Internet Explorer for Mac the Easy Way: Run IE 7, IE8, & IE9 Free in a Virtual Machine
If you’re a Mac user that requires the usage of Internet Explorer under Mac OS X, you’ll find your choices are generally as follows: run IE on top of Mac OS X with Wine which can be slow and buggy, dual boot Windows and Mac OS X which is a nuisance because it requites rebooting, or use virtualization with something like Parallels, VMWare, or VirtualBox. Virtualization is generally the best method because you can run IE and other Windows apps directly atop OS X, but some of the VM software is expensive and you still need a Windows license key, right? Wrong!
Run Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9 in Mac OS X the Easy & Free Way
We’re going to walk you through how to install Internet Explorer 7, 8, or 9 in a virtual machine running Windows, directly in Mac OS X – for free. This is achieved by using the freely available VirtualBox software from Oracle, and combining that with free Internet Explorer testing virtual machines from Microsoft, the trick is converting these free IE vm’s so that they work flawlessly under OS X (or Linux, technically), and that is all handled automatically with this method.
Notes: the admin password for all of the IE VMs is “Password1″ without the quotes. This has been tested and confirmed to work with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
- Download & Install VirtualBox – Download Now (direct .dmg download link) – visit VirtualBox Downloads page
- Launch the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/)
- Decide which versions of Internet Explorer you want to download and install – each version of Internet Explorer is contained within a separate virtual machine that runs within VirtualBox. In other words, if you want to run Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9, you will need to download three separate VM’s, which may take a while so keep that in mind. Select the text below and copy it:
-
Install ALL versions of Internet Explorer: IE7, IE 8, and IE 9
-
Install Internet Explorer 7 Only
-
Install Internet Explorer 8 Only
-
Install Internet Explorer 9 Only
- Copy and paste the selected command from above into the Terminal and hit return, this will start the download and conversion process. How long this takes depends on your internet connection and how many versions of Internet Explorer you chose to install
- Launch VirtualBox and boot Windows & Internet Explorer – select the virtual machine corresponding to the version of Internet Explorer you intend to use: IE7, IE8, IE9, then click on the “Start” button to boot that Windows machine with that version of Internet Explorer.
curl -s https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh | bash
curl -s https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh | IEVMS_VERSIONS="7" bash
curl -s https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh | IEVMS_VERSIONS="8" bash
curl -s https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh | IEVMS_VERSIONS="9" bash
Remember that the default Windows admin password is “Password1″, it’s also the password hint within the VM should you forget it.
That’s really all there is to it. These commands are part of the ievsms script from xdissent and it manages the entire download, conversion, and installation procedure, it doesn’t get much easier.
VM Snapshots Circumvent Microsofts 30 Day Limitation
The other great thing about this method is that it circumvents Microsofts 30 day limitation by utilizing snapshots, a feature built into VirtualBox. This preserves the original Windows VM state and allows you to continuously use the IE virtual machine without any time limitation simply by reverting to the original snapshot once the 30 day lock occurs.
To use a snapshot after the 30 day Windows expiration, just open VirtualBox, select the IE VM, and click on the “Snapshots” button. From here you can boot from the original snapshot that was created and use IE again for another 30 days. You can do this indefinitely, effectively having a clean IE test environment forever.
What about IE 6?
IE6 is being rapidly abandoned as usage dies, but if you need to use it then you can follow this guide to get IE6 running in Mac OS X. Getting it working isn’t quite as easy as the virtual machine methods above and it utilizes a wine based emulator so your mileage may vary.
Why Use Internet Explorer on a Mac?
This has been a common question, but the primary reasons that Mac users need Internet Explorer are either for web development and web app compatibility purposes, or to access certain web sites or apps that require the use of IE to gain access. If you’re not in either of those groups, there isn’t much benefit to getting IE in Mac OS X, since Safari, Chrome, and Firefox are all excellent browser choices with significantly better performance on the Mac.
FYI: Although it doesn’t activate with MS, these are full fledged versions of Windows Vista. You can do many other things with them outside of running the dreaded IE dev tests
Erm…eww, thats all i have to say ;D
What is the meaning to use Exploder on a Mac?
Yeah! why should I use the worst browser in the world in the worst way possible?
Because we have to check to see if our customers can see their websites after we make them as we do. There is very little difference between Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari. There are occasional differences in Firefox. But Internet Exploder causes major issues so, unless we want to have a computer running Windoze laying around, we need a way to run Microsloth’s incompatible browsers on our Macs.
This is a great solution to quickly check websites we design to make sure that we’re handing the problems associated with the various flavors of Internet Exploiter.
There’s another purpose for this hack: At some companies, the intranet is built for the Microsoft browser and no other browser will work correctly. So, to dial in to one’s corporate intranet from one’s home Macintosh, one may need to use this.
