C A Upsdell wrote:
> PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>> Is it possible? Yes, at least in WinXP and earlier. Is it supported? No.
>
> It is hard for me to believe that you do not know that multiple versions
> of IE can be installed on a single PC using something like Virtual PC.
> Do you have some reason for not mentioning it?
The condition set forth by the OP was "on the same computer".
"Computer" was not defined as to whether it meant the same hardware box
or within the same instance of the operating system. If merely the
hardware box were meant, even using multibooting to load different
instances of the OS would work but hardly be convenient. Each guest
(virtual machine) is a separate [emulated] computer (and why, for
example, you need another Windows license for each guest that runs
Windows). That means the OP would *not* be running multiple versions of
IE within the *same* computer. VMs are separated [emulated] computers,
not the same as the host computer.
Because IE is a set of libraries (to provide a set of methods or
functions) with a front-end caller, multiple versions cannot be
installed on the same computer without resulting in overwriting those
libraries. The closest you can come to running multiple versions of any
program and do so safely on the SAME COMPUTER is to use Altiris SVS
(Software Virtualization System). What this does is make a program
appear or disappear on the same host through layering (not really
through virtualization as commonly perceived). Using SVS, you could,
for example, have multiple versions of WinZip, IE, and even Outlook
(which normally requires only 1 instance be installed) to be
concurrently installed but allowing only one version at a time to be
active. As such, there is no malware or data protection when using
software layering as there is with system virtualization or system
emulation.
While SVS is handy, it is best to perform a clean install of Windows
alone and then install SVS. It is also best to use with "normal"
applications as some low-level utilities won't work well with software
virtualization. To get SVS (and its handy Trinket tray icon utility),
go to:
Free product home page:
http://juice.altiris.com/
Downloads:
http://www.svsdownloads.com/
Symantec bought Altiris because they want to employ it in their
enterprise-level products to manage software suites on workstations. It
is a help-desk and IT solution to manage software on the employee's
computers. I did run into some problems using SVS which required
delving into editing the software's layer definition. So it is not a
perfect solution (for what I was trying to do). It can also get
confusing on how to reconfigure a software layer after you've recorded
the changes made by the software's installation (and, again, you're back
into editing the layer's config entries). I haven't see a version
update in the free version of SVS since Symantec acquired Altiris (they
are interested in code development in their enterprise commercialware).
Yes, whether using the same instance of the OS, host virtualization, or
software virtualization, the user would be running multiple versions of
the same program (although perhaps not concurrently), they would all be
running on the same host (i.e., hardware box). While SVS was
interesting, it was just not sufficient for me to bother with it. I
prefer VMs but then I could afford buying multiple licenses of Windows.
Each VM requires buying another license of Windows. SVS uses the *same*
instance of Windows so you don't have to buy any more copies of Windows.
Linear Mode
