Linux - Test website in Internet Explorer on a Linux machine

One of the most common issues in web development world is Internet Explorer compatibility. It's a pain in the ass. And It's even more annoying when Ubuntu is the only machine I have. So, I have to install a virtual machine (VirtualBox) to scratch the itch.

Luckily, Microsoft has acknowledged that problem and provide us some pre-built VM images at http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads . In my case, I download the IE10 - Win7 image. Follow the instructions in the link to install the VM:

Instructions

1. Download the SFX and all RAR files for the VM (smaller VMs may not have files with RAR extension). In each set below that contains a split archive, the provided text file (.txt) contains URLs to all files in the set, and this can be used directly with the 'wget' command in Linux. From the terminal, enter wget -i [URL TO TEXT FILE]. For Windows XP single file downloads, use wget [URL TO DOWNLOAD FILE] instead.
   Example 1: wget -i https://az412801.vo.msecnd.net/vhd/IEKitV1_Final/VirtualBox/Linux/IE8_Win7/IE8.Win7.For.LinuxVirtualBox_2.txt
   Example 2: wget https://az412801.vo.msecnd.net/vhd/IEKitV1_Final/VirtualBox/Linux/IE6_XP/IE6.WinXP.For.LinuxVirtualBox.sfx
   
2. After the download of all files for a set is complete, give the SFX file execute permission by typing chmod +x filename.sfx at the terminal.
3. Execute the SFX executable from the terminal with ./filename.sfx to expand the virtual machine to the current directory.

 

After install the VM, you will have a 9.7GB virtual hdd (.vmdk).

Crap!