By now, I hope you've heard of the newest project we launched at Microsoft called <a href="http://www.modern.ie/">modern.IE</a>. I'm not going to go into every aspect of the site as I really want to focus on the VMs for this post. But if you want the details you can check out these great blog posts:

<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2013/02/01/modern-ie-a-new-set-of-tools-to-help-test-web-site-compatibility.aspx">modern.IE – A new set of tools to help test web site compatibility</a>
<a href="http://blogs.windows.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2013/01/31/introducing-modern-ie-testing-sites-for-internet-explorer-made-easier.aspx">Introducing modern.IE – Testing sites for Internet Explorer made easier</a>

<h2>The New Way to get IE VMs</h2>

Up until now, if you wanted to test different versions of IE natively you had to <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575">download VPC images</a> that would allow you to run virtual machines for the different versions of IE. It wasn't a great solution because:
<ul>
	<li>They were designed to be run in Microsoft's Virtual PC software making it hard for non-Windows developers to use them.</li>
	<li>They were broken apart into multiple, large download files</li>
</ul>

There were ways to use them on other OSes but <a href="http://tumblr.jonthornton.com/post/11405634980/how-to-run-microsofts-ie-vpc-images-in-virtualbox">it required some work</a> or <a href="https://github.com/xdissent/ievms">unofficial scripts to convert them</a>. Either way, the IE VPCs weren't very easy or convenient to use.

We wanted to make this easier so as part of the modern.IE project, we <a href="http://www.modern.ie/virtualization-tools">created a new set of VMs</a> that targeted your OS and your VM-specific software. Now, you'll be able to choose your OS:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vm-os.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vm-os-300x178.png" alt="vm-os" width="300" height="178" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1963" /></a>

then choose the VM software:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vm-soft.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vm-soft-300x179.png" alt="vm-soft" width="300" height="179" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1964" /></a>

and download the VM with the version(s) of IE you'd like to install:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vm-vms.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/vm-vms-300x120.png" alt="vm-vms" width="300" height="120" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1965" /></a>

The great thing about this process is that:
<ul>
	<li>You only have to download a single file per VM</li>
	<li>You can use the VM software of your choice</li>
</ul>

Currently, we're offering VMs that will run on:
<ul>
	<li>Windows</li>
	<li>OSX</li>
	<li>Linux</li>
</ul>

The VM software choices are specific to the OS you choose:
<ul>
	<li>Windows - Hyper-V, Virtual PC, VirtualBox & VMWare Player</li>
	<li>OSX- VirtualBox & VMWare Fusion</li>
	<li>Linux - VirtualBox</li>
</ul>

The IE versions being offered are:
<ul>
	<li>IE7 on Vista</li>
	<li>IE8 on Windows 7</li>
	<li>IE9 on Windows 7</li>
	<li>IE10 on Windows 8</li>
</ul>

We initially launched with an IE6 image but discovered an issue and had to pull it down. We'll be putting it back up shortly. We'll also be supporting Parallels as well and that will be available soon.

<h2>Time Limits on the VMs</h2>

All of the VMs have a time limit before the images will become either limited or unusable. Here's what they are:
<ul>
<li>IE7 - IE10: 90 days of total time from the moment you first use the VM. Basically it's 30 days usage with two 30-day rearms.<ul><li>To rearm, go into a command prompt and type in "<strong>slmgr –rearm</strong>"</li></ul>
<li>IE6 on WinXP: Will expire 90 days from the time <strong>we upload it to modern.IE</strong>. There's no rearm it but we'll keep this refreshed when the 90 day kill date nears.</li>
</ul>

At the end of the 90 days, here's what will happen:
<ul><li>IE7 - IE10: You'll be able to use the VM for an hour before it shuts down</li>
<li>IE6/WinXP: You'll be prompted for an activation key with no way to get past it</li>
</ul>

<h2>Functional Limitations</h2>

I've been told that these images aren't crippled and in my testing, I was able to apply updates and do installs with no issues. I would <strong>HIGHLY RECOMMEND</strong> that you run Windows updates when you use these VMs to get the latest updates and patches. Also, install an anti-virus software. <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download">Microsoft Security Essentials</a> is free and will do the trick.




