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In order to cross-platform test the websites I develop on my mac, I need to get versions of IE running. I've tried wine, and winebottler so far. I can get IE to run, but it cannot connect to the internet (or even localhost). So I only have IE5.2, which is total rubbish.
I don't have a copy of windows, so VirtualBox is out, unless it can help me get IE going on Linux or something. Also, I need more than just snapshots, so browsershots.org etc. is out. Idiot instructions anybody?

iPadDeveloper2011
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    I'm not sure what purpose this would serve. Unless you run IE in a Windows VM it will not behave exactly the same as it would on a Windows system, which would seem to defeat the purpose of running it at all. – titaniumdecoy Oct 06 '11 at 00:17
  • OK, so looks like installing a VB is the way to go. Looking forward to getting Linux running on my mac as a bonus. – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 06 '11 at 00:45
  • OK, I've slightly re-worded this question to more closely relate it to programming. Can we re-open it now please? @Ghommey's answer looks pretty good. I note similar SO questions like http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3844682/is-there-a-ie-tester-for-mac and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5747341/ie-8-emulation-on-mac don't get closed. – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 06 '11 at 01:03
  • With 5 votes to close, it's not likely to be reopened. Since you're on a mac, you might try asking a similar question on apple.stackexchange.com. – titaniumdecoy Oct 06 '11 at 01:13
  • I read the faqs, and questions need 5 votes to close. I think perhaps if one person voted to open, the question would be open again. Thanks for the link @titaniumdecoy. I checked it out, and there are similar (not closed) questions there also. If it works, Ghommey's answer will be the best I've seen though, cause the curl command makes it super easy. How about it John Kugelman, talonmies, Don Roby, Clive Ghommy? – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 06 '11 at 01:33
  • Had a change of heart, I think this question adds good value to the site especially since the answer is a very, very good one. Voted to re-open – Clive Oct 07 '11 at 13:37
  • Mmmm... so even though a question needs 5 votes to close, with only 4 votes now it is still closed. Does it matter though? It already has a great answer. – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 11 '11 at 00:22

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I just installed IE 7 8 and 9 with this tool: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms

It works great but it requires the newest version of virtual box to be installed. The git project it self is only one shell script The script downloads the official microsoft internet explorer test images which will work for 30 days. After downloading the files it extracts and converts the files so all you have to do is starting the vm you need.

if you have ssl and curl installed just run:

curl -s https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh | bash

However this didn't work for me so I had to download the file manually.

The password for ALL VMs is "Password1".

enter image description here

I haven't tested it yet but it looks like they provide snapshots to reset the 30 days testing time:

A snapshot is automatically taken upon install, allowing rollback to the pristine virtual environment configuration. Anything can go wrong in Windows and rather than having to worry about maintaining a stable VM, you can simply revert to the clean snapshot to reset your VM to the initial state.

jantimon
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  • OK, trying this. I've downloaded VB at https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads already and got it going--no problem. Running the curl command now (45min left). Will keep you posted. – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 06 '11 at 00:42
  • Wow. The download just keeps on going doesn't it! The 45min was just for part 1! Got up to part 6 to go. Will be a while yet... – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 06 '11 at 01:37
  • Yeah, they do thanks. I had given up, but checked VB and it had IE8 and IE7 going fine. Doesn't really matter about IE9. So, your answer worked for me, thanks again. Not too sure about the significance of this question being 'closed'. Seems I can accept your answer--which was a good one. – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 07 '11 at 13:09
  • This (earlier) comment deleted. I got errors: Windows 7.vhd - CRC failed Unexpected end of archive Windows 7.vhd: packed data CRC failed in volume Windows_7_IE9.part03.rar ... Extracting from Windows_7_IE9.part06.rar Unexpected end of archive Windows 7.vhd: packed data CRC failed in volume Windows_7_IE9.part06.rar Calculating control sums of all volumes. Cannot find volume Windows_7_IE9.part07.rar Total errors: 4 ERROR: Failed to extract Windows_7_IE9.part01.exe to /Users/****/.ievms/vhd/IE9/Windows 7.vhd, unrar command returned error code 0 – iPadDeveloper2011 Oct 11 '11 at 00:26