How to test my application on older version of IE?

Question

I have installed IE8 on my system. I usually test my application on this browser, but the problem arises when i got to know that the client is using IE7. Now how can i test my application on IE7?

One possible solution is to have dual booting on my system. So on version of Windows i can have IE7 and on another i can have IE8. But i really don't want to use this solution.

Another possible solution is to use PC Emulator [ Don't know what is this, just heard about these ]. Using which i can have multiple IE version simultaneously. Have you ever tried this solution? Please name any good FREE emulator.

Please let me know if there is any other better solution.

Answer 1

Microsoft has launched Modern.IE to help with this. Go here to download a test image for your preferred OS and visualization software.

http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

Answer 2

Microsoft provides a free set of Windows Virtual PC images for testing various versions of IE on various Windows service packs.

Virtual PC is also free.

Answer 3

You can also look at Adobe BrowserLab:

http://browserlab.adobe.com

Answer 4

I got the solution. :)

In IE8, click on Tools > Developer Tools | or press F12

alt text http://i48.tinypic.com/121tqua.jpg

Then in developer Tools > select the browser mode [ available: IE7, IE8, IE8 with compatibility view ]

alt text http://i47.tinypic.com/98rot0.jpg

This is what i was expecting. :)

Answer 5

For those who are still looking for an answer here's a Chrome extension It has over 6 millions users, and it claims:

Top 10 Chrome extension since 2009!

-- WINDOWS ONLY -- WINDOWS ONLY --

IE Tab exactly emulates IE by using the IE rendering engine directly within Chrome. This will enable you to use ActiveX controls and test your web pages with different versions of IE (IE6, IE7, IE8, or IE9).

-- FEATURES --

• Create a list of URLs that will automatically open in IE Tab

• Group Policy support for enterprise deployments

• Securely use the old IE rendering engine

• Edit Sharepoint documents instead of opening read-only

• Use Java, Silverlight, and ActiveX in Chrome seamlessly

Answer 6

you can use

http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

and here can you see all browser versions as picture

http://browsershots.org/