
Test versions of IE from 6 through 11 and Microsoft Edge using virtual machines - mfontani
http://dev.modern.ie/tools/vms/windows/
======
escobar
I've tried Virtual Machines like this before and found that while they work
great they're clunky, take up precious space, and I need to test with many
versions. I've tested a few paid solutions (Ghostlab, Browserstack, Cross
Browser Testing) and so far am sticking with Browserstack. I have absolutely
no association with any of these websites, only clients who demand their
websites work in archaic versions of Internet Explorer :P

I do still use the IE VMs for testing, and I even use a real PC for further
testing once the website is "ready". Just lately been preferring to quickly
test while developing in my browser without worrying about spinning up a VM or
anything.

~~~
SXX
You can save a lot of disk space if you'll use backing files. E.g you can have
one base Windows disk image that used by any number of VMs configured
differently. So you basically only need like 5-15GB for compressed Windows
image and then each VM configuration will only take another 1-2GB at most.

Personally use it with QEMU / KVM now, but totally sure VMWare had backing
files support too.

~~~
matthewmacleod
I guess the problem there is that you need different Windows versions too –
and they're all pretty chunky! It definitely helps though, and AFAIK all
virtualisation tools have support.

~~~
SXX
I believe that Windows 7 would be enough for anything except Edge. E.g you can
install IE6 in XP compatability mode for sure.

Suppose there may be issues with crap like ActiveX, but most of people I know
just worry about how page looks like and I don't believe rendering of IE11 on
Win7 and Win8 would be different. Though I'm not expert.

~~~
talmand
Just curious, how do you install IE6 in Win7?

~~~
bskap
By using the "XP Mode" VM.

~~~
talmand
So, that is not installing IE6 in Win7. That's installing IE6 in WinXP that's
running as a VM in Win7.

------
BjornW
I'm happy that Microsoft provides these VM's and I hope other vendors (Hi
Apple!) would provide VM's as well. So we can make sure the web is accessible
for anyone regardless the browser they use.

~~~
lucianmarin
That's not a problem. You can find WebKit powered browsers on any platform.
It's the same WebKit used in Safari on OS X and iOS.

~~~
ChrisLTD
Now that Chrome is using Blink, what's the best WebKit option on Windows?

~~~
dankohn1
PhantomJS for headless testing? [http://phantomjs.org/](http://phantomjs.org/)

------
me_bx
Also worth noting: remote IE [1] can be used to test IE from a remote machine.

Would prevent from wasting disk space installing one window VM for each IE
version to test...

Has anyone tried it? It's not clear from the site which version of IE is
available from that service.

Too bad they don't have a linux client either :(

[1] [https://remote.modern.ie/](https://remote.modern.ie/)

~~~
narsil
I've tried it from my Mac. It's far more convenient than a VM. It runs IE 11.

~~~
therealmarv
it is running Edge... look at the version number closely ;) my experience with
it: I have connection loses often with remote IE. It's not so good :(

~~~
jimbobimbo
It is NOT running Edge - it is running an "edge version" of IE.

[http://stackoverflow.com/a/12530777](http://stackoverflow.com/a/12530777)

~~~
therealmarv
you are wrong. It is THE Edge browser. Test it yourself with
[http://html5test.com](http://html5test.com) it reaches point scores which are
not reachable for IE11. Also the browser identifies itself to other websites
as Chromium browser like the Edge browser.

------
therealmarv
In the past they also provided Vagrant boxes. Some people also developed easy
Vagrantfiles for them. See here in a official blog post
[http://blog.syntaxc4.net/post/2014/09/03/windows-boxes-
for-v...](http://blog.syntaxc4.net/post/2014/09/03/windows-boxes-for-vagrant-
courtesy-of-modern-ie.aspx) Would be great if they will support Vagrant
officially for Edge. Although
[https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/](https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/) is
pretty close but not maintained good (last update last year). This is how I
want to spin up IE VMs:

    
    
        vagrant init somwhere/edge
        vagrant up

~~~
edpichler
I havent read about Vagrant yet. Is it similar to docker? Vmware? What is the
big deal in Vagrant?

~~~
gcr
Vagrant is just a command line interface to (headless) Virtualbox. That's all.

Makes provisioning and SSH logins a snap.

