How To Install Internet Explorer 6 so You Can Test Your Website On IE6

Q: I am running a website on my local machine and I'd like to validate it on Internet Explorer 6 but I am not able to install IE6 on my Windows. What can I do?
If you've read Guide on Cross Browser Compatibility you'd know the importance of testing IE6 as it accounts for a significant percentage of website traffic. If you have trouble installing IE6 on your Windows OS follow the following steps:

* Go through Install IE6 on Windows: Although this guide talks about installing IE6 on Windows 7 it should apply to other Windows OS as well. Install a virtual PC with Windows XP on it so you can run IE6 in that Windows XP. After you install it run the Windows XP profile.

* Access your local machine through internal IP: Find out your internal IP through 'ipconfig' via command line in your local machine (NOT virtual PC!). It should be something like 192.168.xxx.xxx. Then make sure your web server allows a client to access it via this IP. This depends on the web server you use. If you use Apache make sure you have the following in your httpd.conf (assuming "C:\repository\trunk-php" is your document root):

<Directory "C:\repository\trunk-php">
Allow from all
</Directory>

instead of the default configuration

<Directory "C:\repository\trunk-php">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Directory>

Now open an IE6 browser in your virtual PC and go to http://192.168.0.56 or whatever your local IP is!

Now you should be able test your website on Internet Explorer 6! Any question let me know!