Here’s the scenario:
You are running Windows 7, but need to test a website or a web application for Cross Browser Compatibility. In Windows 7, you can’t rollback to IE6, what are your options? There are many ways to do this, but here are some.
Option 1 (MS Solution)
First download an image from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en). There are many options to choose from and this is great!
Now it’s up to you how you handle the downloaded VHD. If you have Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, you can follow the instructions to install Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx).
If you only have Windows 7 Home Premium, but you have VMWare Workstation/Server, you can convert the disc by using StarWind V2V Image Converter (http://www.starwindsoftware.com/converter). Once you have converted it, simply create a new Virtual Machine and choose the existing VMDK.
Option 2 (Web solution)
You can you Spoon! (http://www.spoon.net/)This requires only a plugin installation and you’re good to go to run various different browsers. An issue I was having with this was using IE6. Some pages it simply won’t display for any reason and if you change security settings, you might not be able to see the changes.
