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I know this will probably be considered a duplicate, but looking through the questions I could find, I didn't quite find answers

I develop web sites on a Mac, and I obviously need to test them in all sorts of versions of Internet Explorer. Especially since a lot of my work is purely client-side coding, so services like browsershots.org don't cut it. Besides, I run a web stack locally on my machine, which I need access to.

I've so far had a pretty messy setup using multiple virtual machines in VMWare, with different versions of Windows and IE. It works, but it's just not elegant or easily maintainable. Plus, it's just a pain to boot all those virtual boxes.

So: I'd like to get Windows 7, just use that, and get rid of the other versions and VPCs. As I understand it, I can then use Microsoft's IE VHD-images to check sites in all the different versions of IE.

Is this a good solution? Or should I rather skip Windows altogether and use something like Winebottler?. Or is there a way to just run the time-limited VHDs from a Mac?

If it is a good solution, I have another question: Being a Mac-user, I don't know what edition of Windows 7 I need for it. Home Premium? Professional? Ultimate? I don't need anything from Windows except being able to test in IE 6 (unfortunately) and upwards, so I just need the least I can get by with.

Also, it's a little unclear what the requirements for the VHDs are. The site says it's XP, Vista or 7, but I imagine that running VHDs is the kind of thing that won't work on every edition.

Lastly, I've so far simply edited the hosts-file for each virtual Windows install to get it to reach my Mac's web stack. Will I need to do something similar for each VHD, or are there simpler solutions? Those VHDs are set to expire pretty quickly it seems.

Flambino
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3 Answers3

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The MS provided VHD's are virtual machines. Running them is no different than running multiple VMWare virtual machine instances except that it's all been setup for you so it's easier to get started. The VHD's were made for Virtual PC but VMWare supports using them as well. The VHD's are the best solution for testing against different versions of IE.

Things like Winbottler are good in certain situations when you want to run an app in a more light-weight environment but when you're specifically doing version testing your primary concern is compatibility so personally I'd prefer a virtual machine.

Samuel Neff
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  • A Mac version of VMWare runs those VHDs natively? If so: Brilliant! I tried googling it, but couldn't quite find a clear-cut answer. Incidentally, do those VHDs include the Developer Toolbar for IE6 & 7? Just curious – Flambino Apr 14 '11 at 04:03
  • @Flambino, VMWare actually will convert the VHD the first time you open it, but it is all automatic now according to everything I've read (I haven't done it myself though). I don't see a clear cut differentiation between Mac version and Windows version of VMWare anywyere, so just try it and see (and please post back here either way). – Samuel Neff Apr 14 '11 at 13:09
  • Thanks! And I shall try it out, and report back here, once I'm back from vacation. – Flambino Apr 15 '11 at 00:59
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    Completely forgot about this question - sorry. Anyway, I ended up using Parallels, since VMWare couldn't boot Windows 7 or Vista, but Parallels works like a charm – Flambino Jul 30 '11 at 22:45
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FYI... Here is an updated link to a new page for IE VHD images for multiple platforms (Mac, Linux, Windows):

http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

jrob
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Testing Internet Explorer on Mac with Microsoft VHD and Parallels 6

Download desired Win/IE combo from: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575

For extracting *.exe files on Mac use http://www.unrarx.com/

cd Download

/Library/Parallels//Parallels\ Service.app/Contents/PlugIns/Parallels\ VM\ Converter.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_convert "Windows 7.vhd"

Run Parallels. Login with password: Password1

http://www.ericmichaelstone.com/?p=5962

Daniel Steigerwald
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