IE Application Compatibility Images - virtual machines running XP
Posted by ClifNotes, Oct 2008, permalink Virtualization Software
A virtual machine is a live copy of another computer running inside of your computer. I really like playing around with these and there are now more choices than ever to play with them.
One of the better known programs to run a virtual machine on your computer is the Microsoft Virtual PC software. I've used it for a long time and you can read more about it here.
I recently noticed that my copies of XP wouldn't run any more. What happened?
I had gotten the copies of XP from Microsoft and they had a time limit on them. Fortunately, I found that I could download new copies and have them back up and running in no time. I also found I could run a copy of Windows Vista as well.
What do I use them for? I can always use them to test out software that I don't want to install on my real computers. Once I get done testing, I can return the virtual computers back to their original state as if I hadn't done anything to them.
What do other people use them for? Microsoft created these mostly for web developers so that they'd have copies of other versions of Internet Explorer that they could use for testing. It's pretty hard to have more than one legitimate copy of IE running on a PC. In general, virtual machines are becoming more and more common in work places. Instead of running a real PC, an office worker may be using a dumb terminal that's showing him a virtual machine running on a server. This is helpful when things go wrong, such as viruses or other malware. The guys running the server can always restore a new copy of the worker's virtual machine. It's like getting a new PC every time you need it.
There are other possible uses for these virtual machines and I'm sure you can think of a few on your own.
Quote from the website
VPC Hard Disk Image for testing websites with different IE versions on Windows XP SP2, Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista
This download page contains four separate VPC images, depending on what you want to test.
• IE6-XPSP3_VPC.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE6 VHD file
• IE7-XPSP2_VPC.exe contains a Windows XP SP2 with IE7 VHD file
• IE8B2-XPSP3_VPC.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE8 Beta 2 VHD file
• IE7-VIS1.exe+IE7-VIS2.rar+IE7-VIS3.rar contain a Vista Image with IE7 VHD file.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF
