How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6 - Jon Galloway

How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

UPDATE:

IE standalone mode isn't supported and has been reported to cause problems with a recent IE6 service pack - http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/12/16/504864.aspx.

See my updated instructions here: http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/archive/2005/12/28/434132.aspx
 

Sure, you knew IE7 Beta 1 was up on MDSN, but you don't have a free machine to test it on. Can't install it on your main work machine, because you can't afford to mess it up... plus, you need to be testing your work against IE 6, right?

You thought about setting up a Virtual PC image, but it seemed like too much trouble for a Beta 1. Still, it would be nice to click around in it for a few minutes here and there...

Fret no more! IE has a secret standalone mode which lets you run multiple versions side by side (thanks to Joe Maddalone for figuring this out).

See the updated instructions here.

It's pretty simple:

  • Download the IE7 Beta 1 Install from MSDN
  • Open the install file with WinRAR (yep, it's an EXE, but it's a self extracting EXE) and extract them to a folder. Alternatively, you can just run the EXE, make a copy of the files which are extracted in the first step, and cancel the install. I was too chicken to do this on my work computer.
  • Look in the folder you extracted to for the file SHLWAPI.DLL. Delete this file.
  • Create a new text file in the folder, then rename it to IEXPLORE.exe.local.

That's it. The .local file in the folder tells the IExplore.exe instance to run in local mode, which means it won't mess with your IE6 settings, registry, etc. It sounds complicated, but it takes less than 10 minutes and it goes just great with your Friday morning coffee. Of course, you can help your friends at work (who also have MDSN subscriptions, of course) by zipping the folder and sharing it with them so they don't have to go through this crazy mumbo jumbo.

Incidentally, there are archives of old IE versions converted to standalone mode over at browsers.evolt.org and at skyzyx.com. C'mon, spend a day with IE3 for old time's sake!

Published Friday, August 12, 2005 5:36 AM by Jon Galloway

Comments

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Friday, August 12, 2005 10:53 AM by TrackBack

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Friday, August 12, 2005 10:54 AM by TrackBack

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Friday, August 12, 2005 10:54 AM by TrackBack

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

It works. Hoorah!

Friday, August 12, 2005 12:15 PM by Anonymous

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Great! Any chance this will work with older versions of IE too?

Friday, August 12, 2005 12:18 PM by Scott Isaacs

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Scott -
Yes, it works all the way back to IE3. Read the last line of the post for download locations of older IE versions in standalone mode.
- Jon

Friday, August 12, 2005 12:57 PM by Jon Galloway

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Why doesn't it mess with the registry? Is that to do with .local, or is that because different IE versions used differnet keys anyway? Got a reference url fo rthat?

Sunday, August 14, 2005 10:09 AM by Chad

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

It doesn't work for me..... I get

"The procedure entry point SHRegGetValueW could not be located in the dynamic link library SHLWAPI.dll"

Any ideas??

Monday, August 15, 2005 10:35 AM by Slimboyfat

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

OK.... so I needed to let the Sp2 install complete - and do the reboot before it would work.... patience is a virtue I guess!!

Monday, August 15, 2005 10:50 AM by Slimboyfat

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Chad -
The .local tells IE to run in local mode, so it doesn't need to be installed. It still reads from and writes to the registry when it runs, which you can verify with Regmon (www.sysinternals.com). However, it the registry access doesn't seem to interfere with other installed versions of IE from my testing. I think the destructive registry edits take place during the installation, and local mode allows you to run without having run the install.

Monday, August 15, 2005 12:02 PM by Jon Galloway

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

It works great, thanks!

Monday, August 15, 2005 7:52 PM by php

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

OK...it doesn't work for me...I used Winzip to unzip to a temp folder. Files were created along with an Update Folder. I ran update from the folder and the install fails. What am I doing wrong?

Monday, August 15, 2005 8:58 PM by d3

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

d3-
You're not following the directions. No WinZip, no install. Four easy steps, should take 10 minutes. Let me know if you follow the directions and it doesn't work.

Monday, August 15, 2005 9:44 PM by Jon Galloway

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Ahhh...got it. Silly me, I was trying to install again...duh. Works great...excellent tip.
cheers - d3

Monday, August 15, 2005 9:59 PM by d3

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

I followed the 4 steps on a WinXP SP1 box and I get the "SHRegGetValueW" error. Should this work on this config?

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:09 PM by Tom Bruns

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

I'm on SP2 and don't get that problem. Slimboyfat's comment seems to indicate SP2 is required, though.

