE6 directly on Windows 7 Home Premium OS. One way to get around this issue is you need to use some sort of virtual PC to run Windows XP and then run Internet Explorer 6 in that environment.

Problem #2: However, Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC are available ONLY on Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate as this website suggests:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

That's convenient It says nothing about how one can do the same thing with Windows 7 Home edition :-( Lucky you! I've figured it out by myself. To get around this issue install Windows Virtual PC. You can download Virtual PC for Windows 7 at the following URL. If your PC is 64-bit download
Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu. If your PC is 32-bit download
Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2b6d5c18-1441-47ea-8309-2545b08e11dd

Note: Do NOT install Microsoft Virtual PC. You'll get a compatibility error when you try to run it. Questions?

Problem #3: Your PC needs to support HAV, short for Hardware-assisted virtualization. To know whether your PC supports HAV download the HAV detection tool at

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=163321

If your computer does not have hardware-assisted virtualization, you'll get an error while creating a virtual PC. To get around this issue, download and install a hot fix at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;977206

Questions?

Problem #4: You need to have license to a genuine Windows XP image. But nobody would want to shell out hundreds of dollars to get Windows XP just so they can test IE6 right? There's an alternative that costs you NOTHING. There's a place where you can download hard disk images for testing websites with different Internet Explorer versions on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Download IE6-on-XP-SP3.exe at

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

Run IE6-on-XP-SP3.exe to get IE6 on XP SP3.vhd. Note where it's installed as you'll need it in the following step.

The problem is that the image has an expiration date of several months. This should be fine. When the disk image expires simply download the same file again at the same website. Questions?


Now you've gone through all the issues and resolutions. Let's create a virtual pc and run it! Go to Start menu and pick 'Windows Virtual PC' from 'All Programs' and you should see the following window.



Click on Create virtual machine and fill in 'ie6' in Name field. For Location field fill in the path to the disk image you just downloaded and executed. For example mine is C:\Users\michael\Desktop\software\IE6 on XP SP3.vhd.

Your virtual machine should be up and running. If you don't get Internet in the virtual machine then read on. When you open 'Windows Virtual PC' again you'll see ie6.vmcx in the list like the following:



Right click on it and pick Settings and you should see the following window:



Click on Networking and select the wireless network adapter installed on your PC in 'Adapter 1' field. If you are not sure simply try each option and start the virtual machine until you get internet in the virtual machine.

TIP: Click on Integration Features and uncheck 'Enable at startup' because I don't find it useful and it takes a long time to run when enabled.

TIP again: Another thing is if you leave the virtual machine on idle you may be prompted to enter the password for the account. If you forgot your password while creating the virtual machine simply restart the virtual machine and create a Guest account in 'User Accounts' in 'Control Panel'. Then use that Guest account! Your purpose is to test IE6 anyway :)

TIP again twice: If you want to set up Internet Explorer 6 simply because you'd like to test your website, refer to How To Install Internet Explorer 6 so You Can Test Your Website On IE6!


Questions? Let me know!