Next, start VirtualBox and choose Virtual Machines > Import from the main menu: This will expand your files into a single OVA file.
Where filename.sfx is the full name of the. Assuming you’ve downloaded to your “Downloads” folder, open a command terminal and enter: cd ~Downloads
The Mac VirtualBox images have a number of RAR files and a single SFX file. Having chosen an image, download all the files. I would therefore suggest IE8 on XP and IE11 on Windows 8.1 as a minimum but you should analyze your own site’s traffic to ensure you’re testing appropriate combinations. IE9 and 10 are normally well behaved and have mostly been superseded by IE11. For the average site, IE6 and IE7 are dead. That said, you’re unlikely to require all the VMs. These are fully-installed images of the whole operating system: the downloads are several gigabytes in size - be prepared for a long wait on slower connections. At the time of writing, the following combinations are available: Various Windows and IE VMs are presented. Now select your host OS and virtual host platform - we’re using VirtualBox running on a Mac: Visit modern.ie and follow the Test your site using free virtual machines link: The other VM hosts have similar processes - full instructions are available at modern.ie.
Head over to then download and install the application for your OS. It’s available on all platforms, is easy to install, fast, and it’s free.
The solution is to test early and test often - especially the older browsers.
A high proportion of those are from large businesses and government agencies yet, despite the commercial opportunities, few of us devote enough time to testing IE until it’s too late. Internet Explorer remains the world’s second most-used browser with almost one in four users on the desktop. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who make SitePoint possible!