~~~
stephenr
Vagrant isn't a CLI to virtualbox.

It's a tool for bringing up and managing (generally) headless virtual machines
from a defined configuration.

It works with VirtualBox, Parallels and VMWare.

~~~
CHY872
and hyperv! There are also plugins that allow deployment to (say)
DigitalOcean.

------
defied
We're providing the same IE/Edge versions at
[http://testingbot.com](http://testingbot.com) so people can instantly test
from their browser with mouse&keyboard, without having to download the VMs

------
acqq
IE6 on Windows XP is 1 GB zipped. Microsoft Edge containing VM is 5 GB zipped.

All VMs expire:

"Please note that these virtual machines expire after 90 days. We recommend
setting a snapshot when you first install the virtual machine which you can
roll back to later."

~~~
sleepychu
They expire but you can, and they advise you to, snapshot and roll back. The
purpose is to stop you just using it as a windows vm for doing work on.

~~~
pluma
This is probably obvious but worth noting anyway: remember to do the snapshot
before you start the VM. The expiry countdown starts the first time you boot
the VM and is date-based so the VM will expire even if you only used it once.

~~~
acqq
What is the difference between saving the original ZIP file and doing the
snapshot before starting the VM?

~~~
nness
I think you need to do an import first, so it is faster to just rollback to a
snapshot than re-import each time. I prefer snapshots so I can configure the
network as needed for our corporate environment (saving me from doing that
each and every time).

------
discordance
Anyone monitoring high volume sites care to share the number of Edge users
they are seeing visiting their site? - would be interesting to know the
numbers a few weeks after the Win10 launch.

~~~
elros
Sure, here are my 2¢: Aggregated numbers for last week show Edge at 0,01% of
the ~12.400.000 sessions. The numbers for yesterday show 0,31% of the
~1.700.000 sessions.

------
zaf
I've been using this for the last 6 months as part of cross browser testing
and it has been a life saver. The alternatives are even a bigger pain in the
rear.

I have no idea who to thank but thank you.

~~~
reacweb
It exists since a couple of years (before the departure of Balmer). You can
thank Microsoft.

------
nkuttler
And [https://github.com/xdissent/ievms](https://github.com/xdissent/ievms) for
a hassle-free installation.

~~~
therealmarv
yes, this is a cool project. But unfortunately it is not using the latest
images of all IEs and Edge is also not included yet although there is an issue
for that
[https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/issues/263](https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/issues/263)
. The maintainer does not update it regularly... last update last year. Also
not compatible with VirtualBox 5.0.x. It screams for a fork ;)

------
spacecowboy_lon
They also do VM's for a number of android/windows phones which is useful for
testing mobile devices.

[https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/features/msft-android-
emu...](https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/features/msft-android-emulator-
vs.aspx)

[https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/apps/ff4025...](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/apps/ff402563\(v=vs.105\).aspx)

------
stuaxo
Are there issues with using this to test builds of desktop apps ?

I would like to test various Python apps on windows in an automated fashion.

~~~
therealmarv
not sure if officially/legally allowed (pretty sure not automated) but it's at
least possible! :)

~~~
simonbyrne
The relevant part of the conditions [1] simply state that

> You may use the software for testing purposes only. You may not use the
> software for commercial purposes. You may not use the software in a live
> operating environment.

So there's nothing inherently wrong with testing desktop apps, but the non-
commercial clause may cause problems.

[1]
[http://modernievirt.blob.core.windows.net/vhd/release_notes_...](http://modernievirt.blob.core.windows.net/vhd/release_notes_license_terms_1_5_15.pdf)

~~~
stuaxo
Cool! I've been testing open source apps in an adhoc fashion with these, but
was worried about licensing.

I guess I can automate and document this now :)

------
the-dude
IE has fallen below 5% on the sites I monitor. Why bother?