Amen brother
Great Reply! Although many users do not understand why someone would want to instal internet explored on their mac, but as web designers and testers, this one is a must. I am going to try to download as you specified above! Thank you for the post!
There are some sites and programs that will only work with Internet Explorer. That’s why I need it
Because there are still stubborn service providers (like my bank) that only offer online functions compatible to IE. My pride of being mac and iOS user (which is anyway not fully justified apart from being religiously blind) has to yield to the switching cost of my bank service. I can complain the worst of worse for all day but at the end of month I need to see my pay slip. Simple as that…
If you are a web developer. It matters a lot to test web applications across on all major browsers. (IE, Safari, FF, Chrome, etc..). You don’t have to use IE in mac if you are just an end user.
Web and app developers have to use IE all the time, plus some schools and corps only allow IE access to websites.
Sometimes you need it to login to certain routers to change settings etc.
Alberto – for me, it saves having to run Paralells or a dual boot to access IE. I have a need to access some secure military sites with my job, and I cannot access them without IE. This is actually the perfect solution for me.
Why we would ever want IE on our macs? IE is probably the single most uninstalled application on Windows platforms.
Actually, for me, I need it for the sites that only work on IE.. like my work website and the real estate website for realtors in my city.
You can’t uninstall IE. It’s a part of the OS.
IE holds more market share than any other browser. Any web developer who doesn’t test their code in IE is a fool.
Not to mention that there are many older sites that only work in IE, or have IE-specific functionality, such as various college VPNs and that sort of thing.
IE holds more market share?
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
Someone begs to differ.
That is internationally, which includes Europe. back in 2010, Microsoft began using a ballot that required all new users of their operating system to pick their default web browser in the European Community in order to answer a lawsuit claiming breach of competition rules.
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/microsoft-to-offer-windows-browser-choice-5566
Here in the United States, Microsoft continues to hold dominance with a 38.9% median usage share among the various statistics counters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
So, although Austin is correct with respect to the globe, he may be incorrect with respect to the United States.
The W3Schools link is misleading because there’s huge selection bias going on. The data is culled from the W3Schools logs. People visiting W3Schools is not a fair representation of internet use at large: most likely, these visitors are knowledgable web users, likely developers, who long ago discovered IE’s inadequacies and switched to a different browser for their day-to-day use. The very page that is linked offers this disclaimer.
The more generalized picture is different, with IE usage decreasing, no longer holding onto a majority share that it had a couple years ago, but still holding onto a plurality share, and thus still the most prevalent browser in use.
Several sources of data are compiled here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
In short, if one is developing a site for general consumption and not a specific audience that is known not to use IE, then testing on IE is a no-brainer, in spite of the gnashing of teeth it may yield.
Since IE still accounts for at least 50% of web users, anyone doing web design on a Mac needs a way to test their work in IE.
50% is incorrect. Sure, it used to be that way, but it’s been declining regularly for a number of years now. We still have to keep IE in mind, but it’s important to note that IE is becoming less of a driving factor in cross-browser support. And, in fact, I believe that some responsibility lies in web developers to continue to make an impact to change user habits, meaning there are things we can do to make users and companies aware of how problematic IE has proven itself to be, better ways of browsing, etc.
Absolutely. I just posted this above as well, this is an important statistic for web developers, so I’d like to support your statements with the following link:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
Thats a nice idea, leading users away from IE 6. However if your installed user base/client is, say a Fortune 500 corporation with a locked down user stack that defaults to IE 6, you have to take it into consideration.
To the author: Nice article, thanks
@Costa : for people who makes website for people who don’t uninstall it
I have a question.. some of my parts didn’t download completely so it’s not working when I input the same command code.. it just goes straight to extracting, but it always fails. How can I fix this?
same here, extraction fails at 99%, any tips to resume missing parts?
For those encountering errors, be sure that it’s actually a real error and not just saying that the IEVM didn’t exist! I was confused by that but it downloaded and installed, and you can then go into VirtualBox and it’s all available to run.
The error looks like this but it doesn’t impact performance!
Checking for existing IE7 VM
VBoxManage: error: Could not find a registered machine named ‘IE7′
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: “FindMachine(Bstr(VMNameOrUuid).raw(), machine.asOutParam())” at line 2322 of file VBoxManageInfo.cpp
Creating IE7 VM
Funny, I just wrote about this on a widely read blog post. In addition to the script method above, you can also set up the VMs by hand without too much work. There’s also a Windows XP with IE6 VM available, but it may take some more work to get running. More details on my blog at http://www.somebits.com/weblog/tech/testing-websites-with-ie-and-vm.html
Where does it download the files to? had the same error but i would like to delete them
All of the files are located in your home directory in a hidden folder called .ievms
~/.ievms/
thank you
Why would anyone want to infect their Mac with IE? Awful just awful.
