Desperately need a way to run Internet Explorer 7 in 2008 R2

[Brian]

We just installed thin clients at a car dealership using Server 2008 R2. We

did not find out until afterward that one major site (www.bzbuzztrak.com)

will only run on Internet Explorer 7.



After 3 hours of trying workaround for the site, I gave up. Unfortunately

this is somewhat of a deal breaker and we need to get this working. Is there

any way - even radical way- that we can run Internet Explorer 7 with those

thin clients.



BTW, I did try all the software that will allow you to run multiple

instances of IE, but none work.

 

[Peter Foldes]

You can run IE8. I am running it on a W2K3 Enterprise and a W2K8 R2. Download IE8

for the Server.Make sure you download the Server edition of IE8



--

Peter



Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others

Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.



"Brian" wrote in message

news:85AFFDF5-597C-4B1D-8F68-B8C3658B0C46@microsoft.com...

> We just installed thin clients at a car dealership using Server 2008 R2. We

> did not find out until afterward that one major site (www.bzbuzztrak.com)

> will only run on Internet Explorer 7.

>

> After 3 hours of trying workaround for the site, I gave up. Unfortunately

> this is somewhat of a deal breaker and we need to get this working. Is there

> any way - even radical way- that we can run Internet Explorer 7 with those

> thin clients.

>

> BTW, I did try all the software that will allow you to run multiple

> instances of IE, but none work.

 

[Jeff Strickland]

"Brian" wrote in message

news:85AFFDF5-597C-4B1D-8F68-B8C3658B0C46@microsoft.com...

> We just installed thin clients at a car dealership using Server 2008 R2.

> We

> did not find out until afterward that one major site (www.bzbuzztrak.com)

> will only run on Internet Explorer 7.

>

> After 3 hours of trying workaround for the site, I gave up. Unfortunately

> this is somewhat of a deal breaker and we need to get this working. Is

> there

> any way - even radical way- that we can run Internet Explorer 7 with those

> thin clients.

>

> BTW, I did try all the software that will allow you to run multiple

> instances of IE, but none work.







I'm running XP Pro-SP3, and IE8, and the link you gave works fine. Well, it

brings up the login screen ...

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

You cannot install IE7 nor can you downgrade IE8 to IE7.



You can, however, spoof IE7 User Agent strings to make a wepage or web-based

application (but not an installed appliction) "think" you're running IE7.

See http://www.enhanceie.com/ua.aspx or

http://www.enhanceie.com/ietoys/uapick.asp

--

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)

MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002





Brian wrote:

> We just installed thin clients at a car dealership using Server 2008 R2.

> We

> did not find out until afterward that one major site (www.bzbuzztrak.com)

> will only run on Internet Explorer 7.

>

> After 3 hours of trying workaround for the site, I gave up. Unfortunately

> this is somewhat of a deal breaker and we need to get this working. Is

> there any way - even radical way- that we can run Internet Explorer 7 with

> those thin clients.

>

> BTW, I did try all the software that will allow you to run multiple

> instances of IE, but none work.

 

[VanguardLH]

Brian wrote:



> We just installed thin clients at a car dealership using Server 2008 R2. We

> did not find out until afterward that one major site (www.bzbuzztrak.com)

> will only run on Internet Explorer 7.

>

> After 3 hours of trying workaround for the site, I gave up. Unfortunately

> this is somewhat of a deal breaker and we need to get this working. Is there

> any way - even radical way- that we can run Internet Explorer 7 with those

> thin clients.

>

> BTW, I did try all the software that will allow you to run multiple

> instances of IE, but none work.



You don't mention if the site is refusing to accept connections from IE8 or

if there is some behaviorial problems with their web pages when using IE8.



Have you tried lying to the site as to which version of IE you are using

when connecting to the site? Use an add-on that generates the user-agent

string your web browser reports to the web site, like:



http://www.enhanceie.com/ietoys/uapick.asp



If the site works then the boobs there haven't updated their code to permit

connections by IE8 to determine which set of code to execute in their web

page (i.e., the browser-specific code doesn't include the UA string for

IE8). If you tell them you are using IE7 although connecting with IE8 and

their web pages are screwed up, then see what happens if you add that site

to IE8's Compatibility View list (you can add your own sites to a local

list). Go to Tools -> Compatibility View Settings menu.



If you stilll need to use IE7 then you could:



- Use the virtualized copy from Xenocode (http://spoon.net/browsers).



- Use a virtual machine running another license of Windows and in which you

use IE7. VirtualPC, VMWare Server, and VirtualBox are free.



- Uninstall IE8 and revert to IE7. Despite PA Bear's claim, you can

uninstall IE8 (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896 or

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700); however, I don't know if you can

then install IE7 to effectively download the R2 edition of WS 2008 to use

IE7. Since WS 2008 (pre-R2) was released in Feb 2008, IE8 in March 2009,

and WS 2008 R2 in Oct 2009. You'll have to see if an uninstall of IE8 in

WS 2008 R2 reverts you from IE8 to IE7. It would be odd if Microsoft let

you uninstall IE without reverting you to some baseline version (that was

minimal for that OS). Why would http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896

mention "Install Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7-based or Windows Server

2008 R2-based computers" if that was the forced baseline version (i.e.,

the minimal you could have)?

 

[Dan]

"VanguardLH" wrote in message

news:hke5dj$v7f$1@news.albasani.net...

> Brian wrote:

>

>> We just installed thin clients at a car dealership using Server 2008 R2.

>> We

>> did not find out until afterward that one major site (www.bzbuzztrak.com)

>> will only run on Internet Explorer 7.

>>

>> After 3 hours of trying workaround for the site, I gave up.

>> Unfortunately

>> this is somewhat of a deal breaker and we need to get this working. Is

>> there

>> any way - even radical way- that we can run Internet Explorer 7 with

>> those

>> thin clients.

>>

>> BTW, I did try all the software that will allow you to run multiple

>> instances of IE, but none work.

>

> You don't mention if the site is refusing to accept connections from IE8

> or

> if there is some behaviorial problems with their web pages when using IE8.

>

> Have you tried lying to the site as to which version of IE you are using

> when connecting to the site? Use an add-on that generates the user-agent

> string your web browser reports to the web site, like:

>

> http://www.enhanceie.com/ietoys/uapick.asp

>

> If the site works then the boobs there haven't updated their code to

> permit

> connections by IE8 to determine which set of code to execute in their web

> page (i.e., the browser-specific code doesn't include the UA string for

> IE8). If you tell them you are using IE7 although connecting with IE8 and

> their web pages are screwed up, then see what happens if you add that site

> to IE8's Compatibility View list (you can add your own sites to a local

> list). Go to Tools -> Compatibility View Settings menu.

>

> If you stilll need to use IE7 then you could:

>

> - Use the virtualized copy from Xenocode (http://spoon.net/browsers).

>

> - Use a virtual machine running another license of Windows and in which

> you

> use IE7. VirtualPC, VMWare Server, and VirtualBox are free.

>

> - Uninstall IE8 and revert to IE7. Despite PA Bear's claim, you can

> uninstall IE8 (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896 or

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700); however, I don't know if you can

> then install IE7 to effectively download the R2 edition of WS 2008 to use

> IE7. Since WS 2008 (pre-R2) was released in Feb 2008, IE8 in March 2009,

> and WS 2008 R2 in Oct 2009. You'll have to see if an uninstall of IE8 in

> WS 2008 R2 reverts you from IE8 to IE7. It would be odd if Microsoft let

> you uninstall IE without reverting you to some baseline version (that was

> minimal for that OS). Why would http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896

> mention "Install Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7-based or Windows Server

> 2008 R2-based computers" if that was the forced baseline version (i.e.,

> the minimal you could have)?





In response to your last line, the reason it mentions installing IE on

Windows 7 and Windows 2008 is because that's the second part of the fix -

uninstall IE8, then reinstall it. It states this pretty clearly just above

the information about uninstalling where it states:



"If resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not fix the

problem, uninstall Internet Explorer 8 and then reinstall it."



So, you remove IE8 leaving you with no browser, and then reinstall it. MS

doesn't have to provide a lower version of IE to revert to, the only reason

it does this in previous Windows releases it because the older files are

retained when IE8 is installed.



--

Dan

 

[VanguardLH]

Dan wrote:



> VanguardLH wrote ...

>

>> - Uninstall IE8 and revert to IE7. Despite PA Bear's claim, you can

>> uninstall IE8 (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896 or

>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700); however, I don't know if you can

>> then install IE7 to effectively download the R2 edition of WS 2008 to use

>> IE7. Since WS 2008 (pre-R2) was released in Feb 2008, IE8 in March 2009,

>> and WS 2008 R2 in Oct 2009. You'll have to see if an uninstall of IE8 in

>> WS 2008 R2 reverts you from IE8 to IE7. It would be odd if Microsoft let

>> you uninstall IE without reverting you to some baseline version (that was

>> minimal for that OS). Why would http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896

>> mention "Install Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7-based or Windows Server

>> 2008 R2-based computers" if that was the forced baseline version (i.e.,

>> the minimal you could have)?

