IE7: Using IE6 and IE7 together

Contributor Icon Contributed by risherz Date Icon February 13, 2006  
Tag Icon Tagged: Internet Explorer IE7  

When you download IE7 it is going to replace IE6, so you won’t be able to have both of them together at the same time. Here’s a little workaround for that.


If you already have IE 7 version running, then all you do is download the standalone IE 6, this is going to enable you to run both IE 6 and IE 7. You can also download a IE installer from TreadoSoft, that will allow you to run IE 3, 4, 5, and 6 on your computer alongside IE 7. One thing you might want to keep in mind is that these are standalone browsers, and are susceptible to crashes because of their instability as they were not installed in the operating system.

Now, Microsoft has come up with another rather interesting solution using a Virtual PC image. You can download the Windows XP IE6 Virtual PC image, and then use it through Virtual PC. Beware through, because these images do expire, and you’ll most likely have to download a new version of it every couple of months or so. The image linked in this article will expire on April 1st 2008.

But the cool thing is that you get a install free XP image that you can use for testing out software and what not, so that you don’t screw up your existing Windows install. It saves you the hassle of installing XP from scratch to see how websites work in an outdated version of Internet Explorer that people still use.

You can also use this workaround for IE 7 Standalone by Jon Galloway if you wish, but I find it to be a bit cumbersome.

This will now run IE 7 on it’s own, without installing anything.

If you are having problems or aren’t sure what you should do, feel free to use the comments section.

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  • Ravikumar V.
    author please change the captcha . its annoying
  • cut157
    CSS has finaly released Virtual IE6 for Windows 7 using App-V

    you can see demo here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cccFGXORmE
  • torontowebsitedesigners
    This is how I solved this problem.
    There is one elegant way to run IE6, IE7 and IE8 on the same machine, called virtual PC.

    First download virtual PC from Microsoft website here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&displaylang=en

    Then download 3 EXE files with IE6, IE7 and IE8 here:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en

    Install them on your PC and test your web applications. Saved me days of looking for similar solutions.
  • This is a big help for web designers for cross-browser check.

    Thanks!

    cheers
  • damonpeters
    I already have I.E. 8 installed on my desktop. Can I also download I.E. 7, as I think it is a better version of Internet explorer. I am having many problems with I.E. 8. Please advise me on this problem.
  • Chien Po
    Yeah, the standalone version of IE6 doesn't appear to support cookies. This breaks testing of a lot of web applications. Solution: just go the VM route.
  • I'm using the IE6 standalone download and it works great except it's not using cookies, which makes it hard to test some things. Any idea why that would be or what I could do to fix it?
  • Apul Gupta
    I downloaded IE6 standalone and it is really fine.

    Thanks a lot.

    Apul Gupta
    PHP Developer
  • gurpreet singh
    My big problem is now solved

    I thankfull to you
  • L Drew
    I am trying to get my home page toolbar back. I used to be able to add an extra home page but now can't. Perhaps my settings have been changed without my knowledge.
    How can this be sorted out, please?
    Any help is appreciated.
  • I have to test web pages on both IE 6 and 7 in my work because most people use IE in Taiwan. Your solutions are great! Thank you so much.
  • Psycnic
    Thanks soooo much! I've been looking for an easy way to test in both ie6 & 7. This has been the only workable solution yet(using the standalone ie6).

    Thanks again.
  • Anonymous
    First install IE7 then get this: http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

    It lets you use IE3 to IE6.

    Note that IE7 will not install if you don't have XP SP2 installed. There are however some hacks you can do to make it run, but I don't have this resource available right now.
  • Anonymous
    i have research asa few lucky and i have share my tip here. my english is not very well because i am a vietnamese so i hope everybody know what i talk about. don't need install any software and change registry value, just upgrade ie7 over ie6 and start using ie7 right a way. now ie6 still have on our computer as a hidden file standalone. go to the folder options and make sure you check for see hidden object. now create a shortcut or follow the path "C:WINDOWSie7iexplore.exe" . this file is ie6 still have on our computer and now you can use it with ie7. and i think i call it "multi ie" is very truthly. :lol: 8) :D :) :twisted:
    get try it NOW :arrow:
  • Anonymous
    There's another option available now. Microsoft has made available virtual pc images of xp with IE installed. So you can download virtual pc2005 free, and then download the image and use that for testing purposes.

    They have an image with IE6 and another with IE7, so you can download which ever one is appropriate for you.

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en
    thats the page with the two image files. and it has a link to download the virtual pc application as well.
  • Anonymous
    Topic 'IE7: Using IE6 and IE7 together' was recently updated on June 15,2007. Since I already have IE7 installed and need to use IE6 for an application that has known issues with IE7, but not with IE6, I downloaded the standalone IE6 from the mirror sites. Following instructions given in the topic, I was able to run Internet Explorer, but when inquiring which version was running, in each instance it said it was running Microsoft Intenet Explorer version 7.0.5730.11.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254IC. Where as IE7 said it was running Windows Internet Explorer version 7.0.5730.11IC. My question is: Am I really running IE6 standalone even if it says version 7?
  • Anonymous
    <ul id="quote">
    bugmenot wrote:
    Thank you for these instructions. The part I like the most is how it doesn't work. My results mimic Nastajus'.</ul>

    try the ones i linked to. I followed those directions and it works for me.
  • Anonymous
    Thank you for these instructions. The part I like the most is how it doesn't work. My results mimic Nastajus'.
  • Anonymous
    http://tools.veloc-it.com/tabid/58/grm2id/4/Default.aspx

    try following the directions there. I used that and got it working.
  • Anonymous
    I followed the instructions exactly. I right-clicked on the exe and used one of the WinRAR choices to unpack it. I deleted the files exactly even the mispelled ie4uinit.exe. I placed what I suppose is just the one necessary dummy file that contains no data as well.

    Everytime I try to open it all I get is the window flashes on the screen briefly in white for a second and then it closes.

    Ian
  • Anonymous
    I tried the directions to run IE7 standalone in its own folder and that did not work.

    IE7 starts but i get basically the same thing dmorten gets...ie says it cant find any sites and i dont get any tool bars.

    Would of been really nice if this worked...could have zipped this folder and given it to anyone who wanted IE7 without replacing 6.
  • Anonymous
    I had the unfortunate of experience of needing to download IE7 for testing purposes. Boo. Fortunately I came across this article, downloaded IE6, and it's working flawlessly with running IE7 at the same time!

    I'm not sure what problems other people have had with this, but it was very simple:

    1. Download IE7. Install, reboot.
    2. Download IE6. Unrar to a directory (keep the files together!).
    3. Run both. Voila!
  • Anonymous
    Followed procedure exactly. Got several errors. Then when I tried to run IE after aborting the installation my IE was hosed. Trying to open a link would result in another instance of IE running. Only way to stop IE was to use Task Manager and kill IE there.

    Had to use a restore point to get system as it was.
  • Anonymous
    Hi,

    When trying to run iexplore.exe after completing the recipe, i get this:
    "The application has failed to start because Normaliz.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."

    After hitting OK a couple of times, i get a "Cannot find http://www.microsoft.com..blah blah" 2 times, and then IE7 lauches in a kinda disabled mode. No toolbars except adressbar, and when I enter an URL, it just states "Unable to find *whatever*. Check spelling and try again."

    Im running Windows XP Media Center Edition, but i dont see how this would affect this.

    Any clues or hints? TIA.
  • Anonymous
    unrar.exe is telling me that it needs a rar file when I try to feed it the IE7 exe. So...what exactly does the instruction "unrar the exe" mean I should do?
  • davak
    IE6 is part of XP home. Are you talking about IE7?
  • Anonymous
    Um, I downloaded IE6 standalone from one of the mirror sites listed on the link posted. IE6 is really buggy. I can't access the Tools menu, and the functionality is severly limited. Please Help!!! I used the UK mirror site, in the middle of the list. How do you delete it? I can't find it on Add and Remove Programs. I am using Windows XP Home. I want to re-install it.

    Thanks a lot!

    blueboy41 :D :)
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