Some of us make a living at a real job doing web dev work on Mac’s and as much as the Mac super-faithful would like to just put their fingers in their ears and close their eyes and pretend that everyone uses Safari to use the web, that simply isn’t true. IE still makes up a large amount of traffic on a lot of sites and like it or not, “omg IE suxxxxxx gtfo lol” doesn’t really fly with clients.
Hahahah. I love this Michael!
“omg IE suxxxxxx gtfo lol” doesn’t really fly with clients.
I am going to try that next time I am working with a client who uses IE.
Developers, developers, developers!
I’ve followed the steps above but after doing the Terminal steps..I waited until the process had finished but then when I launch VirtualBox there wasn’t anything in the left pane.
Does anyone know how to solve this?
Thanks!
is the certificats works with, and activex ?
I used the link for all versions and it worked fine.
I noticed after the installation that the downloaded rar-files was left on the harddrive.
There is a hidden folder in your user folder called .ievms where VirtualBox stores the WM-files. Delete the rar files in there and get back lots of space.
how do you go about finding/seeing these hidden folders that you speak of ??
thanks
a
There’s a great free app called Houdini that lets you toggle hidden files and folders on or off without hassle!
or use Transmit from Panic. If you use it to browse/delete files locally you can also see hidden files on your Mac if you set that in the apps preferences. Works great for me.
Hmm, all works – but when I boot up the machine for IE8 I get a this is not a valid copy of windows message. Any ideas?
Whether it’s valid or not doesn’t matter for use, it just isn’t authenticated despite being from Microsoft.
Honestly, I don’t know why Microsoft doesn’t just make a native port of IE9 to OSX. But it’s use of DirectX probably prevents that being viable.
Good tip but honestly if I needed to use ie I prefer to install user agent switcher extension on mozilla firefox but if I nedeed to change it with other different browser I prefer to check the List of User Agent Strings on its main page =)
awesome! you rock! exactly what I need right now!! its such a pain to test my work on ie~~~ this will certainly speed up my testing process and ~~ for free! thx for sharing!
I now get a “301 Moved Permanently” from curl.
Have the files been removed?
thanks, as a web developer, this is a nice package for testing. However, it’s also my first experience with VirtualBox, and it seems like a pig. Windows is pretty clunky, running on the latest macbook pro i7. Slower than parallels on my old core2duo macbook.
Runs fine on my Mac Pro (Dual Quad-Core Xeon Nehalem)
How much RAM do you have? I have 16GB installed. I’d max out my MacBook Pro’s RAM to 8GB from the stock 4GB. It’s a pity Apple won’t let you install 16GB.
I agree, its much slower than Parallels. I would not mind finding images to download and configure in a similar way as the above commands but for parallels…
i have a question.. how many parts does it have?
How many parts?
I started downloading IE9. Stuck around til til the first part finished, and found out that there’s still loads of parts. Has anyone confirmed that IE9 works? If I’m worried about this not working, should I try IE8 or IE7 first?
I only say this because I’m letting it download overnight on my work computer, and if it’s not going to work, then I’d rather get an earlier version that does.
I have tried ie9 and there are no advantages compared with other virtual emulators. The windows running is a non genuine copy.
Wow. This will definitely help me when connecting to my work IE optimized website. Thanks!
This ended up complete debacle for me.
Installed easily enough, but went quickly downhill after I started the VM. Dog slow and a resource hog, no real surprise there. After finally getting the VM to a state where I could launch IE, it promptly crashed when I tried to use it for my intended purpose. Windows (7) apparently still can’t handle an application crash without puking on its own shoes, and after about 3 hours of this, I called it quits and sh*tcanned everything. Another virtual Windows solution, more of my life wasted. Someday I’ll learn…
The installation as explained here was very smooth.
HOwever, I cannot get the Windows VM to access the Internet. I am using the Airport in a very standard bridge mode.
“If you’re not in either of those groups, there isn’t much benefit to getting IE in Mac OS X, since Safari, Chrome, and Firefox are all excellent browser choices with significantly better performance on the Mac.”
Everyone always forgets Opera… for shame.
Fatal: no bootable medium found! System halted.
What do I need to do? I Really just want to remove everything and use a pc to do the little bit of work that I require IE for. How can remove or undo this?
Exact same problem. No bootable medium found…
same here….
For web developers looking to test on Internet Explorer, especially IE9, this is exactly what you need!
Thank you Oracle for being awesome.
It said the OS had expired…
All developers should stop protesting programmed to stop seeing things in IE, while all browsers improve and evolve, ie maintaining their silly fool that do not serve d parameters emucho, including their own websites are not properly in their own browser!
I understand that people don’t like IE but sometimes you have no choice.
I have a job that requires authentic java and Five9.com does not like apples version of Java (even though Chrome can run it).
So I got a hold of virtual box and windows XP with a key and will see how that works. That way I can install IE and see what happens. If XP cant run these versions of IE, then I will try the method above.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t try IE. Sometimes you have no choice!
how can i download part2? its broken
The script should automate the entire download, conversion, and installation automatically. Just run the script again if you had a download cancel.
I’m trying to download IE7 – in the terminal i receive the following error – “check that the parent really exists and that you have permissions to create the machine folder” it is looking for a folder in the users folder…i tried to create the said folder but still get this error…thanks
Hi,
I am new to all thid and I am not a developper, so excuse me if my question sounds stupid.
In my oganisation we’ve implemented CRM microsoft dynamics, which only runs on IE7 or higher.
I’ve downloaded virtualbox, but when I open it, I have no idea where I have to paste the links that are given in the steps above. I never get passed step 2 in other words :S ( I really don’t know anything about computers and I need to have IE7 or higher on my mac, and going back to buying a PC is something I am not ready to do )
It does ask me to instal window XP or Vista or 7. But then I get an error message again.
Please help, thank you.
Is anyone else getting these errors..? I have been wanting to ditch my full fledged win7 install for ages! this would be alot better.
VBoxManage: error: RTZipGzipDecompressIoStream failed: VERR_ZIP_BAD_HEADER
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0×80004005), component ExtPackFile, interface IExtPackFile, callee nsISupports
Context: “Install(fReplace, NULL, ptrProgress.asOutParam())” at line 872 of file VBoxManageMisc.cpp
ERROR: Failed to install Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack from /Users/XXXXXXXXX/.ievms/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.0.10-72479.vbox-extpack, error code (0)
Hi Jimmy,
I encountered the same issue on my linux machine. You need to add the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension pack as the error mentions. Here are the directions on how to do that:
http://www.sysprobs.com/guide-download-install-oracle-vm-virtualbox-extension-pack-windows-host
Once I manually installed the package in VirtualBox, I ran the curl command and everything worked as it should.
Cheers!
I am getting this error, what can i do?
Extracting Windows Vista.vhd 16%
Extracting from Windows_Vista_IE7.part02.rar
… Windows Vista.vhd 33%
Extracting from Windows_Vista_IE7.part03.rar
… Windows Vista.vhd 50%
Extracting from Windows_Vista_IE7.part04.rar
… Windows Vista.vhd 66%
Extracting from Windows_Vista_IE7.part05.rar
… Windows Vista.vhd 83%
Extracting from Windows_Vista_IE7.part06.rar
… Windows Vista.vhd 99%
Windows Vista.vhd – CRC failed
Extracting Windows Vista.vmc OK
Total errors: 1
ERROR: Failed to extract Windows_Vista_IE7.part01.exe to /Users/ME/.ievms/vhd/IE7/Windows Vista.vhd, unrar command returned error code 0
Ditto – though with the IE9 Version – gets to 99% then fails, AND when I then launch the VM there’s no existing VM to start, so this ain’t working. I’m guessing that since you posted your problem on 10/02 and its now 10/24 and you’ve had no response, that we might be up a creek – unless somebody has a suggestion?!
You can take a peek at the script at:
https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh
looking at the script its easy to see the addresses for each of the rar parts. something like:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/7/2/B72085AE-0F04-4C6F-9182-BF1EE90F5273/Windows_Vista_IE7.part0X
(note the x)
They are being stored in the temp file: USER_HOME/.ievms
If you show hidden files in osx (http://osxdaily.com/2009/02/25/show-hidden-files-in-os-x/) you’ll find that temporary directory.
re-download the incomplete part (Put the address in your browser)and when its done, replace the incompleete one in the temp directory.
Re-run the script from terminal just as you did in the beginning . It checks for the existence of all the part before re-downloading (and then sit back and relax).
I use IE for to run financial reports and until about 10 minutes ago I had to use my bulky windows laptop, but no more. Works well once you get the hang of it!
Took a while to install (all 3 versions – couple hours), and to start up the Windows virtual machines (which reminded me of all the fun times me and Windows have had in the past) but after some quick testing it seems to do the job! And no problem running all 3 VM’s at the same time.
I’ve used Parallels for testing, too bad it was something I had to pay for, but it seemed to be the only solution at the time.
If only I found out about this sooner!
Thanks so much!!
Now I’ll just have to wait and see if those snapshots will work after 30 days *fingers crossed*
BTW, I got those errors too while installing. But like ZM said: it doesn’t impact performance, everything seems to work just fine.
Hi,
My hotmail email address has been used for the last two days by spamers… I ve been very careful with my security hence I started to ask myself what I have done differently in the last 3 days.. As you have guessed it, I have installed this VirtualBox. I quick Avast scan has detected on of its files os a Trojan horse. File name is:
{7be7eed0-5001-4ff6-a923-5805f1522c53}.vhd
Not sure this is entirely correct as Avast has been incorrect before but be CAREFUL!
Clement
can u guys let me know how to delete everything if its not working? Thanks in advance
see previous comment: http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/04/internet-explorer-for-mac-ie7-ie8-ie-9-free/#comment-232367
Bonjour
je viens d’installer virtual box avec internet explorer 9
je rentre bien le mot de passe de la session admin et il me dit que l utilisateur ou le mot de passe sont incorrect
Avez vous la solution?
Le clavier est en QWERTY par défaut sur la virtual box windows, tu dois le prendre en compte au moment de taper le mot de passe.
Please help! This is taking forever to download – I left terminal chugging away after starting the download at 2pm EDT (U.S.) 10/11/11. Now, 9am 10/12/11, still on part 3, with 6d 12h to go!? Using a Macbook Pro (2010) OS x 10.6.6, just tested cable modem speed; it’s lousy, 1.45 mbps. Is there anything I can do – and even with this slow speed, should this take this long?
Please reply in newby terms, as I have no knowledge of this kind of thing.
Many thanks for any help or suggestions. I am leaving tomorrow on vacation, and had hoped to get this cleared up by today.
Thanks,
B.A.
Since I last posted, this error message appears:
curl: (56) Failure when receiving data from the peer
It has since downloaded part 4 and is now dl part 5.
Just downloaded and tried this out. I can see why someone would want to use it cuz it’s free, but it is waaaayyyy slower than parallels (which is already sorta slow). It has weird keyboard capture UI – it took me a minute to figure out that I had to hold Left and hit Command twice. Also, it doesn’t seem to go to full screen, so my window is about 600×600 px.
Open to suggestions on the full screen piece, but for now I’m not sure I’m going to use this.
You can chance the display pref’s within the virtual machine, then you can go full screen.
I am getting ERROR: Failed to extract Windows_7_IE8.part01.exe to /Users/ME/.ievms/vhd/IE8/Win7_IE8.vhd, unrar command returned error code 0
Any help will be appreciate. Thanks
I am getting the same error as Eduardo. I’m running OS X Lion. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
C.
I had this problem & managed to fix it by replacing the file that failed.
Download it directly from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11575 and overwrite the old one.
@Skullbunny
Once you replaced the file, what did you do to restart the installation in VirtualBox?
Ditto, please help!
Rather setting up all the vm’s and dont forget they keep expiring, you guys can use browserstack.com, an interactive cross browser testing solution.
Thanks for the tip. I ended up using browserstack.com because I needed IE7 to work without wasting my time, signed up and worked within seconds! I can now do my infrequent IE7 data entry work for my job – $44 for 25 hours over a 6 month period. To me, it’s worth it saving time and hassle.
Great, thank you, it works. BUT the password ‘Password1′ doesn’t work. Windows Vista tells me that the user name or password is incorrect, both with ‘admin’ or ‘administrator’ username. How to fix that ?
Thanks
Same problem on my end, but for Windows XP. Installation went fine, however, I’m not given an Admin option, only Guest and my name. “Password1″ does not work. Anyone with insight, please help us poor lost souls. Thx
Sorry, I works ! It’s because I’m a french guy on a french keyboard (Azerty) and forgot to switch my mind to Qwerty ! Great.
I thought I’d document my issues and solutions for installing this on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) AMD64.
1. Curl was not installed. Easy fix: sudo apt-get install curl
2. The script tried to download a nonexistent version of the Oracle Extension Pack, and failed almost immediately. I had to download it and install it manually. I used this:
http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.1.2/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.2-73507.vbox-extpack (as of this writing, Ubuntu 11.10 uses version 4.1.2 of virtualbox, if installed from apt-get)
I am downloading now. If I have more issues, I’ll reply to this comment. If I have no more issues, then these little solutions were all I needed.
Nice tip for those who want to check IE compatibility without having to pay for windows or virtualization software.
If I were not a developer, I would never bother with IE.
I actually have an issue with these. Cookies are not being set for some reason so I am unable to test certain sites.
Well, ok. Specifically it’s Magento sites that I’m having issues with, but then that’s probably not an issue with these VMs.
Installing the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions fixed the issue.
I have downloaded the files, but it keeps stopping before I get all of them. Do I need all of these files? I still can’t find where it is putting the files? I search for ievms and cant find it. I have unhidden my files. Where is the file?
ok i got the hidden files showing with a totaly different command, try … -boot true line for leopard. I cant open the file in vm because it keeps freezing when Im locating the file. I installed the update but now it freezes. Am I supose to add part 1 rar or 4 or 6? what do I out in there. this site doesn’t explain much.
I needed this solution for a client and it took a very long time to get up and running and it sort of worked. I now want to get rid of the VM and get rid of the Windows 7 part of this. Is there a way to uninstall it cleanly?
Thanks
Yup, just delete the virtual machine image and the VirtualBox. The VM’s are stored in:
~/.ievms/
Since that is a hidden directory you’ll either want to use the Terminal or Command+Shift+G to get there. VirtualBox is in the Applications folder and can be removed as usual.
@ OSXDaily – Thanks. That’s exactly what I need.
how do we use Terminal do delete the directory? thanks
i was frustrated for a few days because i had lost 20G of memory, but just did the Command+Shift+G. pmce i got the window i pasted the folder’s name (~/.ievms/) and entered. I then deleted the folder which contained the IE files, dont remember the name but started with VS i think. Once you explore the folder you’ll see the IE files in there. I deleted them and cleaned my trash and i got my memory back. I dont have enough memory to install this so im considering buying a cheap laptop JUST to test the sites on internet explorer :/
1st: It’s NOT as easy as download-copy-paste. Nice way to hook people and leave out all the inbetween stuff
2nd: I can’t copy&paste because it won’t let me paste! I hit “command + V” and nothing happens. I can’t click on it and select “paste” because it captures my mouse.
So wtf?
Oh, and I also can’t uninstall it because when it asks me for my password (during the uninstall) it won’t let me type anything.
Passwords don’t display in the Terminal when typing them, it’s a security precaution.
Then why does it ask me for my password? And I don’t mean “it doesn’t display” as in, dots/characters show up instead of letters, I literally mean nothing shows up when I type. Anyways, I typed my password for the heck of it, figuring maybe it recognizes it and just doesn’t show anything, and hit Enter…then it says wrong password. Because, for some reason, it recognizes the Enter key, but no others.
So how do I uninstall?
Can anyone tell me how to delete this thing and get my 20GB of space back? Much appreciated, thanks.
[...] but VirtualBox can not read/start these images. After much searching, I found a post that describes how to convert Virtual-PC images to VirtualBox ones. It does this via a shell script that does all of the heavy lifting for you. My testing has so [...]
Thanks for this! My employer uses a web application for employee time ticket tracking that is NOT web standards compliant. Thus, I NEED to use IE, but have no desire to buy windows.
This is a great tool to fight the non standards battle.
i keep gettng an error code 0
ERROR: Failed to extract Windows_7_IE8.part01.exe to /Users/Ericfield/.ievms/vhd/IE8/Win7_IE8.vhd, unrar command returned error code 0
I started downloading then accidentaly quit terminal, and i cant find the ievms file. how do i do this?
I get that error as well.
I get this at the end in Terminal:
Windows Vista.vhd 90%
No space left on device
Write error in the file Windows Vista.vhd [R]etry, [A]bort
Write error in the file Windows Vista.vhd
Program aborted
No space left on device
ERROR: Failed to extract Windows_Vista_IE7.part01.exe to /Users/pro13/.ievms/vhd/IE7/Windows Vista.vhd, unrar command returned error code 0
How much space does IE7 need? I have 12GB!
I think somewhere around 20gb… idk, but I think it installs vist a as well as IE, which requires more s pace
hey so i’m a noob at all this computer stuff let alone hacking or even my computer being a mac… so i need a little how to remove everything i just did for dummy’s
i put in the codes but then had to cancel them because of the fact that my internet disconnected and they stopped running so now every time i put in the code thing it says fail but not the good fail that is above someone help please 
asap need IE for some work stuff that i need to do tonight 
The IE7 VM is forcing me to activate windows… I thought these images didn’t need activation?
They don’t, that’s why you must use the saved states
was crap. Installed and couldn’t get anything to recognise a single key stroke. Uninstalled after ten minutes of frustration.
You lose me at “2. Launch the terminal.” Once I launch Virtual Machine, I have to the new machine wizard and choose settings which is where I get totally lost. Where do i input the command, you mention to cut and paste into the Terminal, but i dont know what youre talking about because I am still in the start up wizard.
Hi David,
Terminal is an OS X application that provides a local shell (“command line” if you’re not a unix person). You can find Terminal in /Applications/Utilities. When you start this app, a window will open with a command prompt at your home directory. This is where you’ll cut and paste the commands listed in this article.
You don’t need to have VirtualBox running when you initiate the Terminal command, just have it installed. The download, unrar, and install will happen automagically.
This is a great resource and I’m rally glad you put it up Daily!
I’m having an issue though. I’ve tried the terminal command for ‘all versions’ twice now, and I think there was a corruption during download. The unpack fails consistently with part 3 of the archive. What would the terminal command be to redownload and overwrite the old archive? I’m not very familiar with curl.
Thanks!
It’s not curl. It’s that the script doesn’t delete half-downloaded files.
Check for the parts in the directory:
/Users/eduo/.ievms/vhd/IE7/ (or IE8 or whatever) and delete the one giving you the error. The script will redownload it.
So this is perfectly legal? to run a demo version of Vista without a Windows license key?
I downloaded it yesterday, and everything worked fine. But, today I realized my overzealous need to clean off the leftover files let to the deletion of the vhd file… Not good, that one is needed. Today, I have started this shell`1 like 5 times, and every time, it starts very fast, like the first time, then slows to about 100K! That would be 12 hours of downloading. Not a good option, as the first time, I took about 45 min. I’ve checked the pipe (cable), and it’s running around 8Mps, and it’s not my computer cuz everything is running normal. Any ideas?
Just read your comment after adding one of my own: I found this slowing of download as well. I noticed that as the script downloaded subsequent files from MicroSoft’s site the speed would go back to normal (fast) for each one and then inevitably slow down again. I think that MicroSoft’s site is throttling the download after a time, perhaps detecting a non-browser agent is doing the download. I found a reduction to about 1/8 of the original speed. In my other comment I suggest doing this install overnight – it doesn’t make it faster, but it hurts less.
I’ve downloaded and installed the software. But when I try to login I’m told that the license has expired.
Any ideas?
when i try to cut and paste ie7 iget this message
no bootable medium found? what happened
Nice work this is just what I needed and a lot simpler than other “solutions” I found. One thing I noticed though was that it takes a long time to download all of the files. Partly this is because there is heaps to download, partly MicroSoft’s site throttles you after a bit slowing the download up. I suggest running this overnight so you don’t feel like you’re waiting around.
I got the license expired message too, but just ignored it and ticked the “register later” option. I guess after the 30 days it will force us back to the “clean” snapshot to start again.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m thinking it would be a good idea to first set up the VM how you want (screen resolution, IE setting, etc) and then snapshot it again so you can go back to that one so you don’t have to go through your setup process again.
All this make you wonder how far ahead the world would be if IE had never existed.
Thanks for the info.
thx
good
Why do some of you ask the stupid question…”Why would anyone want to use IE?”
Well read you idiots…because there is no other way to access some sites!
As soon as I loaded it on the first time it says it has expired. Can’t reset to a snapshot if the first one is expired. Help?
can somebody explain to me how to completely delete all files? i don’t seem to be able to get past the 4th part of downloading and i have no idea how to resume the 4th stuck part. thanks
Currently downloading IE9 as I need this for work purposes…
It’s taken over 60 mins so far and I’m crossing my fingers it’ll finish extracting Windows 7 without any errors!
This is great, thanks for such useful info. However there’s no sound on the Virtual Machine, I installed the one for IE8, I assume is a drivers issue, do you guys happen to know I place where I can download a whole bunch of drivers or any clue on how to solve it. I installed it because of a stupid course I have to take that only works on IE. Thanks again!
Also try: https://github.com/maxmanders/msie2vbox
I got this error messages trying to install the extension pack 4.1.8-75467:
Progress state: NS_ERROR_FAILURE
VBoxManage: error: Failed to install “/Users/TTT/.ievms/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.8-75467.vbox-extpack”: The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp: error: World writable: ‘/Applications’
ERROR: Failed to install Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack from /Users/TTT/.ievms/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.8-75467.vbox-extpack, error code (0)
How can I fix that?
I got the same error message. Can you help? Thanks.
For anyone dealing with the “Must Activate” issue:
*Note: You may be required to activate the OS as the product key has been deactivated. This is the expected behavior. The VHDs will not pass genuine validation. Immediately after you start the Windows 7 or Windows Vista images they will request to be activated. You can cancel the request and it will login to the desktop. You can activate up to two “rearms” (type slmgr –rearm at the command prompt) which will extend the trial for another 30 days each time OR simply shutdown the VPC image and discard the changes you’ve made from undo disks to reset the image back to its initial state. By doing either of these methods, you can technically have a base image which never expires although you will never be able to permanently save any changes on these images for longer than 90 days.
I went for the INSTALL ALL Version … which includes IE6..
I ran into the problem of ….
A rar parts failed to download?
so just thought I’d post what I did to fix the issue and continue the installation (for newbs like me)
All the rar part download links are listed in the terminal window as it downloads them. It will show you which parts failed.
So I copied the url of the fail rar part into my browser and downloaded them again.
I then located the hidden folder username/.ievms and replaced the failed rar parts.
Here’s a good articles on how to see all hidden files in Finder. http://osxdaily.com/2009/02/25/show-hidden-files-in-os-x/
To restart the install process I copied the original command line and hit enter to restart the install….
The install will skip to wherever the failure point was and continue on from there!!
That’s it!…. I have IE6 running on XP, IE7 & 8 running on Vista and IE9 running on Windows 7…
BRILLIANT!!!…
I’m a recent pc to mac convert… it’s true what they say..”Once you’ve gone Mac… you’ll never go back”
Thanks for this great article!!
