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Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

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Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#21
post #12

The biggest problem with these is that they all have an expiration date - and Microsoft frequently forgets to update them. And getting through to Microsoft to tell them it is out of date... forget about it.

It's easier to pirate Windows than use these images.

Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#23
post #12

The biggest problem with these is that they all have an expiration date - and Microsoft frequently forgets to update them. And getting through to Microsoft to tell them it is out of date... forget about it.

I've been using these since ~2007 or so and this is a frequent issue. When new versions of IE or Windows come out they have been very, very slow to update these.

Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#24
post #16

Just a quick note that one of the easiest ways to get a legitimate license key is to join BizSpark. If you are a startup (which I imagine a lot of people here have some sort of startup) there is no reason not to be a part of it.

I agree. I'm a bizspark member with my side-business. It's actually been quite useful since I develop the application in C#, I can get Visual Studio Professional and every version of Windows to test against.

Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#25
post #20

Installing a whole OS just to test a site on IE seems a bit excessive. Wouldn't it be easier to just test one's site on the cloud? (E.g. see http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/SuperPreview_Ov... , though its for Windows.)

That's always bothered my about Internet Explorer. I can download Firefox, Chrome, and Opera all for under 20MB but I need to download 4GB to test Internet Explorer 8?

Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#26
post #20

Installing a whole OS just to test a site on IE seems a bit excessive. Wouldn't it be easier to just test one's site on the cloud? (E.g. see http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/SuperPreview_Ov... , though its for Windows.)

I looked into some cloud solutions, but they are rather costly. If you could pay by the hour rather than month it might be more of an option.

Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#27
For web devs, if you want to test your site on IE7, download the XP image and install IE7 on it - the image comes with the installer on the desktop. Don't bother with Vista unless you need to support something OS-specific, which if you do - you should just stop what you're doing and severely rethink your web dev stragedy.

For use with Oracle VirtualBox, you'll have issues with networking, which will prevent you from Activating the VM.

I posted detailed steps to get networking working in VirtualBox here: http://bittwiddlers.org/index.php/2012/11/xp-vms-with-virtua...

Re: Free VMs of Windows to test older versions of IE

#29
post #7

Note that these images can still expire after 30 days (or 90 days with "rearm").

In Virtualbox you can take a snapshot of the VM after the initial install and revert to that snapshot to reset the trial period. ievms does this for you automatically.
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