How to test webapp with different versions of IE from single windows machine?

Question

I need to test a Web application on different versions of IE (IE9, IE8 & IE7).

I found that IE9 provides the compatibility view for IE8 & IE7 so I had installed IE9 in my test system.

There is one header META tag "X-UA-Compatible" by which you can set the compatibility view But in my case we don't have access to the source files.

If some how from selenium or by any other way if we can dynamically set the "X-UA-Compatible" tag then It can resolve my problem. Please let me know if there is any good way to Test the WebApp in different version of IE (7,8 & 9) from Single windows machine/instance.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Please do share your experience with this.

Thanks.

Behnam Bakhshi · Answer 1 · 2012-11-09T04:39:53.203

4

For testing your web application on different version of IE you can use online test tools, IETester, IECollection, Microsoft TestDrive or in IE 8 & 9 press F12 and select IE version from Browser Mode menu

edited Nov 09 '12 at 04:39

answered Nov 09 '12 at 04:27

Behnam Bakhshi

263
2
6

1

Thanks for your reply, Is there any programmatic way for this ? – SmartSolution Nov 09 '12 at 04:47
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6156639/x-ua-compatible-is-set-to-ie-edge-but-it-still-doesnt-stop-compatibility-mode – Behnam Bakhshi Nov 09 '12 at 05:43
Now there is a programmatic way for this, see my answer below – Edi Nov 03 '14 at 11:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 09 '12 at 04:24

1

You speak about compatibility mode. Not sure if you know this but if you dont, press F12 in IE 9 to open developer tools. From there, you can set rendering version. This is the way I test on different IE versions.

From the official source:

4 ways tp test...

Another solution, you can try is spoon.net/, which is online simulator for browsers. You can select different browsers & versions there. You could also find other similar online simulator.

answered Nov 09 '12 at 04:24

Kapil Sharma

10,135
8
37
66

@user1730953: Thanks for your reply, I'll have a look and update here soon. – SmartSolution Nov 09 '12 at 04:50

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 10 '14 at 07:58

1

Microsoft provide virtual machines for different versions of IE at http://modern.ie . So, on a single machine it is possible to have multiple test versions of IE by running your tests in a virtual machine.

answered Feb 10 '14 at 07:58

jonathanjg

366
2
6

Link is broken. I believe this is the new one: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/ – Prid Aug 19 '21 at 14:07

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 03 '14 at 11:36

Update Nov 2014: There is now a way to achieve this.

Spoon has a Selenium grid that runs all versions of IE (Chrome and Firefox too) on the same Windows dev machine. It uses the Spoon virtual machine to achieve this, by virtualizing a selenium setup including all browser nodes.

Its 100% compatible with your existing selenium tests. You don't need to launch the nodes beforehard, they launch on demand when test code requires a specific browser/version via capabilities.

Disclaimer: I work at Spoon and helped build this.

How to test webapp with different versions of IE from single windows machine?

4 Answers4