>

> In response to your last line, the reason it mentions installing IE on

> Windows 7 and Windows 2008 is because that's the second part of the fix -

> uninstall IE8, then reinstall it. It states this pretty clearly just above

> the information about uninstalling where it states:

>

> "If resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not fix the

> problem, uninstall Internet Explorer 8 and then reinstall it."

>

> So, you remove IE8 leaving you with no browser, and then reinstall it. MS

> doesn't have to provide a lower version of IE to revert to, the only reason

> it does this in previous Windows releases it because the older files are

> retained when IE8 is installed.



In Windows XP, I can uninstall IE8 to revert to IE7, I can uninstall IE7 to

revert to IE6, but at that point I no longer have an entry in Add/Remove

Programs to uninstall IE6. IE6 is the baseline version that comes with

Windows XP and cannot be uninstalled. In Windows Vista, I can uninstall IE8

to revert to IE7 but that's it because IE7 is the baseline version included

in Vista.



Are you saying that Microsoft changed their behavior in Windows Server 2008

R2 and Windows 7 to let users denude them of any version of IE? That would

render many programs, including some rather large enterprise-level apps,

unusable since many are HTAs (HTML Applications) that rely on the existence

of IE's libraries.



If an uninstall of IE8 leaves Windows nude of any version of IE, you would

need to make sure to download the IE installer beforehand. So after

uninstalling IE8, why must you follow with a reinstall of IE8? If an

uninstall of IE8 does not revert to IE7 and instead leaves the OS bare of

any version of IE, Why not uninstall IE8 and then install IE7? Does IE7

refuse to install on versions of Windows later than Vista (NT 6.0)?

 

[VanguardLH]

VanguardLH wrote:



> Dan wrote:

>

>> VanguardLH wrote ...

>>

>>> - Uninstall IE8 and revert to IE7. Despite PA Bear's claim, you can

>>> uninstall IE8 (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896 or

>>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700); however, I don't know if you can

>>> then install IE7 to effectively download the R2 edition of WS 2008 to use

>>> IE7. Since WS 2008 (pre-R2) was released in Feb 2008, IE8 in March 2009,

>>> and WS 2008 R2 in Oct 2009. You'll have to see if an uninstall of IE8 in

>>> WS 2008 R2 reverts you from IE8 to IE7. It would be odd if Microsoft let

>>> you uninstall IE without reverting you to some baseline version (that was

>>> minimal for that OS). Why would http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896

>>> mention "Install Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7-based or Windows Server

>>> 2008 R2-based computers" if that was the forced baseline version (i.e.,

>>> the minimal you could have)?

>>

>> In response to your last line, the reason it mentions installing IE on

>> Windows 7 and Windows 2008 is because that's the second part of the fix -

>> uninstall IE8, then reinstall it. It states this pretty clearly just above

>> the information about uninstalling where it states:

>>

>> "If resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not fix the

>> problem, uninstall Internet Explorer 8 and then reinstall it."

>>

>> So, you remove IE8 leaving you with no browser, and then reinstall it. MS

>> doesn't have to provide a lower version of IE to revert to, the only reason

>> it does this in previous Windows releases it because the older files are

>> retained when IE8 is installed.

>

> In Windows XP, I can uninstall IE8 to revert to IE7, I can uninstall IE7 to

> revert to IE6, but at that point I no longer have an entry in Add/Remove

> Programs to uninstall IE6. IE6 is the baseline version that comes with

> Windows XP and cannot be uninstalled. In Windows Vista, I can uninstall IE8

> to revert to IE7 but that's it because IE7 is the baseline version included

> in Vista.

>

> Are you saying that Microsoft changed their behavior in Windows Server 2008

> R2 and Windows 7 to let users denude them of any version of IE? That would

> render many programs, including some rather large enterprise-level apps,

> unusable since many are HTAs (HTML Applications) that rely on the existence

> of IE's libraries.

>

> If an uninstall of IE8 leaves Windows nude of any version of IE, you would

> need to make sure to download the IE installer beforehand. So after

> uninstalling IE8, why must you follow with a reinstall of IE8? If an

> uninstall of IE8 does not revert to IE7 and instead leaves the OS bare of

> any version of IE, Why not uninstall IE8 and then install IE7? Does IE7

> refuse to install on versions of Windows later than Vista (NT 6.0)?



