Justin McCandless

I’m always testing sites in different browsers, and besides the expected headaches caused by browsers like IE, I also tend to waste a lot of time just getting everything I need running.  With this setup I started using, you can test IE6, IE7, and more in a way that’s free, officially supported by Microsoft, and allows you to have all of the browsers you want installed at the same time. 

You’ll need a computer running Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate (because Microsoft only let’s you run Windows XP for free on these editions.  Otherwise you may need your own copy of Windows XP.).

Start by installing Microsoft’s virtual machine software that runs an instance of Windows XP for you, called Windows XP Mode (part of Microsoft Virtual PC).  This is available free from Microsoft here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Once you have that going, start up the virtual machine.  If the default IE isn’t what you want to test with, just hop online and download whatever browser you need.  You can get a copy of ancient IE6 here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=1.

Want to create another virtual machine with another browser ready to go?  That’s also possible.  I used this nice tutorial to set up second machine for IE7: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/21904-virtual-xp-machine-copy.html

Now you have multiple virtual machines with different old browsers in them.  You can start one up, test in it, and switch to another or to Windows 7 without needing to uninstall and reinstall any browsers.  That’s by far the most convenient way to test old browsers that I’ve been able to come up with.  Happy testing!