IE 7 RC1 as standalone program w/o installation

It is possible to run Internet Explorer 7 as a standalone program without even installing it! As you know, the installation file is a self-extracting cabinet which can be opened using a decompression program such as Winrar.

This method is recommended for those users who can't install IE 7 properly on their systems.

According to the information found here :
How to use the IE7 Launch Script:

1. If you already have IE7 set up for standalone mode, skip to step 4.
2. Download the IE7 Beta Install from MSDN. I know there are versions of this floating around the intarwebs, which may or may not carry the ebola virus.
3. Open the install file with a decompression program like WinRAR (yep, it's an EXE, but it's a self extracting EXE) and extract them to a folder. Alternatively, you can just run the EXE, make a copy of the files which are extracted in the first step, and cancel the install. I was too chicken to do this on my work computer. There were some other steps to the setup which I've included in the batch file below - if you want to know what they are, read the original info here.
4. Copy the text below to notepad and save it as IE7.bat in the same folder you're setting up the standalone IE7 copy.
5. When you want to run IE7, double click IE7.bat - it pops up a DOS window that will hang around as long as IE7 is running so it can clean up after it (by deleting that pesky registry key) when you close IE7. Don't close the DOS window down or your pancreas will implode.
6. When you're done with IE7, just shut it down. The DOS window will clean up that pesky registry key and delete the standalone files, then disappear. If you shut IE7 down and the DOS window hangs around, just close it and run it again.

And since I can't install IE 7 RC1 on my own system successfully, this method appears to be the best ATM.

 

Be sure to take the right one on the right site
Meant to be run with IE 6 as well.

Gerard

 

I played with one of the beta versions this way a while back. Unfortunately it lost some functionality, tabbed browsing for one thing. Maybe the RC will behave differently. If anyone tries it let us know.

 

RC1:
Standalone mode
-----------------
Most features work properly, tabbed browsing is a breeze, the only function that does not work in standalone mode is the search function, the search box similar to the one found in firefox.

 

Thanks for the info. nadirah. Just may have to have another look at IE7.

 

IMHO, Internet Explorer 7 deserves a thumbs down. Right place at the wrong time. Its enhanced functionality and security comes a bit too late it seems.

Yeah, 7 is a lucky number, some ppl say so, but, its not gonna be lucky for this browser.

As for the UI, I can't help but say its just a copycat style interface of firefox? Or some other rival browser out there.

When I started using IE7, I thought I was in a clone of firefox. The UI has some features simply copycat in. Like the search box.

But I'll still stick with firefox. IE 7,8 or whatever means nothing to me. If IE is going to be closely integrated with the system, let's just say it makes no difference whatsoever... I had been using IE for a few years a long time ago until I got fed up and jumped straight to firefox in 2004.