~~~
wunki
A lot of businesses are still forcing its employees to use IE.

~~~
changke
then dropping IE support is a good way to force them focus on the job instead
of surfing on the web. ;-)

~~~
spacecowboy_lon
Sucks if your business's users are corporates and the CEO's PA books her
bosses flights/hotels with a competitor

~~~
vetinari
If they are really conservative, they surely book flights and hotels by phone,
not web.

------
bes7ow
I love these for testing sites and HTML emails in different versions of
Outlook.

However, activation can be very annoying and lock a VM completely.

~~~
rjsw
How much testing of HTML emails do you need ? Just bounce them back to the
sender.

------
AlikhanPeleg
If you don't want to (or cannot) share the page to test with a third party
there are client-only solutions like
[http://www.browseemall.com](http://www.browseemall.com) which take up less
space and are more convenient than full blown VMs.

------
acqq
From the installation pdf:

"3\. NO ACTIVATION.

To prevent its unlicensed use, the software contains activation enforcement
technology. Because the software is licensed for testing use only, you are not
licensed to activate the software for any purpose even if it prompts you to do
so."

~~~
nness
Makes sense to me. You can test absolutely everything without having to
activate.

~~~
acqq
I don't question the possibility to test IE (under the limits they present).

The strange (or interesting) part is this "even if it prompts you to do so"
not that they don't give you the license. You get the software that tells you
something and you're not allowed to click what it tells you.

It suggests that the activation software, both client and server side, can't
even be adjusted to manage the use cases intended by the release we discuss.
What appears to be a software configuration problem (part of which is the 90
day expiration they give) is solved by the license (as in "you are not
licensed").

~~~
nness
I think part of it is that if they deliberately stifle their own copy-
protection, it might make it easier for malware or pirates to learn how they
did it and do the same.

------
rbanffy
Guys... This is ancient.

~~~
rocky1138
But still valuable. It's also obvious from the comments that a few people here
have never seen this before.

~~~
rbanffy
Which is quite surprising, I must add.

Do we have an easy way to get an account age breakdown by active account age?

~~~
rocky1138
I don't know and I don't think so. I'm pretty sure HN keeps their cards close
to their chest with respect to stats. I hope to be proven wrong, though! It
would be neat to peruse.

------
KayEss
I wish they supported kvm for Linux rather than virtualbox.

~~~
hannob
I've used these images many times with qemu/kvm. No problem, just create a
snapshot.

------
circa
I haven't tried this yet but where was this 10+ years ago? I feel like its too
late for a site like this, but I guess it will still be very useful.

~~~
zwily
They've been doing this for at least 5 years now.

------
grinnick
This is the first time I've seen the .ie TLD (ireland) used in a technical
context. It's a cool idea given the Microsoft context.

------
benbristow
Why does Linux only have VirtualBox machines available? Linux has native
support for VMware as well.

~~~
wila
You can just run the windows VMware VM on linux, so it doesn't matter much.

------
frik
The latest IE11 update destroyed Win7 ("wininet.dll problem") on my work pc -
QA on vacation? So such virtual machine images of IE will come handy.

------
jkkrrk
Interesting. I'm wondering what other things all the VM's could be used for.

~~~
therealmarv
I also used them for a quick testing of Windows specific things (no Windows
here... but this VMs make it easy to make a quick test).

------
UserRights
Isn't it just bizarre how unbelievably bloated these windows systems are? 5 GB
compressed image size, and nothing much usable in there but a broken browser.

This site should be renamed to "The Historical Horror Graveyard of Bad
Computing Ideas" \- go and show your students how operating systems should not
work and how the ill-minded hierarchical-company-business-religion destroys
creativity and good ideas and harmed human progress for much too long.

It is good to know that Windows 10 is the last Windows - may that prophecy
fullfill itself quickly.

~~~
nly
Windows actually got smaller with 10. Windows 7 is like 25 GB fully-updated,
Windows 10 only 12 GB.

~~~
userbinator
I suppose this could have something to do with it...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_features_removed_in_Windows_8)

(There's no page for 10 yet but more features were removed.)

