Running IE6, IE7 and IE8 standalone

29 Comments 18th MAR 2009 | Posted by Željko Prša in Tools

If you are looking for an easy solution for running multiple IEs (IE6 standalone, IE7 standalone and IE8 standalone.) or any other popular browsers versions side by side AND all of that right from your browser, check out the Xenocode’s page or read on before jumping off.

Update!
Browser sandbox has been moved to this place.
Be patient the first time you use any of the browsers and it will pay off next time it runs

Quote from their site

The Xenocode Browser Sandbox allows all popular Windows browsers to be run simultaneously, directly from the web. Web designers, system administrators, and other users can now evaluate Internet Explorer 8, 7, and 6, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome directly from the web in a risk-free manner. Unlike traditional software applications, Xenocode WebApps do not require any software to be installed and allow multiple application versions to run side-by-side on any version of Windows.

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If you want to use them on your desktop it’s free to download and use any time.

Upsides:

Fast and lightweight
No installation (online and desktop version)
Multiple browsers
Build your own app/browser

Downsides:

Appart from occasionally Windows exlporer hick-ups…
… no real downsides detected

Link to xenocode’s browsers page: Xenocode

To post code in comments, place your code inside [code] and [/code] tags.

There are 29 comments (Add Yours +)

Rick Says
June 7th, 2009 at 22:15

Wow it does works nicely… Thanks for the tip. No more virtual pc for me
Tom Says
June 24th, 2009 at 13:54

I’ll remove IEtester immediately
PM Says
July 23rd, 2009 at 20:01

Hmmm…what am I missing here? Clicking on any of the applications/browsers directly, gets me redirected to the product website (i.e. Microsoft, or Mozilla, or Opera, etc), and the only other thing to click on I can seem to find is where it tells me to install the “Spoon Plugin”.
arrow seo Says
August 5th, 2009 at 1:42

Exactly what i needed for cross browser compatibility testing. Thanks
Darren Says
August 17th, 2009 at 4:24

I assume this Spoon plugin is spyware right? It doesnt even mention what the hec it is on the Xenocode site.
Dale Geist Says
September 1st, 2009 at 23:48

Apparently Xenocode has changed their M.O., and “replaced” their executables with the Spoon plugin. Actually, they’re just caching the .exe on your machine: get the skinny here: http://www.fluxhq.com/archives/149
Željko Prša Says
September 9th, 2009 at 12:30

@Darren No, fortunately it is not
Thanks Dale, be sure to check the updated URL to the “Browser sandbox”. http://spoon.net/Browsers/
KentR Says
September 28th, 2009 at 5:47

The browser cache would be great, if it actually worked…
Robert K Says
December 1st, 2009 at 23:43

I would like to know if I can legally run IE6 virtualized on windows 7?
Željko Prša Says
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:26

@Robert K – As long as you have a legal copy of Windows 7 you can run any of the IE browser you want.
BrowserSeal Says
January 21st, 2010 at 10:59

Nice technology, but as far as cross browser testing is concerned – why bother if you can actually install all these browsers locally using, for instance, our free BrowserSeal.BrowserPack package?
Pushkar Says
February 16th, 2010 at 8:33

Hello man..thanks for the nice solution but i can’t see any setup file..or download link..please guide me for the same….Thanks in advance.
Željko Prša Says
February 16th, 2010 at 9:27

@Pushkar Please read the follow up on this at http://www.fluxhq.com/archives/149
Jason Says
March 11th, 2010 at 17:44

I have a friend that ie7 @ spoon running with flash in winxp.
I can’t get flash to work, also in winxp.

The Adobe flash install keeps popping up, but it keeps refreshing the page when i try install it.

Anyone with similar experiences or solutions?
Antti R Says
March 25th, 2010 at 14:24

Hm, strange, doesn’t seem to work with my Ubuntu. I just get too many times “This service is unavailable..”
rey yap Says
March 29th, 2010 at 13:59

me too. tried it and got the error ‘ AN error occurred while bufferring the application. PLease try again.”
Samuel M. Says
April 13th, 2010 at 22:14

I’ve found a few issues while using it on the job, it doesn’t render cufon fonts correctly, nor does it seem to render ie css hacks either.

For general use its ok, but not for serious testing.

What I will do from now on is revert my IE to v7 and use spoon to test IE8, since IE8 seems to render a lot like FF(yes i did say that).

Thanks,
Samuel M.
vj Says
May 5th, 2010 at 16:54

can any one please tell me how to use that spoon plugin i have installed it on my system now what to do
Randy Says
May 10th, 2010 at 18:33

Works great except IE7 won’t run on Win 7. Hope they’ll fix it soon.
Amen Says
May 21st, 2010 at 13:10

So true. No win7 support. Yet still dont understand why we have to have this stupid problem, why people dont upgrade their free software and live in the past.
Hans Says
June 13th, 2010 at 11:53

Is it possible to use the IE7/8 with a Win2000 System?
Jyoti Says
June 14th, 2010 at 21:59

I’ve installed the plugin successfully as local admin; now I want other users who access this computer with their own logins to be able to access this, but can I do this without re-installing the plugin as the user? The users do not have admin privileges.
thanks!
Ash Says
July 17th, 2010 at 12:37

IE8 standalone
taucha Says
July 22nd, 2010 at 15:28

unfortunately no workaround for the use of standalone .exe files

or does anyone has a solution to get just the binary?

KR
T.
Jyoti Says
July 26th, 2010 at 21:24

Are there any bandwidth issues with using the Spoon plugin?
Alixe Says
July 28th, 2010 at 14:01

I have installed the IE toolbar, and even though I can see the icon in IE6 (Spoon plugin) it does nothing?
Anybody managed to make the IE toolbar working for IE6 via Spoon?
sadhu Says
July 28th, 2010 at 17:06

i installed and i dun see anything happen, how to use it?
i am using window 7… not working in this system?
SPeD Says
August 16th, 2010 at 9:34

Aack, I have win 7 home premium, can’t use IE7 on it, wife needs to do a job application, and the website for it only supports ie 6 and 7, talk about people living in the past.
SPeD Says
August 18th, 2010 at 2:39

Spoon plugin worked for getting onto the site, but something with either the ie7 standalone I tried previously or the one in spoon made me have to re-register all my DLL files, so I will try and figure out which it was and post up in response