Free Windows VMs for testing sites on older versions of IE

    Microsoft has been distributing free virtual machines with Windows XP, Vista, and 7 for testing websites on older versions of Internet Explorer for several years now .

    All images are equipped with the corresponding version of IE and security updates. For XP, updates are installed until October 2012, for the rest - until March 2011. The rest is a clean, fresh installation of Windows without any special modifications. VHD images can be downloaded to Microsoft Virtual PC or another virtualization package. RAR self-extracting archives are divided into 700 MB parts for ease of download.

    Windows_XP + IE6: 415.5 MB
    Windows Vista + IE7: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 ,Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6
    Windows 7 + IE8: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4
    Windows 7 + IE9: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7

    Password for authorization in all systems the same: Password1.

    Immediately after starting Windows 7 or Windows Vista, they will be asked to enter an activation key. According to Microsoft’s instructions, you can extend the trial period twice by 30 days using the commandslmgr –rearm, or just close the virtual machine without saving and restart. In this case, technically, each time you download the main image with an unlimited license term, although any save will have to be canceled after a maximum of 90 days.

    Optional: instructions for loading these virtual machines into VirtualBox under OSX or Linux .

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