Now I’m off to test my latest couple of projects in all those horrible browsers…. :-/
…slight amendment …. IE8 is running on Windows 7 not Vista
This was just what I have been looking for, because like it or not, you have to accommodate older IE versions. I found it
useful to install IE8, deal with the massive updates, then
clone IE8 to IE9 and do the update of IE in the IE9 clone.
The point is that VirtualBox recent versions make it very easy to create clones.
I think my company network/proxy settings are preventing the download when I paste any of those lines into Terminal. I’ve tried manually downloading all of the Win7/IE9 files from MS, but while the first exe creates the .vhd, the following 6 all produce copies of the same .vmc, and I’m guessing they should combine to produce a single .vmc. Any ideas how I can unpackage all of the files together or get around the problem in terminal?
Excellent, really simplifies getting IE for web development testing purposes!
Thank you
Why is it so slow?
You can change the performance settings by clicking the settings icon. Just make sure you don’t have the VM running or it won’t let you alter the settings.
Mine is still a$$ slow though. Ramping up the values gave a “non optimal settings detected” warning so I haven’t tried it completely full throttle yet.
How huuuuuuuuuuge can these files be? Why did noone mention? Been downloading all day and now it stole the last 20GB of space on my disk and aborted while i was gone. This, imho, is quite ridiculous, soooooooooo much space for just IE testing? Why wasn’t this mentioned in the article?
Think about what you are doing: you are installing entire different virtual installations of the Windows operating system, that isn’t a small task. If you’re concerned about file size, just pick one of them.
I encountered the following problem, please help:Last login: Wed Feb 1 20:36:44 on console
Rons-MacBook-Pro:~ ines3001$ curl -s https://raw.github.com/xdissent/ievms/master/ievms.sh | bash
Checking for VirtualBox
ERROR: VirtualBox is not installed! (http://virtualbox.org)
Thanks.
You need to install Virtualbox first, then run the curl command
I am getting the same error as many of the folks above. The error code (0) one.
This happens only on my install of IE7.
I have IE6 and 8 running – how freakin cool! Saves me from purchasing an old windows laptop for browser testing.
Any help with the error code (0) would be helpful – I’d really like to test on ie7!
Thanks for sharing this!
My Applications folder isn’t the root so it won’t install, apparently this is normal so I’m surprised no one else has this problem. Could someone guide me to switching it?
thanks
Thanks for this solution. My 11″ Mac Air now allows access to our hospital’s medical imaging site (IE only, Active X downloads required). The resolution is only 800×600, but suggestions about scripting a change to 5 options are offered in the VirtualBox manual. Absent Parallels, this is the first success I’ve had in several attempts to run IE 8 on this little box, and it really seems to be free. No tricks or insights, just followed the 2-step instructions offered. The Win7 install indicated a 90 day trial, so we’ll see. Great stuff, and thanks again.
After all things of IE8 done, found the sound of the win7 system not work. How can i solve this issue or where can i download some driver for it?
But to my surprise, the sound with IE7 installed can work
Doesn’t ie8 (and ie9 I would hope) have a compatibility mode where it will render sites like ie6 & 7?
Wouldn’t that make it redundant to download all versions separately?
ie9 will render as ie8 and ie7 if you open the developer tools, so you don’t need to download those separately.
R.I.P. ie6. Even microsoft sent flowers to the funeral.
Everyone has forgotten another thing. Office computers. A lot of businesses operate on practically vintage versions od Windows with IE7/8 as the only available browser. Installing others isn’t allowed, and even if there are ways to circumvent them, not everyone is as technically adventurous as some of you.
My girlfriend is a prime example. Today she even did some IE testing for me and sent me a screenshot. But thanks to the ineptitude and laziness of some IT guys, these systems will only ever have shit software for rendering the internet. And if you value every person that wishes to view your site, you’ll do what you can to hack it together for them.
As a web developer all I can say is THANK YOU!
Hello and thx for this job.
Everything went fine for me using a Mac OS X V 10.6.8.
I launched IE9 on the virtual machine but I still can’t log in. “Password1″ is rejected. Does anyone got the same issue?
Take care.
Ok, mind it’s QWERTY default settings and not AZERTY
Hi everyone! I have an issue and I was wondering if any one else is experiencing it as well. I have successfully downloaded the virtual box but when loading the internet explorer (any version) into my terminal, it does not give me a download time and although it says downloading its been “downloading” for at least 3 days with no changes. Is anyone else experiencing this? Is there a solution? Also, I would like to point out that I have a pretty fast internet connection. Help please!
Does anybody know if this has access to my Macs installation of XAAMP and localhost for dev purposes?
I am getting the error “Build 7601, this copy of Windows is not genuine”
Downloaded, installed, started, launched IE (7, 8 & 9), and none of them could connect to the internet. I ran the diagnostics, they all came back saying my connections were fine, yet no web page. Waste of my time, unfortunately. Would have loved easy access to testing on IE.
Thanks anyway.