By the way, in a virtual machine, and using Microsoft's VHD for Windows 7

Trial, what the articles say is uninstalling IE8 is not. You get to turn it

off (disable and hide it). I downloaded the IE7 install file, turned off

IE8, and then tried to install IE7. The installer for IE7 refuses to run on

Windows 7. So while you can "turn off" IE8 in Windows 7, that doesn't get

the IE7 to work there. I suspect the IE7 installer will similarly abort for

Windows Server 2008 R2.



So the virtualized copies of IE7 are probably what the OP will have to use

if changing the user-agent string or using Compatibility View don't work.

 

[Dan]

"VanguardLH" wrote in message

news:hkhvko$b47$1@news.albasani.net...

> Dan wrote:

>

>> VanguardLH wrote ...

>>

>>> - Uninstall IE8 and revert to IE7. Despite PA Bear's claim, you can

>>> uninstall IE8 (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896 or

>>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700); however, I don't know if you

>>> can

>>> then install IE7 to effectively download the R2 edition of WS 2008 to

>>> use

>>> IE7. Since WS 2008 (pre-R2) was released in Feb 2008, IE8 in March

>>> 2009,

>>> and WS 2008 R2 in Oct 2009. You'll have to see if an uninstall of IE8

>>> in

>>> WS 2008 R2 reverts you from IE8 to IE7. It would be odd if Microsoft

>>> let

>>> you uninstall IE without reverting you to some baseline version (that

>>> was

>>> minimal for that OS). Why would http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967896

>>> mention "Install Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7-based or Windows

>>> Server

>>> 2008 R2-based computers" if that was the forced baseline version (i.e.,

>>> the minimal you could have)?

>>

>> In response to your last line, the reason it mentions installing IE on

>> Windows 7 and Windows 2008 is because that's the second part of the fix -

>> uninstall IE8, then reinstall it. It states this pretty clearly just

>> above

>> the information about uninstalling where it states:

>>

>> "If resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not fix the

>> problem, uninstall Internet Explorer 8 and then reinstall it."

>>

>> So, you remove IE8 leaving you with no browser, and then reinstall it. MS

>> doesn't have to provide a lower version of IE to revert to, the only

>> reason

>> it does this in previous Windows releases it because the older files are

>> retained when IE8 is installed.

>

> In Windows XP, I can uninstall IE8 to revert to IE7, I can uninstall IE7

> to

> revert to IE6, but at that point I no longer have an entry in Add/Remove

> Programs to uninstall IE6. IE6 is the baseline version that comes with

> Windows XP and cannot be uninstalled. In Windows Vista, I can uninstall

> IE8

> to revert to IE7 but that's it because IE7 is the baseline version

> included

> in Vista.



That's because XP and Vista are not Windows 7 or 2008 R2. MS changed the way

it works in 7/2008 R2. I guess part of this could be due to the requirement

in Europe to allow IE8 to be removed from the OS.



> Are you saying that Microsoft changed their behavior in Windows Server

> 2008

> R2 and Windows 7 to let users denude them of any version of IE? That

> would

> render many programs, including some rather large enterprise-level apps,

> unusable since many are HTAs (HTML Applications) that rely on the

> existence

> of IE's libraries.



They provided a mechanism to repair IE8 by uninstalling and reinstalling it

to fix serious problems. It's clearly stated that's the intention in the KB

article posted. In Vista, for instance, if a reset of IE7 doesn't fix it

then often the user will need to perform a repair install of Vista which is

potentially may cause problems than just a reinstall of IE.



> If an uninstall of IE8 leaves Windows nude of any version of IE, you would

> need to make sure to download the IE installer beforehand. So after

> uninstalling IE8, why must you follow with a reinstall of IE8? If an

> uninstall of IE8 does not revert to IE7 and instead leaves the OS bare of

> any version of IE, Why not uninstall IE8 and then install IE7? Does IE7

> refuse to install on versions of Windows later than Vista (NT 6.0)?



Why would you need to download an installer? The IE8 installer is on the

Windows 7/2008 R2 CD/DVD, you reinstall it by enabling it as a Windows

component which in turn will reinstall any removed files from the original

disc (or the location on the hard disk where the OEM files are located).



You need to follow with a reinstall of IE8 because, as the article states,

this is the second step in a full repair of IE8 where a reset doesn't work.

If you don't reinstall IE8, then you have no IE at all and as you've already

mentioned it will likely break many applications.



And yes, IE7 refuses to install on Windows 7/2008. I see you already tried

it in your other reply. Nowhere does the article state that you can install

IE7 on Windows 7/2008 R2.



--

Dan