IE Browser Testing

ie_vm.md

1. Goto https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=11575 and download the Windows_XP_IE6.exe file

2. This exe file is actually a RAR wrapper, so add a .rar extension and use a program like Keka to extract it. (You should end up with a “Windows XP.vhd” file)

3. Also download the iso from https://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/virtio-win/latest/images/bin/ (my version was 0.1-15)

4. Start VirtualBox and create a new VM. (I give it 512MB ram). Give it a new hard disk (choose VDI, dynamic, 64GB). Do NOT use the existing VHD you downloaded, it won’t work! Navigate to the new VM directory in Finder and copy the Windows XP.vhd there.

5. Rename "Windows Xp.vhd" to xp.vhd.

6. Open a terminal window in that directory and run the following command (Substitute the name of your VM instead of IE6)

   VBoxManage clonehd xp.vhd --existing IE6.vdi

7. (Optionally) delete the xp.vhd so it doesn’t take up space and we don’t accidentally use it in the VM.

8. In VirtualBox, navigate to your VM’s settings and uncheck ‘Enable Audio’, in the Network Tab, change NAT to ‘Bridged Adapter’ and under advanced change the adapter type to “Paravirtualized (virtio-net)”. I also uncheck ‘USB 2.0′ from the ports/usb tab. On the storage tab attach the virtio-win iso as the CD

9. Turn on the VM and login (the password is ‘Password1′). It will prompt to activate within 3 days, choose ‘No’ for now.

10. Whenever it prompts for CmBatt.sys hit cancel. It’s going to show the ‘Found new hardware wizard” a bunch. Each time choose ‘No, not at this time’, and pay attention to the following screen. If it’s looking for the driver for “Ethernet Controller”, choose “Install the software automatically” then “Continue Anyway”, otherwise choose “Cancel”.

11. Close the notepad window and windows should finish loading. Choose “No” for restarting your computer now.

12. Try running IE, it should be working with internet access. The rest of this tutorial might not work if it doesn’t.

13. In the VirtualBox titlebar, select “Devices -> Install Guest Additions”. Proceed through the wizard in the VM and click “Continue Anyway” whenever prompted. Choose “Reboot Now”

14. After rebooting and trying to login again, you’re forced to activate windows. Choose “Yes, active over the internet”, “No” to registering. It should successfully activate.

15. You’ll be prompted to install more drivers and find more files, just cancel these.

16. You now have a fully functional Windows install with IE6. If you prefer IE7 or IE8, choose one of the installers on the desktop. (I don’t choose to install the latest updates when installing them). Only one version of IE can be installed on a VM, so you’ll need to repeat this whole process for each version you’d like.

17. Just to save bandwidth and disk space, I then go in the control panel and disable automatic windows update.