11 ms·

Testing IE6, 7, 8 and 9 on Mac OS X

44 points by theandym 15y ago

xdissent 15y ago
Or install MS VMs for IE7, 8 & 9 with one command: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms https://github.com/xdissent/ievms
pygy_ 15y ago
While relevant, xdissent's post[1] is dead banned. He wrote: Or install MS VMs for IE7, 8 & 9 with one command: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms https://github.com/xdissent/ievms . [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2913557 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2913557
- Hilyin 15y ago
  Care to explain? I've no idea what you're talking about.
  - allbutlost 15y ago
    Go to your user page and enable showdead to see comments that have been killed. Some people may have been shadowbanned without realising it
  - xdissent 15y ago
    I made a comment a while back that a few people considered rude, so my karma got knocked down to -40 in one thread. Now the vast majority of users will never see my comments, depending on their settings.
  - Macha 15y ago
    xdissent: > I made a comment a while back that a few people considered rude, so my karma got knocked down to -40 in one thread. Now the vast majority of users will never see my comments, depending on their settings. And they also can't reply directly to his comments.
    - zizee 15y ago
      Is it possible to vote people back out of this hole? Or is it a permanent thing?
      - pygy_ 15y ago
        I think you can, but in this case, he only has three upvotable posts, which, at his current score (36) would require 12 people to get him back to 0...
- jackreichert 15y ago
  If you have a mac and are unsure on how... (not sure why any mac-owner wouldn't be comfortable with the terminal window but,) Instructions to use xdissent's ievms script from github: 1) Install virtual box - http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads - Go with the "VirtualBox 4.1.2 for OS X hosts x86/amd64" option. 2) Copy the command that is most relevant from you from here: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/blob/master/README.rst https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/blob/master/README.rst (starting with 'curl') 3) Open up your terminal window paste, hit the 'enter' key 4) Hit the town, it can take some time, depending on your connection speed that is.
  - ConceitedCode 15y ago
    Does this work for linux users, specifically ubuntu?
    - jackreichert 15y ago
      Haven't tried that. Looks like it would.
    - tagawa 15y ago
      Yes. I couldn't get the IE6 disk to work but IE8/Windows 7 works nicely. Note that you shouldn't need cabextract but you may have to install p7zip-rar to extract the exe/rar files.
- jackreichert 15y ago
  Note: Takes up 30gb+ And you are asked for a valid windows key on first run.
jesseendahl 15y ago
While not free, another option that will take up significantly less space is installing VMWare with Windows 7, then then installing IETester. This is also nice because you only have to run one virtual machine "allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE10 preview, IE9, IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Windows 7, Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process." http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
- nirvdrum 15y ago
  I've run into some odd quirks with IETester and similar tools where they don't run exactly like their actual brethren. It's probably fine for the 95% case, but that other 5% can be infuriating. It usually manifests itself as the page working fine in IETester and your customer being adamant it's broken in IE 8 (or whatever).
- wmboy 15y ago
  "...this is an alpha release..." Not exactly what you want to hear when you're testing... I already have enough problems trying to run an actual version of IE6 on Virtualbox
  - hellweaver666 15y ago
    IETester has been in alpha forever. Not sure if it's because of lack of commitment from the developer or what, but it's very buggy and always has been.
thijsc 15y ago
cabextract is also available on homebrew: brew install cabextract
weirdcat 15y ago
A little twist on that I use is setting up three XP IE6 machines and upgrading IE to 7 and 8 in two of them (for IE9 you still need Windows 7). Takes up significantly less disk space and RAM; the downside is you have to repeat the procedure every few months. Note: you need to duplicate the vhd files using VBoxManage, since straight file copies share UUID and you will not be able to add them in VirtualBox): VBoxManage clonehd in.vhd out.vhd
sgentle 15y ago
I did something similar to this a while ago, but I had issues because the UUIDs of the disk images were all the same, so VirtualBox couldn't recognise all of them at once. Not sure if Microsoft's fixed that yet, but if not the magic words to change a disk image are: VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid
antihero 15y ago
Why not run IETester on just a normal 7 VM?

