How to run IE6 on Windows Vista using Virtual PC

Posted by Fiona on Aug 28th at 01:59 PM. Filed under: Businesses Tutorials Web Design

As most web developers/designers out there know already, it's not possible to run Internet Explorer 6 on Windows Vista. But since roughly 50% of Internet users are still using IE6, we need to ensure that our applications and designs work in this browser.

If you're using Windows XP, this is not a problem - there's a handy Multiple IE tool which allows you to install older versions of Internet Explorer and run them alongside each other. If however, like me, you've taken the plunge and upgraded to Vista, the only way to run IE6 is by using virtualisation software. Luckily Microsoft have released Virtual PC 2007 - it's free - and a VPC image containing a pre-activated copy of Windows XP and IE6.

Now I know this has been blogged about a lot, but it took me over an hour of Googling and fiddling with settings to actually connect to the Internet using IE6/VPC. I thought I'd post some simple instructions on how to get it up and running - maybe it'll help someone else out. It's easy when you know how.

Download and install the software

This part is really straightforward and shouldn't give you any trouble.

  1. Download Virtual PC 2007 and install it.
  2. Next, download the IE6 VPC Image. This will take a while as it's a whopping 643MB, so go and have a coffee or walk the dog.
  3. When the VPC image has downloaded, you'll need to expand it (just double click on it) and save it to a directory of your choice - I put mine in C:\Program Files\vpcImages.
  4. Open Virtual PC and click "New" to configure a new virtual machine. Choose the following options from the wizard:
    • Options: select "create a virtual machine".
    • Name and location: leave it at the default location and name it something like "IE6 Image".
    • Operating System: select Windows XP
    • Memory: leave it at the defaut of 128MB - you can change this later if you need to.
    • Virtual Hard Disk Options: choose "an existing virtual hard disk".
    • On the next screen browse to the directory you save the expanded VPC image to in step 3, select the IE6 image and finish the wizard.

Getting on line with Virtual PC

Now for the part I had trouble with - connection to my network and getting online.

  1. Go back to the Virtual PC console and click on "Settings", then on "Networking" and go to the "Adapter 1" dropdown menu on the right - this is where you tell the VPC image how to connect to the Internet. If you're on a wireless network, you should see your network card listed - select this. Otherwise, select "Shared Networking (NAT)" and click ok.
  2. Back in the Virtual PC console, select the IE6 image and click on start. Once XP has started open Internet Explorer 6, go to Tools > Internet Options > Connections and click on "setup". Choose the following options from the wizard:
    • Network Connection Type: Connect to the Internet
    • Getting Ready: choose Set up my connection manually
    • Internet Connection: choose Connect using a broadband connection that is always on
    • Click on "Finish".
  3. I had to complete one more step to get it work. While still at the "Connections" tab, click on "LAN settings" and deselect the proxy server option and click ok. I'm not sure why this would be required, but it wouldn't connect with it selected.
  4. You should now hopefully be online.

Viewing local files

If you're running a webserver such as Apache or IIS on your PC and using localhost to view your files, this won't work in the VPC image. Instead you'll need to use the IP address of your computer, which will take you to your Apache htdocs directory. (To find your IP address, just open the Command Prompt and type "ipconfig" - you'll need the IPv4 address.)

One final note

According to Microsoft, Virtual PC will only run on Vista Business and Vista Ultimate (and their XP equivalents). However, I've successfully installed it on my laptop which is running Vista Premium and it seems to run just fine.

(15) Comments • Permalink

Posted by mel on Sep 4th at 01:50 PM

This is awesome!  I upgraded to vista on my main machine and have had to start up another for testing in IE6.  This will come in quite handy! Thanks!

Posted by Xofis on Sep 12th at 08:49 PM

Looks like they left the internal MS default proxy in the install (itgproxy). Would never have thought to look. Thanks a million.

Posted by Ken Ismert on Sep 19th at 07:28 PM

Thanks! The ‘Viewing Local Files’ tip was just what I needed for my VPC to see my localhost!

Posted by robin on Sep 27th at 06:57 PM

it already worked for me, but i had on problem (that’s why i’m sweeping web, looking for solution now) - my IE6 on VPC image don’t read css of the website i’m developping and checking on IE6. it shows the website (via ip address, not the http://localhost/) but all without css. the whole thing is useless that way. how to solve that?

Posted by Fiona on Sep 28th at 11:15 AM

Robin, I encountered a similar problem recently where my CSS wasn’t showing in VPC/IE6. It turned out to be a base href tag in the head of my document that was set to my localhost address. Changing this to my IP address worked just fine. If you’re using a CMS, then it’s highly likely that there is a base href or something similar that’s defining the path to your website.

Posted by Nina on Oct 18th at 06:51 AM

Hey! Many thanx for this purrfect little helper!! I searched the net many hours yesterday but even “support” faqs at VPC’s couldn’t help. But now I’m here and everything worx great after these ‘simple’ steps ("easy when you know it")! THANX A LOT! Btw, yr site is LOVELY! cheese

Posted by Col on Oct 30th at 08:27 AM

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by jon on Oct 30th at 02:27 PM

thanks. i can finally actually get online with ie6 now. good work!

Posted by Dominique on Nov 9th at 02:07 PM

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

Posted by Michele on Nov 18th at 09:03 AM

Thanks a lot for the tutorial, I was exactly in your situation and I solved my connection problems by following your precious instructions.

Posted by Manda on Nov 20th at 10:25 PM

When I extracted the IE6 Image, it told me it was only good until December 7th 2007!? Has anyone else gotten his message?

Posted by Fiona on Nov 21st at 11:37 AM

Hi Manda, that’s right - Microsoft have set the IE6 image to expire after a certain length of time. According to their blog, they’ll continue releasing new images for the foreseeable future but you’ll have to download a new one every few months.

Posted by Spam Banjo on Nov 23rd at 03:59 PM

My IE6 does not connect. I found the reference to itgproxy in the internet connection settings of IE but played with settings and come up with nothing.

Firefox works fine… SURPRISE!!!

Any help greatly appreciated

Posted by Spam Banjo on Nov 23rd at 04:03 PM

So sorry… I really should read instructions better. I followed your guide again and it worked perfectly. Thank you so much. I would have given up after this guide if it didn’t work!

Posted by Simon on Jan 5th at 11:13 AM

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Tried two other guides, but the vital piece of information I was missing was the ‘NAT’ setting in the Network Connections!!

I can now finally test web sites on IE6, on Vista 64bit, without flicking to my old laptop!

Thanks again!

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