In response to Shaun (Jan 31, 2006), I took some time to try to get the new IE7b2 release working.

This is the download package that was made available as the Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta 2 Public Preview. This version of IE7 writes a couple of keys to your registry.

Don’t try to run the iexplore.exe like you have in the past (even with the standalones). Instead, run the __RUN_ME.bat file. This will make sure that the above-mentioned registry entries are removed, and will automatically add the .local file, etc.

I had a problem for a while where IE7 would “flicker-quit”. As in, a window would display for a fraction of a second, and then quit. This is the only package that worked for me, but even then it didn’t work at first. Here’s what I was doing when it magically began working.

• I ran the normal iexplore.exe file
• I ran the __RUN_ME.bat file (didn’t work, btw)
• Went into the update folder, and double-clicked the IE icon. It started the installer.
• Went back to the root folder and tried __RUN_ME.bat again.
• Out of frustration, ran __RUN_ME.bat yet again just so that I could get angrier at the IE team.
• IE7b2 magically worked.

I’m still not sure which part of my voodoo worked, but I have it running. I may have had some problems because I was previously running the IE7b1 standalone.

This is completely unsupported — completely. The official word from Microsoft is that we shouldn’t be running them in standalone mode anyways.

Stop yelling at me like that! You’re preaching to the choir, brother (or sister)! I know that Microsoft really needs to release official standalone packages for developers to work and test with that are available from MSDN, and not intended for public consumption. But I don’t make the rules—I just break the bad ones.

When Microsoft said “your potential, our passion”, they weren’t talking about web designers. But maybe they should have been… How’s this for an idea: Microsoft has been pretty responsive to our requests for a better browser with IE7. How about we bombard them with comments and such letting them know that we want our standalone mode in order to fix the mess they made in the first place.

Here’s the URL for the IE Blog. Let them know how you feel. Pester the crap out of Chris Wilson, Al Billings, and the rest of the ‘softies that simply barking “unsupported” is unacceptable, and that they need to help us fix the problem by either producing official IE standalones, or by not making it so freaking hard to make happen.

«Update» The zipped package now uses version 1.4 of the IE Launch Script. Now supports conditional comments.