44 points by theandym 15y ago

Or install MS VMs for IE7, 8 & 9 with one command: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms https://github.com/xdissent/ievms

pygy_ 15y ago

While relevant, xdissent's post[1] is dead banned. He wrote: Or install MS VMs for IE7, 8 & 9 with one command: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms https://github.com/xdissent/ievms . [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2913557 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2913557

Hilyin 15y ago
Care to explain? I've no idea what you're talking about.
- allbutlost 15y ago
  Go to your user page and enable showdead to see comments that have been killed. Some people may have been shadowbanned without realising it
- xdissent 15y ago
  I made a comment a while back that a few people considered rude, so my karma got knocked down to -40 in one thread. Now the vast majority of users will never see my comments, depending on their settings.
- Macha 15y ago
  xdissent: > I made a comment a while back that a few people considered rude, so my karma got knocked down to -40 in one thread. Now the vast majority of users will never see my comments, depending on their settings. And they also can't reply directly to his comments.
  - zizee 15y ago
    Is it possible to vote people back out of this hole? Or is it a permanent thing?
    - pygy_ 15y ago
      I think you can, but in this case, he only has three upvotable posts, which, at his current score (36) would require 12 people to get him back to 0...
jackreichert 15y ago
If you have a mac and are unsure on how... (not sure why any mac-owner wouldn't be comfortable with the terminal window but,) Instructions to use xdissent's ievms script from github: 1) Install virtual box - http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads - Go with the "VirtualBox 4.1.2 for OS X hosts x86/amd64" option. 2) Copy the command that is most relevant from you from here: https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/blob/master/README.rst https://github.com/xdissent/ievms/blob/master/README.rst (starting with 'curl') 3) Open up your terminal window paste, hit the 'enter' key 4) Hit the town, it can take some time, depending on your connection speed that is.
- ConceitedCode 15y ago
  Does this work for linux users, specifically ubuntu?
  - jackreichert 15y ago
    Haven't tried that. Looks like it would.
  - tagawa 15y ago
    Yes. I couldn't get the IE6 disk to work but IE8/Windows 7 works nicely. Note that you shouldn't need cabextract but you may have to install p7zip-rar to extract the exe/rar files.
jackreichert 15y ago
Note: Takes up 30gb+ And you are asked for a valid windows key on first run.

jesseendahl 15y ago

While not free, another option that will take up significantly less space is installing VMWare with Windows 7, then then installing IETester. This is also nice because you only have to run one virtual machine "allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE10 preview, IE9, IE8, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Windows 7, Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process." http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

nirvdrum 15y ago
I've run into some odd quirks with IETester and similar tools where they don't run exactly like their actual brethren. It's probably fine for the 95% case, but that other 5% can be infuriating. It usually manifests itself as the page working fine in IETester and your customer being adamant it's broken in IE 8 (or whatever).
wmboy 15y ago
"...this is an alpha release..." Not exactly what you want to hear when you're testing... I already have enough problems trying to run an actual version of IE6 on Virtualbox
- hellweaver666 15y ago
  IETester has been in alpha forever. Not sure if it's because of lack of commitment from the developer or what, but it's very buggy and always has been.

thijsc 15y ago

cabextract is also available on homebrew: brew install cabextract

weirdcat 15y ago

A little twist on that I use is setting up three XP IE6 machines and upgrading IE to 7 and 8 in two of them (for IE9 you still need Windows 7). Takes up significantly less disk space and RAM; the downside is you have to repeat the procedure every few months. Note: you need to duplicate the vhd files using VBoxManage, since straight file copies share UUID and you will not be able to add them in VirtualBox): VBoxManage clonehd in.vhd out.vhd

sgentle 15y ago

I did something similar to this a while ago, but I had issues because the UUIDs of the disk images were all the same, so VirtualBox couldn't recognise all of them at once. Not sure if Microsoft's fixed that yet, but if not the magic words to change a disk image are: VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid

antihero 15y ago

Why not run IETester on just a normal 7 VM?