Introduction

msie2vbox creates VirtualBox machines from the Microsoft Application Compatibility VPC images that Microsoft provide for testing websites in Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 or 8. The application only supports downloading and installing the Windows XP VPC image. This image defaults to IE6 but contains shortcuts to update to IE7 or IE8. It is recommended that a local copy of the downloaded VPC image be kept to make creating subsequent VirtualBox VMs quicker.

To run msie2vbox, just execute in a shell.

./msie2vbox.sh

Dependencies

• VirtualBox
• 7-Zip (Available in most package managers as "p7zip")
• wget
• mkisofs

Options

This program can be used to create a new VirtualBox machine from a Microsoft Application Compatibility VPC image. Since the original Microsoft images are built for Microsoft Virtual PC, there are a few 'inconsistencies'*.

The VMs can be installed to a specific location supplied by the '-l ' arguement or by default to ~/ievpc/. The VM will be named based on the supplied version of IE, e.g. 'Windows_XP_IE7_$(date +%s)', or by the name supplied by the '-n ' arguement.

Each VM will default to 192M RAM; this can be overridden with the '-mN' arguement where 'N' is the desired amount of RAM to allocate, in megabytes. This program will download the appropriate VPC image, but you can specify the path to a local VPC image using the '-f ' arguement.

The VMs require the Intel 82540EM network adapter. Drivers for this are downloaded and built into a ready-mounted ISO when the VM is booted. You will need to manually update the network adapter drivers before verifying your VM with Microsoft. If you install a VM into a location that already has the Intel Drivers

/path/to/INTEL_DRIVERS/INTEL_DRIVERS.ISO

then this program will use the existing ISO.

By default, the VM will not boot when this script is complete. Use the '-b' arguement to boot the VM.

Usage: msie2vbox.sh [-h] [-mN] [-nName] [-f path] [-d path] [-l path] -b

OPTIONS:
-h Show this message
-m RAM to allocate (in MB)
-n Name of the Virtual Machine
-f Path to existing VPC image
-d Path to Intel Drivers EXE
-l Path to store VHD files
-b Boot VM on completion.

Examples

IE 7

• IE 7
• Existing local copy of Intel drivers in /home/max/Desktop/PROWin32.exe
• Default 192Mb RAM
• Default name of Windows_XP_IE7_$(date +%s)
• Download the VPC image

./msie2vbox.sh -d /home/max/Desktop/PROWin32.exe

After installation, you will need to use the desktop shortcut to update the machine to IE7.

IE8

• IE8
• Use 265Mb RAM
• Name of 'WinXPIE8'
• Boot on completion
• Specify path to existing VPC executable
• Download Intel Drivers

./msie2vbox -m 256 -f /path/to/Windows_XP_IE6.exe -n WinXPIE8 -b

After installation, you will need to use the desktop shortcut to update the machine to IE8.

*Inconsistencies / Manual Steps

• The VM is configured without USB support
• The VM is configured without audio
• Update the drivers for the ethernet device with those provided on the pre-mounted D:\ drive
• Validate the VM with Microsoft
• Install the Virtual Box Guest Additions
• Disable 'battery' devices

To Do

• Investigate use of registry files or other some alternative method to automate driver installation
• Automated installation of Vbox Guest Additions

License

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.