You're not on SP2 but you're wanting to play with IE7?

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:25 PM by Jon Galloway

# Fav Menu

Is there a reason the favs wont show?

Thursday, August 18, 2005 9:54 AM by smith288

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

i get the error entrypoint not found. Something with internetgetsecurityurlw not found in dll file wininet.dll

Thursday, August 18, 2005 11:57 AM by ash

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

I had that entrypoint not found error also. Remove the "hide extensions for known file types" check box from the tools-folder options-view menu and try again. The file is renaming itself as iexplore.exe.local.txt - and hence not working.

Thursday, August 18, 2005 6:49 PM by Richie

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

i cant access the favorites menu, possibly because its running local? is there a workaround?

Thursday, August 18, 2005 10:58 PM by zedrik

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

It worked but when i right click on any link on the webpage i do not get the open in new tab entry (ctrl+t gives me a new tab though), also the settings option are for ie6 (no phishing settings,etc)

Friday, August 19, 2005 3:28 PM by Prashant

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Is there anything you can do if you've already installed the beta, but now need to use a previous version if IE?

Friday, August 19, 2005 3:36 PM by Scott

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Nevermind. I went back to a previous restore point. Now I can try out your directions above.

Friday, August 19, 2005 4:21 PM by Scott

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

very sweet m'man !

grazi

Saturday, August 20, 2005 8:39 AM by teamguy

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

What's with this WinRAR business? 7zip is the new cool-kids tool.

(ps type iexpress at a command prompt to see how IE7 is compressed into an EXE)

Monday, August 22, 2005 5:53 AM by RichB

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

ok it works now, but i can't display my favorites, somebody knows how to display?????

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:18 PM by Ash

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

For people who can't run IExplorer 7 in Microsoft Windows XP (Home Edition SP2), try the following operations:
1-Follow operations in the top of this page.
2-Create a Internet Explorer shortcut (for ex.:on your desktop)... And in the "Compatibility" tab, choose "Run this program in Compatibity mode for:" and select Windows 2000. Click on OK.
You probably can access to Iexplore7 now! But still the WININET error.

Thursday, August 25, 2005 6:10 AM by Jojo

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

BTW, this method also seems to bypass the language check, so you can use this on Windows XP installs other than the English version.

Monday, August 29, 2005 4:28 AM by Lone VVolf

# Running IE7

This is great, but I'm sort of disappointed that the search box is rendered useless now. :/

Monday, August 29, 2005 10:49 AM by Takuro

# JJANO.COM

JJANO.COM

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 8:21 PM by TrackBack

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Not working here. IE7 opens for about half a second and then closes ??

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 11:50 AM by PC

# re: How to uninstall IE 7 beta

hi
can anyone help me about this.
I have installed IE 7.i have some problem with my computer settings.i can't open services and other stuff.it is giving me MMC requires IE 5.5 or newer versions.
now i need to reinstall IE 6 can anybody help on this.
thanks in advance.

prasad

Thursday, September 01, 2005 10:42 AM by prasad

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

i want to test this but i dont have the 3g's to buy the program to ba tester

Saturday, September 03, 2005 2:13 PM by wannatest

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Cheers to Jon Galloway!!!

Works like a charm. Didn't have to touch IE6 already installed.

Thanks.

RBell

Sunday, September 04, 2005 1:30 AM by RBell

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Everyone should remember that system requirements are for at least WinXP SP2.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005 1:42 PM by Brian

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

let test

Wednesday, September 07, 2005 8:54 PM by peter

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Works like a treat! thanks for the tip

Thursday, September 08, 2005 12:37 PM by jetblack

# Blog Dedicated to Internet Explorer

Thursday, June 01, 2006 6:28 AM by Digitalmelon

# Zero 1 Design Weblog » Blog Archive » Running IE6 and IE7

# re: am currently running ie5sp1

trying to update to ie6sp1 or later but having difficulties as every time i try to download from a link or micrsoft a message displays saying server could not be found. am very frustrated and confused as a number of other links describe numerous ways to install/download but none seem to work on the confuser of mine. any ideas what is wrong?

Saturday, June 17, 2006 6:08 PM by geoff

# IE7 Standalone Launch Script

UPDATES6/29/2006 - This isn't working with IE7 Beta 3 yet. I'll have to test it out more and probably

Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:35 PM by JonGalloway.ToString()

# re: How to run IE7 (Beta 1) alongside IE6

Any updates on whether we can run Beta 3 alongside IE6?

Cheers

PL

Thursday, July 27, 2006 6:35 AM by Poor Leno