DebugBar forums / TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

crucialclick · 2009-05-06 01:34:09

I noticed a lot of people having issues running IETester with Windows 7.

Thankfully for us, Microsoft has released Windows XP Mode. While all the software I've run under XPM has installed and worked perfectly, IETester has been a little extra work. But alas, it's working fully virtualized and seemlessly.

What can you expect?
Once you have IETester setup, you can launch and run IETester from your WINDOWS 7 START MENU, without any need to open a full xp environment separately. IETester will run in it's own independent window just like any other native application under Windows 7.

How to do it-
-Download XP Mode Here -
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta … 3f032f5159

Download Virtual PC for Windows 7 Here-
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta … laylang=en

Install Virtual PC first, then install XP Mode.

Once you boot into your virtual XP, you will need to download and install Internet Explorer 7.
You can download and install IE7 from here- (link is bottom left of the page)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downlo … itnow.mspx

Make sure it's IE7 that you download!

Once you install IE7, reboot your virtual machine.

Once rebooted, download and install IETester to your Virtual Machine.

On your Windows 7 startmenu, to run programs independently of the entire virtual machine, you will go to "Windows Virtual PC" then select "Virtual Windows XP Applications" - unfortunately you won't see IETester here. The reason is that for an application to show up under the Windows 7 Start Menu, the software must be in the Windows XP start menu for "All Users"

So the next step is within your Virtual Windows XP desktop - go to My Computer >> C >> Documents and Settings >> All Users >> Start Menu.
Create a folder called "IETester" and copy the shortcut from the desktop into this folder.

Now restart your virtual machine by selecting "Action >> Restart" from the top of the VM window. This will synchronize your new application to your Windows 7 start menu.

Now, you can go to your Windows XP Applications directly under Windows 7, and launch IETester, it will open in it's own window just like a native windows 7 app. When the prompt comes up, select to run it as a virtual application. It may ask you to close the virtual environment first.

The only bug I have noticed, is that you MUST open a site under the IE7 tab in IETester before using IE6. I haven't tested this with IE8 installed under XPM, and I highly suggest NOT installing IE8 on your virtual machine as Windows 7 already has it. Keep in mind that if you auto update XP, you may end up with IE8.... so prepare accordingly.

Hope this helps everyone!

-Ryan
http://www.crucialclick.com

Last edited by crucialclick (2009-05-06 01:45:11)

fabrice · 2009-05-06 10:42:33

Thanks a lot, I'll add a link from the documentation page :-)

crucialclick · 2009-05-06 17:58:09

No problem. Unfortunately many intel computers don't have the hardware virtualization to run XPMode. So this won't fix it for everyone.

Although running virtualized in software like VMWare will work.

bingo · 2009-05-09 00:59:54

crucialclick, thanks for the tutorial. Anyone know of a way for the virtual environment to access the 'localhost' apache web server on the non-virtual OS? Development work is done on the real OS, but I need to access the web server from the virtual environment through the home network?

By the way, I don't necessary need to use 'localhost' if that's unavailable. Something such as local.home routed through the windows HOSTS file would be sufficient.

Anyway this is possible?

I figured it out:

For those that need to test out their localhost web server from the virtual environment where IETester is ran, do the following:

On your real, non virtual environment machine, click start, run, and execute ipconfig

Write down your IP Address. It may show as IPv4 Address. This value is located directly beneath the Connection-specific DNS Suffix. The format of the number will be something like 192.168.1.###

Edit your apache configuration file (ie, httpd.conf) and go down to the Listen line. You'll likely have a value already set, such as

Code:

Listen 80

or

Code:

Listen 127.0.0.1:80

Add your IP address beneath that

Code:

Listen 192.168.1.101:80

Yes, you can have multiple Listen lines. Now, restart your apache server.

Now, do the following on your virtual environment machine:

Open your HOSTS file in Notepad. It's located at C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS

Add your IP address

Code:

192.168.1.101 local.home

You don't have to use local.home. You can use anything, as long as it is NOT localhost. If anyone can get localhost to work, then please specify.

Now you can open the virtual environment's Internet Explorer or IETester to the address

Code:

http://local.home

...and everything pulls up as it should.

A few problems:

1) HTTPS addresses don't work. If anyone can figure this one out, please share.
2) As crucialclick previously mentioned, you have to open an IE7 tab before any other or else IETester crashes/freezes. Aftewards, the IE6-8 tabs work great.

One final thing to keep in mind. If anything suddenly stops working, then it's possible your IP address has changed. This may happen if your router loses power. If that's the case, you'll have to run IPCONFIG again, get your new address, update your apache config file and HOSTS file.

Thanks to crucialclick for the tutorial and thanks to fabrice for IETester.

Last edited by bingo (2009-05-09 01:54:54)

RussellBishop · 2009-05-10 01:56:37

Installing Windows XP was a very confusing process, but when it did finally install, I try to open it, and all I get it;

Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or Insert Boot Media in Selected Boot Device

Do I need to put in my XP disc? :S

crucialclick · 2009-05-11 02:10:40

Russell,

Are you running Windows 7?

Did you follow my tutorial? And there is really nothing confusing, use the links I provided and install virtual pc, then install the virtual xp... that's it. And the installations for both are no different than installing any regular program on your system.

RussellBishop · 2009-05-11 03:25:35

Hi crucial,

Yeah, windows 7, installed both files, cant seem to get the XP to work (I got an error during installation).

RussellBishop · 2009-05-19 16:01:48

Has there been an update for the win7 bugs yet? I tried from a clean slate to use this again, with no luck.

fabrice · 2009-05-19 16:11:18

No, IETester is not yet ready for Win7.

crucialclick · 2009-06-01 07:30:54

Not really sure what to say, other than your computer may not be compatible with Virtual Windows XP. I can't really troubleshoot your windows issues- try googling the issue with the install and see if others are experiencing the same issue and have fixes to offer.

RussellBishop · 2009-06-01 09:34:20

It's a shame really, well I'll keep checking back to see if/when I can test in ie6 again

RussellBishop · 2009-06-07 23:12:30

Sorted: KasperSky was messing with the installation. Using AVG instead.

matt1146 · 2009-06-09 11:51:10

While I was trying to install it according to your instructions (I have Windows 7 and can do the XP virtual mode), I decided to try to install the program [IETester] right in Windows 7. It didn't work at first. However, when I right click the program link and go to the capability tab and set it to Vista Service Pack 1 as well as checking the box "always run this as administrator." It seems to be opening just fine. Sorry if someone has found this out already, I read through this post and didn't see anyone, but I am new to forums. Thanks.

Thanks again and have a good day,
Matt

ps. I'm running the 64-bit of Windows 7 RC1.

Last edited by matt1146 (2009-06-09 11:52:11)

crucialclick · 2009-06-16 00:41:18

matt1146 wrote:
While I was trying to install it according to your instructions (I have Windows 7 and can do the XP virtual mode), I decided to try to install the program [IETester] right in Windows 7. It didn't work at first. However, when I right click the program link and go to the capability tab and set it to Vista Service Pack 1 as well as checking the box "always run this as administrator." It seems to be opening just fine. Sorry if someone has found this out already, I read through this post and didn't see anyone, but I am new to forums. Thanks.

Thanks again and have a good day,
Matt

ps. I'm running the 64-bit of Windows 7 RC1.

I can confirm that IETester is still NOT functioning in Windows 7 RC1. I'm running Windows 7 RC 64-bit as well.

Matt, please try testing a website under the IE6 tab within IETester.

bingo · 2009-06-18 04:02:12

crucialclick wrote:
I can confirm that IETester is still NOT functioning in Windows 7 RC1. I'm running Windows 7 RC 64-bit as well.

Matt, please try testing a website under the IE6 tab within IETester.

Confirmed here as well. IE6 tab results in a freeze. IE7 tab doesn't work at all. URL's entered into the address bar disappear after hitting enter.

fabrice · 2009-07-25 00:25:13

Hi,

IETester v 0.3.5 is now working under Windows 7 : Note that it is still unstable and trying to open all version at the same time can crash the application.

shaceyMcbride17 · 2010-09-01 08:03:18

crucialclick wrote:
http://www.crucialclick.com/images/IETester-Capture.jpg

I noticed a lot of people having issues running IETester with Windows 7.

Thankfully for us, Microsoft has released Windows XP Mode. While all the software I've run under XPM has installed and worked perfectly, IETester has been a little extra work. But alas, it's working fully virtualized and seemlessly.

What can you expect?
Once you have IETester setup, you can launch and run IETester from your WINDOWS 7 START MENU, without any need to open a full xp environment separately. IETester will run in it's own independent window just like any other native application under Windows 7.

How to do it-
-Download XP Mode Here -
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta … 3f032f5159

Download Virtual PC for Windows 7 Here-
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta … laylang=en

Install Virtual PC first, then install XP Mode.

Once you boot into your virtual XP, you will need to download and install Internet Explorer 7.
You can download and install IE7 from here- (link is bottom left of the page)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downlo … itnow.mspx

Make sure it's IE7 that you download!

Once you install IE7, reboot your virtual machine.

Once rebooted, download and install IETester to your Virtual Machine.

On your Windows 7 startmenu, to run programs independently of the entire virtual machine, you will go to "Windows Virtual PC" then select "Virtual Windows XP Applications" - unfortunately you won't see IETester here. The reason is that for an application to show up under the Windows 7 Start Menu, the software must be in the Windows XP start menu for "All Users"

So the next step is within your Virtual Windows XP desktop - go to My Computer >> C >> Documents and Settings >> All Users >> Start Menu.
Create a folder called "IETester" and copy the shortcut from the desktop into this folder.

Now restart your virtual machine by selecting "Action >> Restart" from the top of the VM window. This will synchronize your new application to your Windows 7 start menu.

Now, you can go to your Windows XP Applications directly under Windows 7, and launch IETester, it will open in it's own window just like a native windows 7 app. When the prompt comes up, select to run it as a virtual application. It may ask you to close the virtual environment first.

The only bug I have noticed, is that you MUST open a site under the IE7 tab in IETester before using IE6. I haven't tested this with IE8 installed under XPM, and I highly suggest NOT installing IE8 on your virtual machine as Windows 7 already has it. Keep in mind that if you auto update XP, you may end up with IE8.... so prepare accordingly.

Hope this helps everyone!

-Ryan
http://www.crucialclick.com

I'm using windows 7....
Thanks for this post. It did help a lot.
_________________
--A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Announcement

#1 2009-05-06 01:34:09

TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#2 2009-05-06 10:42:33

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#3 2009-05-06 17:58:09

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#4 2009-05-09 00:59:54

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

Code:

Code:

Code:

Code:

Code:

#5 2009-05-10 01:56:37

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#6 2009-05-11 02:10:40

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#7 2009-05-11 03:25:35

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#8 2009-05-19 16:01:48

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#9 2009-05-19 16:11:18

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#10 2009-06-01 07:30:54

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#11 2009-06-01 09:34:20

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#12 2009-06-07 23:12:30

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#13 2009-06-09 11:51:10

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#14 2009-06-16 00:41:18

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

matt1146 wrote:

#15 2009-06-18 04:02:12

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

crucialclick wrote:

#16 2009-07-25 00:25:13

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

#17 2010-09-01 08:03:18

Re: TUTORIAL: Running IETester flawlessly under Windows 7

crucialclick wrote: